Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1542428
36 FEBRUARY 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY ERIC HANSEN A fter 85 straight appearances in the Associated Press Top 25, Notre Dame found itself unranked Jan. 5 after a lost week that hints at bigger problems ahead. It wasn't just that still-unranked Duke took control early in an 82-68 ACC victory over the then-No. 18 Irish Jan. 4 at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C., in the latest step backward for an Irish team that largely overachieved be- fore the calendar clicked over to 2026. It was how the Blue Devils (9-6 over- all, 4-0 ACC) dogpiled on top of Geor- gia Tech's 95-90 overtime upset of Notre Dame Jan. 1 by providing a tem- plate for other ACC teams to best at- tack All-America junior guard Hannah Hidalgo and her limited inventory of healthy teammates. Making the Irish (10-4, 2-2) pay for playing zone in the first half by raining down threes, Duke — a team averaging 6.0 treys a game — had that many in the first half and was 9 of 18 (50.0 percent) for the game, even after head coach Niele Ivey switched to man-to-man, which did at least mitigate the volume of threes taken. But most disconcerting was Duke head coach Kara Lawson and her team attacking the two areas Ivey promotes as the identity of her team and making them struggle in both areas — overall defense beyond the struggles guarding at the arc and making one of the na- tion's better transition teams play flat- footed on offense. TRANSITION GAME STIFLED The Irish came in averaging 19.5 fast- break points a game, a statistic it usu- ally dominates in games, with a 254-89 collective edge on the season with four games this season not allowing a single transition point. Against Duke, it was the Irish who didn't have a fastbreak point in the first half and finished with a 19-4 deficit in that statistical category. The nation's No. 3 team in steals (16.5 per game) went the entire first quarter without one and garnered just 8 thefts for the game. The Irish were outrebounded (39-31), outhustled and arguably outcoached. "We're trying to play a complete game," Ivey said during a brisk four- minute press conference. "I thought in spurts that we really showed our fight and our will." But not enough of it. HIDALGO HEATS UP LATE Hidalgo struggled in the first half but eventually put up her typical triple- double-flirting numbers — 22 points to go along with 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals — all team highs. Cass Prosper continues to be an improved offensive option with 15 points, to go along with Back-To-Back ACC Losses Create Irish Identity Crisis WOMEN'S B A S K E T B A L L Junior point guard Hannah Hidalgo averaged 25.3 points (second nationally) and 5.96 steals (first) per game in Notre Dame's first 14 contests this season. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER