The upcoming clash between the No. 1 UConn Huskies and No. 6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Elite Eight of the women’s NCAA Tournament has already made history before it tips off on Sunday afternoon.
Notre Dame and UConn have played eight March Madness games before, but Sunday will mark the first time the two programs compete for a trip to the Final Four (via Associated Press).
The Huskies are 37-0 and attempting to repeat as national champions. The 25-10 Fighting Irish are familiar with that territory. Notre Dame is in the Elite Eight for the first time since losing in the national title game in 2019 — coming up just short of defending their 2018 national championship.
UConn dismantled Notre Dame, 85-47, on Jan. 19. But star junior guard Hannah Hidalgo is not intimidated ahead of the rematch.
“I feel like I can say that UConn hasn’t seen the best Notre Dame,” Hidalgo said, per ESPN’s Alexa Philippou. “I take joy in knowing that when they saw us the first time, it was not Notre Dame basketball. Now we’re playing Notre Dame basketball to the best of our ability, and so I think it’ll be a fun game.”
Hidalgo added, “I think before when we played UConn, we played a little afraid. I think we were a little probably starstruck. Being in a stage like that was different. […] It was a lot of people’s first time playing at UConn, against UConn. So now that we’ve seen it, we’ve been through it, I think it’ll help us a lot.”
Hidalgo is fresh off an exceptional performance in Notre Dame’s 67-64 win over No. 2 Vanderbilt in the Sweet 16 on Friday. Hidalgo scored 31 points, collected 11 rebounds, had 10 steals, and one of her seven assists came on Cassandre Prosper’s game-winning layup with 22 seconds left.
UConn and Notre Dame will tip off at 1 p.m. EST at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sunday, and the game will be broadcast on ABC.
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