GREENSBORO, N.C. — Hannah Hidalgo doesn’t hesitate, whether she has the ball in her hands to attack off a screen or is stalking a ballhandler eager to pick her pocket for a steal.
It’s why Hidalgo is stacking awards in a stellar freshman season that has carried No. 9 Notre Dame to its first Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title in five years — and maybe positioned her to be an I-got-next face of the women’s game as Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark exits for the WNBA.
“She loves this game, so she just wants to compete,” Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said Sunday. “So everything that’s coming her way is because of what she’s been able to accomplish and do.”
The 5-foot-6 guard came up big down the stretch to help the Irish beat No. 10 North Carolina State in Sunday’s ACC title game, including the final go-ahead basket on the way to becoming the tournament’s MVP. It capped a week in which Hidalgo was named the ACC’s freshman and defensive player of the year.
Next comes the NCAA Tournament, and Hidalgo seems ready for the March spotlight. She’s saying the right things at the very least.
“All credit to my teammates because I wouldn’t be able to do it without them too,” she said in a postgame news conference. “It’s truly a blessing just to be here in this position.”
Yet Hidalgo stands out, even as she talks like someone trying to blend in.
She started the season with 31 points in an opening loss to No. 1 South Carolina, had 34 points in a win over Connecticut and scored a season-high 35 in a win against Georgia Tech. She’s third in the nation in scoring with 23.3 points per game — trailing Clark and fellow freshman JuJu Watkins of USC — while leading the country with 4.7 steals per game.
“We knew before she even played a game,” junior guard Sonia Citron said. “When she came in in the summer, she just had a different mentality. So in workouts, in practices, we kind of knew she was going to be special.
“She’s just different. I don’t even know what to say.”
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She closed the ACC Tournament with 22 points, six rebounds and six assists, marking her third tournament game in as many days with that exact rebound and assist output. In a game with both teams grinding to a tough finish, she made two huge plays down the stretch to finally wrest control.
On the first, with her team locked in a 49-all tie, Hidalgo hit a hanging layup over the Wolfpack’s Aziaha James at the 2:24 mark as the trailer on a transition chance. The Wolfpack answered with Madison Hayes’ layup to tie it, but Hidalgo struck again.
Hidalgo dribbled around a high screen at the arc to get a step on James as the defender tried to go over the screener. That gave Hidalgo the chance to drive downhill against the less mobile River Baldwin inside.
Hidalgo got Baldwin backpedaling deeper into the paint with a stutter step and crossover dribble, then hit a scooping layup while falling to the ground for the 53-51 lead with 1:28 left.
“We noticed the ball screen was working, so we kind of cleared out and spaced out and just put Baldwin in a ball screen,” Hidalgo said. “And if they collapsed, the kickout for the shooter was open. And if not, then it was a one-on-one for the drive.”
The Irish didn’t hesitate to let Hidalgo read and go.
“I learned to just have confidence in myself,” Hidalgo said. “Right when I came in, they were like: ‘Hannah, shoot the ball. Hannah, score the ball.’ That was really big for me. … The trust they instill in me is just amazing.”
Plays like those have made Hidalgo a rising star, just in time for a sport that is on the lookout for more.
Women’s college basketball has experienced a rise in popularity amid Clark’s run to the Division I scoring record — men’s or women’s — with her dazzling floor game. But with Clark heading to the pros after this season, the sport is on the lookout for the next wave of players to carry that momentum forward.
Players such as Hidalgo and Watkins are poised to be candidates for those spotlight-grabbing roles, both for their talent and as freshmen with multiple years of college eligibility ahead to grow their games and maybe capture the public’s imagination.
Ivey figures Hidalgo can handle it too.
“It’s not something that she seeks,” Ivey said. “Like (Citron) says, she’s different. She has a light about her. … It is a lot for a freshman, and she’s done a phenomenal job of handling it.”