Tag: UConn

Niele Ivey, Maddy Westbeld speak after Notre Dame beats Pittsburgh

There was more than basketball to talk about during this game.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame’s 78-53 win over Pittsburgh took on a slightly different tone than usual. While there was the usual happiness over beating an ACC opponent handily, that wasn’t the only thing the Irish were celebrating. This game was the annual Think Pink Game that pays tribute to cancer survivors, and many of them were on hand.

Keeping with the spirit of the day, Niele Ivey and Maddy Westbeld talked about the subject that the game was played in awareness of in addition to answering the usual questions about the game and the team. In fact, some of the questions also were about cancer affecting their personal lives and the community in general. It was the least they could do for a game like this.

Also keeping in the spirit of the dominant win, Ivey and Westbeld were very relaxed and joking during their postgame news conference. Here’s some of what they had to say:

Notre Dame pulls away from Pittsburgh

The Irish celebrate winning by winning.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame’s first home game since beating UConn was a celebratory one. Not only did the Irish celebrate their biggest win of the season, but it was a day to honor cancer survivors during their annual Think Pink Game. The only way to make it better was with a another win, and they got it to the tune of 78-53 over Pittsburgh.

Even though the Irish are the better team, the Panthers hung around for much of the first half. In the final few minutes before halftime, the Irish extended a two-point lead to 14.

The Panthers countered by cutting that lead to nine going into the locker room, but they shot only 2 of 18 from the field in the third quarter. The Irish took full advantage of that with their lead only growing from there.

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] was held to only a single free throw first quarter but bounced back to score 22 points while also contributing five assists and three steals. Before Hidalgo got cooking in the second quarter and beyond, [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] picked up the slack, scoring nine of her 15 points in the first quarter. She completed the double-double with 14 rebounds.

[autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] also scored 15 points and got three of her own steals. [autotag]Anna DeWolfe[/autotag] added 10 points.

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Notre Dame scores 26 unanswered to pull away from Georgia Tech

The Irish win with ease again.

Coming off an impressive win at UConn, Notre Dame could have been ready for a letdown against Georgia Tech as it resumed ACC play. Never mind that the Yellow Jackets had lost four of their previous five games. That letdown didn’t happen though. In fact, the Irish completely obliterated their hosts, 85-48.

After the teams were tied at 9 with 6:35 remaining in the first quarter, the Irish (16-4, 6-3) floored the gas pedal. They scored 26 unanswered points and didn’t allow the Jackets (13-9, 4-6) to crack the scoreboard again until for a full quarter’s worth of game time.

[autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] put the exclamation point on the first half by beating the halftime buzzer for the second straight game, this time with a layup after hitting a 3 against the Huskies. The second half became a mere formality.

For the second straight game, Hidalgo set a career scoring high, this time to the tune of 35 points. She also had six steals after not getting any in the last contest, allowing her to reach the 100-steal mark for the season. Rounding out another impressive night for her were eight assists.

[autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag] was the only other Irish to reach double figures. She scored 19 points and finished one rebound shy of a double-double.

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Two more weekly honors for Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo

She’s unbelievable.

By the time this season is over, Notre Dame’s [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] will have more hardware than most players earn their entire careers. The freshman guard is the ACC Rookie of the Week for the ninth time, leaving her one short of the conference record for most in a season, and the Naismith Women’s College Player of the Week, undoubtedly fueled by her 34 points in the Irish’s upset road win over UConn.

What Hidalgo is doing this season defies all comprehension. From the moment she set foot in the court in the Irish’s season opener against top-ranked South Carolina in Paris, she’s barely had a bad game if at all. Until she was held without a steal against the Huskies, she had no fewer than three in every game before that. Only three players, including Iowa star Caitlin Clark, have higher scoring averages than her nationally. One only can imagine what she’ll do next.

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Women’s basketball national scoring leaders as of Jan. 28 (and steals)

A certain star for Notre Dame continues to draw attention.

For the first time in her collegiate career, Notre Dame’s [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] was held without a steal against UConn. The tradeoff was she scored a career-high 34 points, which also is the Irish freshman record. Here’s what that means as far as her ranking among the national scoring leaders as well as their steals numbers:

Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles officially ruled out for the season

What we hoped wasn’t true has been realized.

Saturday began with the hope that injured Notre Dame All-American guard [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] would play this season. Before the Irish’s 82-67 upset of UConn, Miles was spotted taking shots on the court. There even was speculation that she would play in this game, but she soon changed back into the bench garb she’s worn all season.

