Tag: Arike Ogunbowale

Arike Ogunbowale surprises Hannah Hidalgo for Red Bull partnership

The Irish’s past and present come together.

Notre Dame legend [autotag]Arike Ogunbowale[/autotag] already had a partnership with Red Bull. That mainly was because she had become a professional athlete. That opportunity was not available to her when she was with the Irish.

Times have changed though, and the NIL era has made it possible for college athletes to be paid. To that end, current Irish standout [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] has partnered with Red Bull herself now. That means the Irish’s past and present have come together in the corporate world.

The only thing Ogunbowale could do was surprise Hidalgo as she was being interviewed by Red Bull. Before Ogunbowale could enter the room though, Hidalgo admitted that she was cheering against the Irish before Ogunbowale hit her legendary championship-winning shot, which changed her perception.

When asked by Ogunbowale who would win a game between the current Irish and the program’s last national championship team, Hidalgo unsurprisingly picked her team. Still, the fact that they’re in the same room together, even if only for marketing purposes, is enough to make Irish fans happy:

https://www.instagram.com/caa_basketball/p/DDdJ12ovG8K/?hl=en

Here’s hoping this is the start of a long and fruitful relationship between Hidalgo and Red Bull.

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Notre Dame alum Arike Ogunbowale becomes all-time leading scorer for Dallas Wings

The Notre Dame alum is putting up lots of points in a hurry.

Arike Ogunbowale is now the all-time leading scorer for the WNBA’s Dallas Wings. The Notre Dame alum has 3,972 points after scoring 11 against the New York Liberty in a 99-67 loss Thursday night.

She’s in just her sixth season in the league and reached the mark in game number 193. She passes Deanna “Tweety” Nolan, who needed nine years and 293 games to reach 3,971. Ogunbowale, a guard who played at Notre Dame from 2015 to 2019, got the record on free throws with 4:27 remaining in Thursday’s game.

She needs just 28 points to reach 4,000, and if she does that in her next two games, she will pass Breanna Stewart to be the WNBA player who reaches that mark the fastest.

Stewart needed 196 games to hit that mark.

 

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Arike Ogunbowale isn’t buying the Angel Reese-Caitlin Clark ‘rivalry’ narrative

Here’s why Arike Ogunbowale doesn’t think there’s an Angel Reese-Caitlin Clark rivalry.

Arike Ogunbowale isn’t here for the Angel Reese–Caitlin Clark rivalry narrative. The Dallas Wings star says it’s been media-driven.

The headlines have been filled with stories about Angel and Caitlin, their impact on the WNBA and the Rookie of the Year race all season long. Clark is an offensive powerhouse who lights up the court with electric logo 3-pointers and sweet assists. Reese isn’t as prolific of a scorer, but she is a double-double machine with a generational ability to rebound.

The differences between the two have generated so many narratives from so many corners of the internet. Everyone seems interested in giving an opinion about the pair of rookies. Here’s what Ogunbowale recently told MacKenzie Salmon of USA TODAY about the two young stars:

“I do think the Angel-Caitlin thing is funny. It’s just funny to me because they’re two totally different positions, and the media tries to, like, make them be, like, competitors. But it’s like — that’s a guard, and that’s a post.”

“So, at the end of the day, they never even guarded each other so. It’s not really a rivalry, but it’s just funny how people hyped it up. But I know both of them, and they both have respect for each other. So, it’s mostly the media…it’s always interesting to see what people have to say because they just be so wrong.”

@sportsseriously

“They just be so wrong” !!!! #sportsseriously #wnba #caitlinclark #angelreese #wnbabasketball #basketball #arikeogunbowale

♬ original sound – Sports Seriously

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Notre Dame’s Cassandre Prosper teaches French ahead of Olympics

Time to get educated.

Notre Dame guard [autotag]Cassandre Prosper[/autotag] missed most of this past season, but the next two weeks should help make up for that. She’s off to Paris to represent Canada for the 2024 Olympics. She’s incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity at this stage of her career.

