Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1531388
10 FEBRUARY 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER NUMBERS AND QUOTES 3rd Player in Notre Dame women's basketball history to reach 1,000 points, 500 assists and 500 re- bounds in her career is graduate student guard Olivia Miles. She joined guards Skylar Diggins (2009-13) and Lindsay Allen (2013-17), reaching the milestone with a 10-point, 11-rebound, 14-as- sist effort in the Fighting Irish's 95-54 victory over Virginia Dec. 29. It also marked Miles' second straight game with a triple-double, making her the first power confer- ence player to do that since Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark. Through 14 games in 2024-25, Miles had 6 career triple-doubles — three of which have come this season during her comeback from a significant knee injury that required surgery and kept her out for the entirety of the 2023-24 season. Miles is tied for the seventh-most triple-doubles in NCAA basketball history — men or women. Only six players — BYU's Kyle Collinsworth (12) on the men's side, Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu (26), Iowa's Caitlin Clark (17), Lamar 's Chastadie Barrs (9), Penn State's Suzie McConnell (7) and Saint Mary's Louella Tomlinson (7) on the women's side — have more career triple- doubles than Miles. 4 Touchdowns of 98 yards or more for Notre Dame over the three-game stretch against Southern Cal Nov. 30, Indiana Dec. 20 and Georgia Jan. 2. Sophomore cornerback Christian Gray and grad- uate student safety Xavier Watts returned inter- ceptions 99 and 100 yards, respectively, in the regular-season finale against the Trojans, sopho- more running back Jeremiyah Love had a 98-yard touchdown run against the Hoosiers in the first round of the College Football Playoff — which made Notre Dame the only FBS team over the past 10 seasons to have a 98-yard play in consecu- tive games that was not a kickoff or punt return, per OptaSTATS — and graduate student wide re- ceiver Jayden Harrison had a 98-yard kickoff return against the Bulldogs. 17 Notre Dame football players have earned the rare distinc- tion of being a two-time con- sensus All-American, with graduate student safety XAVIER WATTS becoming the first to join that exclusive club since 1993. Watts was a con- sensus first-team selection in 2024 after being a unanimous All-American in 2023, making him one of only two repeat consensus All-Americans across the FBS in 2024 (Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter of Colorado was the other). Watts, Notre Dame's 111th consensus All- America selection, joined back Frank Carideo (1929-30), back Marchy Schwartz (1930-31), end Bob Dove (1941-42), tackle George Con- nor (1946-47), back John Lujack (1946-47), guard Bill Fischer (1947-48), end Leon Hart (1948-49), back Emil Sitko (1948-49), back John Lattner (1952-53), defensive end Ross Browner (1976-77), tight end Ken MacAfee (1976-77), linebacker Bob Crable (1980-81), linebacker Michael Stonebreaker (1988, '90), defensive back Todd Lyght, (1989-90), defensive lineman Chris Zorich, (1989-90) and offensive lineman Aaron Taylor (1992-93) as two-time consensus All-Americans. 200th 200th Career steal for Notre Dame sophomore guard Hannah Hi- dalgo came in her 45th career game, tied for the fastest to reach the mark across all of Division I in the past 25 seasons per ESPN. That came one game after she reached the 1,000-point mark in a school-record 44 games. Both milestones were accomplished before her 20th birthday. Hidalgo could end up Notre Dame's first National Player of the Year since Ruth Riley won the Naismith Award in 2001 — also the year the Irish clinched their first of three national titles. And that's a realistic ceiling for this Notre Dame team, [head coach Niele] Ivey's most promising since taking over for Muffet McGraw in April 2020." — Alexa Philippou of ESPN 4 Times over the last 20 years an opposing player has tallied at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists against UConn women's basketball. Notre Dame sophomore guard HANNAH HIDALGO is responsible for two of those instances, after her 29-point, 10-rebound, 8-assist effort in the Irish's 79-68 win over the Huskies Dec. 12. Last year, she tallied 34 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists in an 82-67 Irish win. She is now tied with former Oregon star Sabrina Ionescu for the most 25-10-5 games (2) versus an Associated Press top-10 opponent over the past 15 seasons, per ESPN Stats & Info. In three games against top-five opponents this season (through Jan. 8), Hidalgo averaged 27.7 points, 8.0 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 3.7 steals. BY STEVE DOWNEY