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Even in Notre Dame’s Year of Transition, Hannah Hidalgo Has Found a Way to Grow

The junior guard is one of three players who returned from last season’s roster, which has meant taking on a leadership role both on and off the court. 
Madison Williams|
Hannah Hidalgo was third in the country in scoring this season and led the nation in steals.
Hannah Hidalgo was third in the country in scoring this season and led the nation in steals. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Basketball runs in Hannah Hidalgo’s blood. Both of her parents are basketball coaches, and her brothers played before her. For the Notre Dame guard, it was inevitable for her to pick up the orange ball, too. 

“Thank God it worked out really good,” Hidalgo told Sports Illustrated. “I’m happy where I’m at now.”

And just how good has it been for her, you may wonder?

Hidalgo is one of the best women’s college basketball players right now. In her third season  with the Fighting Irish, she is a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award for the third time. Her freshman season she was up against winner Caitlin Clark, and last year the honor went to JuJu Watkins. Hidalgo is up against tough competition yet again, especially with UConn’s Sarah Strong as the favorite. But the Notre Dame junior still thinks this season is a memorable one.  

“This year has been a lot of growth in my game, not even just skill-wise, but the intangibles,” Hidalgo says. “The biggest thing for me is leadership and being able to have that voice and calm demeanor about me.”

Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey smiles at hearing her player’s word choice. She’s in complete agreement with what Hidalgo’s season has been defined by.

“I think [growth’s] the perfect word,” Ivey told SI. “I think she’s grown so much as a leader, having the highs and lows of this season. She’s really become outside of the basketball piece. Being a leader, her voice helped really build the chemistry of this team—it’s grown her character this season.”

Hidalgo’s jump into a leadership role was natural, but also necessary , especially with Notre Dame’s roster undergoing major changes. 

Last year’s 28–6 Fighting Irish squad saw almost a complete sweep of the roster for the 2025–26 season. Notably, Notre Dame lost star guard Olivia Miles in the transfer portal to TCU, then Sonia Citron to the WNBA. Hidalgo, Cassandre Prosper and KK Bransford were the only three returning players this season. As one of the longest tenured players on the team, Hidalgo knew she had to step up and help lead her teammates.

But she’s stepped up in more tangible ways, too. The 2025–26 regular season was a historical one for Hidalgo in many ways. For starters, she averaged 25.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.4 steals and 5.3 assists per game, making her the first Division I women’s player since the 1999–2000 season to hit these average marks. 

These numbers, along with her incredible defensive performances, helped Hidalgo repeat as both the ACC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. She’s the first player in ACC history to win these two honors in back-to-back seasons. 

“She’s one of the best two-way players in the game,” Ivey says. “You don’t see that as often, especially her being 5’6”. She’s the best defender on the floor. Being defensive minded is a rare art, so for her to love playing defense the way she plays is very unique.”

Ivey informed Hidalgo of her honors this year, and the coach made sure to celebrate Hidalgo’s amazing achievement amongst the rest of her Fighting Irish squad.

“I’m like a proud mom,” Ivey says. “Knowing that she received both awards—[ACC] Defensive Player of the Year and Player of the Year—and doing that two years in a row is so hard to do. I just wanted it to be a special moment for her to be celebrated. My team is really close, they celebrate each other, and I wanted the team to be a part of that. I was just really excited to share the great news, I always love when my players are honored.

“It just makes me super happy that she’s attaining a lot of her goals and her dreams and we get a chance to be along in that journey with her.”

While Hidalgo has succeeded in juggling quite a bit this season, she did need help at the ACC tournament. When Hidalgo was given the physical awards, the conference’s commissioner Jim Phillips assisted her in holding all four.

Hidalgo notably broke a few records this past season, too. Back on Nov. 12 vs. Akron, the guard accomplished something no one else in the history of the NBA, WNBA and college basketball has ever done—she recorded 44 points and 16 steals in a single game. For context, the NBA’s record for most steals in a game is 11 (Larry Kenon in 1976 and Kendall Gill in ‘99), while the WNBA’s record is 10 (Ticha Penicheiro in 2003). Hidalgo crushed these records and made a category of her own at just 20 years of age at the time.

It should be no surprise that Hidalgo now holds the ACC record for the most steals (166) in a single season. With this record, Hidalgo surpassed the long-standing record from Virginia’s Donna Holt (164) from the 1987–88 season. Hidalgo’s mark is also now the Notre Dame record, passing Fighting Irish great Skylar Diggins, who had 114 steals in 2013. She held the all-time program steals record with 381 until Hidalgo broke that, too.

It’s all still “surreal” for Hidalgo to be mentioned amongst these basketball legends.