To help get Irish fans in the Parisian spirit for the Olympics, Prosper, who hails from Montreal, shared a few French words and phrases on social media:

Those of you who took French in school might have known some of these already, but for everyone else, it’s a nice little educational moment.

This tweet was made the same Prosper scored six points in Canada’s pre-Olympic 77-74 victory over Australia in Spain. Former Irish standout [autotag]Natalie Achonwa[/autotag] contributed 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and grabbed six rebounds.

Elsewhere, the U.S. bounced back from [autotag]Arike Ogunbowale[/autotag]’s All-Star MVP performance by topping Germany, 84-57, in its last game before the Olympics in London. [autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag] scored 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, and [autotag]Jackie Young[/autotag] had eight points.

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Arike Ogunbowale names Caitlin Clark as one of her favorite players in the WNBA

“I just love her game…She’s an amazing player.”

A hooper knows a fellow hooper, and Arike Ogunbowale is a big fan of Caitlin Clark.

It’s been really dope the past several days to see the players from around the league celebrate each other. One of the best moments from WNBA All-Star weekend was watching Caitlin be in awe of Arike’s prowess. She heaped praise on the Dallas Wings Star, calling her the WNBA’s best one-on-one player. Arike returned the favor during a recent ESPN segment.

She was asked about playing with (and against) Caitlin while on Sports Center, and she didn’t hesitate to let everyone know that she admired Caitlin’s game. Here’s what she shared:

“I’ve been a fan of her since she’s been in college…’Cause I just love hoopers. You guys obviously see my game, and you know, I see a lot of similarities…”

“I just love her game…She’s an amazing player. You know, Indiana is definitely lucky to have her…She’s one of my favorite players in the league as well.”

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Photos of Arike Ogunbowale’s historic WNBA All-Star MVP performance

Here’s how history looked.

The consensus after the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game was that it was the best one ever. That was in no small part because of what Notre Dame legend [autotag]Arike Ogunbowale[/autotag] did. She followed a scoreless first half with 34 points in the second half to set the single-game scoring record. That gave Team WNBA a 117-109 victory over the U.S. Olympic team and Ogunbowale her second All-Star MVP.

Ogunbowale will remember this night for the rest of her life. Feeling she would be snubbed from the Olympic team, she withdrew from consideration early on. Now, she can move forward knowing that twice now, she’s been left off the team and embarrassed that team twice in as many All-Star Games with the Team USA-Team WNBA format. Hopefully, she’ll be on the other side of that in 2028.

Here are some photos from a night in which Ogunbowale’s play was as hot as the weather in Phoenix:

Arike Ogunbowale’s electric WNBA All-Star Game performance earned her MVP honors and so much love from hoops fans

Arike Ogunbowale absolutely COOKED Team USA, and hoops fans loved it.

Arike Ogunbowale was on an ABSOLUTE HEATER during Saturday’s WNBA All-Star game.

All day, I could not land on who I thought might be the All-Star Game MVP. Update: IT’S ARIKE OGUNBOWALE. The woman dropped 21 points — DURING THE THIRD QUARTER ALONE — and somehow, that wasn’t enough. She just kept going until she got to 34 points and a new WNBA All-Star record.

Arike. GIRL. These Team USA players have families. You didn’t have to do them like this. Actually, you know what? I’M GLAD YOU DID. You dropped buckets on headtops with over 16,000 fans in the building and a ton more watching from home. That brilliant effort earned you WELL-DESERVED MVP honors.

Arike is just the fourth player behind Lisa Leslie, Maya Moore and Swin Cash to win multiple All-Star Game MVP trophies. Super impressive stuff.

Her performance was so good that fans couldn’t help but share some fitting memes about her huge night against Team USA.

UPDATE: Arike posted a nearly soundless postgame reaction showing off the MVP trophy and then dropped a single emoji minutes later. COLD.

