Andrea Adelson
Multiple Authors
FORT WORTH, Texas — Nobody wants to inform Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo that Vanderbilt guard Mikayla Blakes leads the nation in scoring. She has her personal ideas on how exhausting Blakes is to defend.
Ahead of their matchup Friday within the Fort Worth 1 Regional semifinal, Hidalgo referenced Caitlin Clark when requested what makes Blakes so efficient as a scorer.
“The way she’s able to put the ball in the hoop, it’s like Caitlin-type of level,” Hidalgo mentioned Thursday throughout a information convention previewing the sport. “She can score on all three levels, whether that’s getting all the way to the basket, her midrange, or her three. Of course, that’s always tough to guard.”
Blakes averages 27 factors per sport en path to SEC Player of the Year honors. Hidalgo is a terrific scorer in her personal proper, rating No. 3 within the nation (25.2 PPG), can do all of it for Notre Dame, main the nation in steals and profitable ACC Player and Defensive Player of the Year.
“She’s really good, and I feel like one thing about the both of us is we never get denied the ball,” Blakes mentioned. “We’re always finding a way to the ball.”
Their star energy primarily powers this matchup, and there’s loads of familiarity between the 2.
They performed collectively on Team USA final 12 months on the FIBA AmeriCup and competed towards one another in highschool. Hidalgo recalled their highschool matchup in New Jersey — Hidalgo’s crew received — saying, “It was a show. Two dynamic guards. I had to guard her the whole game. I think just her ability to do what she does, you know, the things that she brings to her team is so different.”
This shall be their first assembly in school. The two of them tried to downplay the matchup, regardless of getting repeated questions concerning the different.
“It’s not about me versus Mikayla,” Hidalgo mentioned. “It’s about Notre Dame versus Vanderbilt. It’s really just the way that we’re going to win the game tomorrow is by playing together like we’ve been doing the past couple of months.”
Blakes mentioned taking part in a defender as robust as Hidalgo doesn’t present any further motivation. Nor does it imply she is going to change any half of her sport.
“Hannah is a great player in her own right,” Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph mentioned. “What I do know about Mikayla is, I don’t have to worry about her getting outside of herself. I never have, and my guess is I never will. She was built for these moments. She’s prepared and ready, and it really doesn’t matter who we play against.”
Blakes reiterated that time when requested what the most important secret is towards a participant with 189 steals, a Notre Dame single-season report. Hidalgo already owns this system report for profession steals, changing into the primary participant in program historical past to cross 400.
“One thing about people, when they steal the ball a lot, you can’t be afraid to dribble in front of them, and we’re just going to have to use ball fakes as well,” Blakes mentioned. “She’s really good at reading passing lanes, but we can’t just fully look at where we’re throwing the ball, because she’ll probably get it.”
The roles for Vanderbilt and Notre Dame are reversed on this sport. The sixth-seeded Irish, of their fifth straight Sweet 16, wanted an upset over Ohio State to make it in; No. 2 seed Vanderbilt is in its first Sweet 16 since 2009. Blakes’ potential to assist Ralph rework this system is a big motive; Hidalgo placing her crew on her again after a sluggish begin to the season is a giant motive the Irish are again on the stage.
But not like in earlier years, Notre Dame is the underdog going into their sport. Hidalgo mentioned this season has given her a higher appreciation for making it this far.
“I feel like the past couple of years I might have taken it for granted to be in this position because I felt like we should have been in the Sweet 16 and we should have been winning,” Hidalgo mentioned. “So now I think this year it feels so much different.”
It feels completely different for Vanderbilt, too, and that’s one thing gamers take nice satisfaction in as effectively.
“Vanderbilt is on the up-come right now, and a lot of teams can’t really look at us and be like OK, we’ll dog-walk them by 20. Now people have to respect us,” Blakes mentioned.