“To be in talks with greats, breaking records that greats have set, like the steals record here was Skylar Diggins. … I’m truly blessed to be in the position where I can do those things. It means the world,” Hidalgo says. “To be mentioned with these greats that have come through the game and have laid the groundwork is something that’s really surreal and something that’s crazy to even think about. I still don’t even fathom a lot. I wake up, and I’m a grateful person. Just being in those talks for awards or with other greats, or celebrities in my opinion—ah, it’s crazy.”

Hidalgo made more Notre Dame history this season, too, of course. The star currently holds the program record for the most consecutive games with at least 10 points scored with 96 (and counting). Additionally, she reached 2,000 career points in just 86 career games, the fastest an ACC or Notre Dame player ever reached that mark. The previous ACC record was 89 games, while the school’s record was 109 games.

Ivey sees a lot of the starpower some of her previous Fighting Irish legends had in Hidalgo. She doesn’t see the 21-year-old slowing down any time soon.

“She doesn’t worry about anything, she just competes,” Ivey says. “It’s like she probably sees red when she’s on the court. I’ve seen that a little bit in a couple players I’ve been around—Arike [Ogunbowale], Jackie Young, Skylar for sure. For Hannah, she’s on track to probably break so many records here at Notre Dame. … She just continues to perform every time she steps on the court. I think that’s what is the most impressive and she’s done it consistently.”

Hidalgo’s starpower has spread throughout the country, specifically during the women’s basketball conference tournaments in early March. Notre Dame placed billboards of Hidalgo outside of five of the tournaments in different cities across the country—ACC in Duluth, Ga., Big Ten in Indianapolis, Big 12 in Kansas City, Big East in Uncasville, Conn. and SEC in Greenville, S.C. The picture included the words “dynamic, disruptive, clutch, tenacious, electric, elite” to showcase the “complete” Hidalgo. Here’s a look at the billboard that was shown in Kansas City.

Hidalgo does a good job of not focusing on the outside noise before she steps onto the court. She says she puts “the conversation on mute” before a game starts, and she isn’t phased by the records broken or the awards won. She’s truly “blessed” by all the recognition and accomplishments, but her main goal is to win. The rest is something she can celebrate when the Fighting Irish’s season is over.

This is a mindset Ivey hopes Hidalgo keeps with her throughout the rest of her basketball career. There’s always outside noise and perspectives, but Hidalgo has a good support system and is able to shut it out when it’s needed.

“Sometimes I see when you’re a high-profile player with the stresses and distractions that the media, like social media, can bring and being in the spotlight, sometimes that’s depleting. I want her to continue to be full of life, full of energy, full of love and passion for the game. I love that that’s what I see right now [in her].”

Hidalgo’s ultimate goal is to play in the WNBA, but she still has one more collegiate season to go before then. She’s expected to enter the 2027 WNBA draft. So, in the near future, Hidalgo’s focus is Notre Dame’s run at the 2026 NCAA tournament. The Fighting Irish lost in the Sweet 16 in the past four seasons. The team, understandably, has the goal to win the national championship, but as a six-seed, it’ll be a tougher journey. Notre Dame sits in the Fort Worth 1 region of the bracket with reigning champions UConn as the No. 1 seed. 

Hidalgo is heading into this year’s tournament with the same mindset she always has: stay calm. 

“The biggest thing in the NCAA [tournament] is being poised, being calm. There’s a lot on the line,” Hidalgo says. “You feel the pressure a lot, you know there’s pressure, but it’s just the matter of maintaining it and just putting it to the side and just focusing on where you’re at right now and not letting the pressure overwhelm you, just to be relaxed.”

Notre Dame faces No. 11 Fairfield on Saturday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

While Hidalgo has her goals of winning a national championship and competing in the WNBA fresh on her mind, these aren’t necessarily her biggest goals for her basketball career. Ultimately she hopes to continue inspiring the younger generation to play basketball and pay attention to women’s basketball, or women’s sports in general. 

“[I want] to be a model for the younger generation, to be someone that kids look up to,” Hidalgo says. “They come up to me all the time and say ‘I play basketball. I play point guard. I love watching your game. I try modeling my game after you.’ And what’s so awesome just now is that it’s not just little girls coming up, but it’s little boys, too. Just being able to say ‘I love your game. I model my game after you’ is different. 

“When I was younger, that wasn’t a thing. No one was watching women’s basketball, or women’s sports in general, especially young boys who were modeling their game after NBA guys. To be able to have that speaks so much to the evolution of women’s basketball and how far we’ve come. It’s a blessing to be a part of a generation where women’s basketball is on the rise and is continuing to rise.”

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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

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