While the game still was going on, the Fox announcing team of Gus Johnson and Stephanie White casually let it slip on the air that Miles had told them she wouldn’t play at all this season. This fueled speculation about how true that was. Although [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] didn’t confirm it in her postgame news conference, a Notre Dame official soon confirmed to several Irish beat reporters that the worst fears were in fact true:

This obviously puts a damper on a great night and is a tough blow for the player who was the face of the program until [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] started turning heads this year. The good news is Miles will have two years of eligibility remaining, so she and Hidalgo still will have time to be teammates on the court. Still, Irish fans can’t help but wonder how differently this season would have gone had she been able to play.

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Photos from Notre Dame’s upset road victory over UConn

What will you remember about this game?

Barring a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, there might not be a bigger moment for Notre Dame this season. With a prime-time TV audience watching, the Irish weren’t expected to beat UConn in its building. Whether that served as motivation or not, they came to play and came to win. That’s exactly what happened in an 82-67 upset victory.

When those currently involved with the program are done at Notre Dame, this undoubtedly will be one of their biggest memories. Just when everyone had written them off, especially since they had just lost at home to Syracuse two nights earlier, they decided to make everyone think about them once again.

These are the nights in which photos definitely come in handy. For those who want to remember it for the rest of their lives, they’ll have something to look at instead of only what plays back in their heads. Here are some of the photos from this game:

Social media reacts to Notre Dame’s upset win over UConn

You’re loving this moment, right?

With Notre Dame battling UConn in prime time on Fox, all eyes were on this game. The Huskies have such a big reputation that it might be forgotten among casual fans that the Irish have their own track record of success. They definitely can see that after the Irish upset the Huskies on their floor in convincing fashion, 82-67. It is without question the biggest moment of the season to this point.

The people who felt best about this win obviously were Irish fans and those who are connected to the program one way or another. The only thing they could do was take to social react and share their thoughts. These are the folks who either support all things Notre Dame or know the program so well that they’ll remember nights like this long after most others have forgotten about it.

Here are some of the best reactions to this win on social media:

Notre Dame upsets UConn in prime-time game on road

It’s rare for a nonconference game to come up in January and even rarer for them to feel so good.

It’s rare for a nonconference game to come up in January and even rarer for them to feel so good. In front of a prime-time TV audience, Notre Dame had the chance to show what it could do against longtime rival UConn.

By the end, people had to question what the Irish couldn’t do. They got the signature win of their season by upsetting the Huskies, 82-67, for the second straight year, this time on their home floor. Halting the Huskies’ 13-game winning streak and spoiling a night in which they honored past national championship teams was not a bad response to the home loss to Syracuse two days earlier.

The Irish (15-4) trailed by 12 early in the second quarter but went into halftime on a 26-5 run that ended with a [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Huskies (17-4) came back to take a three-point lead late in the third quarter, but the Irish scored six unanswered to finish the frame.

The fourth quarter saw the Irish take advantage of poor Huskies shooting (2 of 12 from the field), and they outscored their hosts, 22-10, sending several Huskies fans to the exits early.

Hidalgo was held without a steal for the first time in her collegiate career, but she more than made up for that by scoring 34 points, the most for an Irish freshman, to go with 10 rebounds and six assists. [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] was almost as impressive with 23 points, including three 3s.

[autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] scored 15 points, and [autotag]Natalija Marshall[/autotag] added 10 off the bench.

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Watch: Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles practices shooting before UConn game

A sliver of hope for seeing the Irish guard this season exists.

With all of the exciting surrounding [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] this season, it’s often easy to forget about [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag]. Notre Dame’s best player the previous couple of seasons, Miles hasn’t played since she was injured in the Irish’s regular-season finale last year. Since then, the Irish have been vague at best on updates about her, but it appears progress is being made.

Emily Adams of the Hartford Courant took video of Miles practicing her shot ahead the Irish’s much-anticipated game against UConn. Adams speculated that this might mean she would play against the Huskies:

The hope of Miles playing turned out to be short-lived. Soon after, Adams spotted Miles on the Irish’s bench having changed out of her basketball gear:

As the Irish get deeper into the season, each game obviously becomes more important. Having Miles back for the ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament would be a huge boost. The question is how she’ll fit into a rotation that is used to playing without her by now. Hopefully, we’ll get an answer soon.

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