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Caitlin Clark explains why Arike Ogunbowale is the WNBA’s best one-on-one player after stellar All-Star Game

“She just has that skill. She can get whatever shot, whenever she wants it.”

Twice in the past four years, a group of WNBA All-Stars has faced off against Team USA in an exhibition before the Olympics. And each time, the Olympians have been torched by Arike Ogunbowale.

The Dallas Wings guard – who said earlier this summer that she removed herself from Olympic consideration due to “politics” – won her second WNBA All-Star Game MVP award on Saturday night by scoring an all-star record 34 points, leading Team WNBA past Team USA, 117-109.

Ogunbowale shot 8-of-13 from 3-point land and was simply unstoppable in the third quarter, scoring 21 of her points in that period.

At some point in the fourth quarter, the folks on Team WNBA tried to sub Caitlin Clark in for Ogunbowale, but the rookie refused. She sat back and watched the Notre Dame product cook like the rest of us.

In a pair of interviews, Clark – herself no stranger to scoring boatloads of points from beyond the arc – explained by Ogunbowale is the best one-on-one player in the league.

“She just has that skill. She can get whatever shot, whenever she wants it. That’s how good she is with the ball. It was fun to watch. That was exciting for me.”

“Oh my goodness. Arike is starting to feel it, get her the ball… She’s pretty dang good.”

Clark dished out a rookie All-Star Game record 10 assists, a few of which resulted in Ogunbowale 3-pointers.

Arike Ogunbowale sets WNBA All-Star scoring record, wins second MVP

Irish fans know she’s not afraid of the spotlight.

Notre Dame legend [autotag]Arike Ogunbowale[/autotag] didn’t think she had a shot at making Team USA for the 2024 Olympics. She saved herself the frustration by withdrawing from the pool of potential players early. But when she represented Team WNBA against the same U.S. Olympic team in the WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix, she proved she should be going to Paris.

After being held scoreless in the first half, Ogunbowale set a WNBA All-Star record with 34 points, all in the second half, to lead Team WNBA to a 117-109 victory. She scored 24 of those points on eight 3-pointers.

Ogunbowale’s reward was her second WNBA All-Star MVP Award, her first coming in 2021 when the league All-Stars last faced an Olympic team. She’s the fourth player to win the award more than once. It marked the third time in four years a former Notre Dame player won All-Star MVP.

[autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag], the 2023 All-Star MVP, failed to score on three field-goal attempts. Her U.S. teammate, [autotag]Jackie Young[/autotag], made a single field goal on five attempts. [autotag]Kayla McBride[/autotag], the fourth former Irish player in the game, made her only shot attempt for Team WNBA, which came from 3-point range.

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Marina Mabrey, Kayla McBride compete in WNBA All-Star events

Did you watch?

Notre Dame had some representation to tip off WNBA All-Star festivities over the next couple of days. Two of the three events held Friday in Phoenix featured that representation. Regrettably, it didn’t result in any hardware.

[autotag]Marina Mabrey[/autotag], who was traded from the Chicago Sky at her request earlier this week to the Connecticut Sun, competed in the Skills Challenge, the evening’s first event. You can’t see it that well in the video, but she fumbled a couple of times towards the end, costing her precious time:

The fumbles proved costly as she missed out on the final by two tenths of a second. All she could at that point was look to the 3-Point Contest, but she scored a contest-low 19 points:

Fellow former Irish standout [autotag]Kayla McBride[/autotag] of the Minnesota Lynx came right after her and scored enough points to stay alive:

However, she also didn’t advance to the final, so that was it for Notre Dame fans for the evening. The Atlanta Dream’s Allisha Gray wound up winning both events, becoming the first player to do so on the same night.

McBride and [autotag]Arike Ogunbowale[/autotag] will compete with the rest of the WNBA All-Stars in the All-Star Game on Saturday. They’ll be up against the U.S. Olympic team featuring [autotag]Jackie Young[/autotag] and [autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag].

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