When Notre Dame's Sweet 16 game against Oregon State resumed at the start of the second quarter on Friday, star freshman Hannah Hidalgo was stuck on the bench dealing with a nose ring situation. What was surely her strangest trip to the bench all season lasted over four minutes of game time, as the team's medical staff struggled to remove the jewelry.
Hidalgo's day never got any better. She finished with 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals on 4-of-17 from the field, as Notre Dame fell to Oregon State in the Sweet 16, 70-65. Her 10 points tied a season-low and this was her second-least efficient shooting performance.
While the nose ring debacle certainly didn't help matters, Oregon State's defensive game plan was the much bigger issue for Hidalgo. As great as she was this season -- and she won ACC Rookie of the Year, ACC Defensive Player of the Year and ACC Tournament MVP en route to an AP All-American selection -- Hidalgo had a clear weakness on the offensive end that the Beavers exploited.
Hidalgo was fairly efficient overall this season, shooting 45.1% from the field overall and 34.7% from 3-point land. Most of her damage was done at the rim, where she shot 60.7% despite her 5-foot-6 frame, and on catch-and-shoot 3s, where she was at 37.5%. When teams forced her to do anything else, it usually wasn't pretty. That was particularly true of her off-the-dribble shooting. Per Synergy Sports, she was 50-of-182 (27.5%) on pull-up jump shots this season.
Guess what Oregon State made HIdalgo do all game? On nearly every defensive possession, the Beavers parked All-American center Raegan Beers in the paint and dared Hidalgo and the Fighting Irish to beat them with jump shots. Of Hidalgo's 17 attempts, 15 of them were self-created off the bounce, and only four were in the restricted area.
Here's Hidalgo's shot chart:
Here's a full breakdown of her attempts:
| Shot type | FGM | FGA | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
Mid-range pull-up | 1 | 8 | 2 |
Runner | 3 | 5 | 6 |
Catch-and-shoot 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Pull-up 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Driving layup | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Here's a perfect example from late in the second quarter. Notre Dame goes to a high ball screen action and Beers never even thinks about coming up to meet the action. She just sits back, preventing any path to the rim for Hidalgo, who simply doesn't have the size to challenge her. As a result, Hidalgo is forced into a pull-up that comes up short. We saw that time and again, throughout the game, as Oregon State made a bet that Hidalgo couldn't beat them as a jump shooter.
Another key aspect of the Beavers' strategy was having their perimeter players fight through the screens to get rear contests. That is, they would get a hand up and fly by from behind, which kept Hidalgo uncomfortable on these attempts. Here's an illustration from the third quarter when Donovyn Hunter gets back into the play. She's not going to block this shot, but she's right in Hidalgo's space.
Hidalgo burst onto the scene this season, establishing herself as one of the best players in the country as a freshman thanks to her elite defense and dynamic playmaking. As this game showed, however, she still has plenty of room to grow.
"You can't teach experience, especially for Hannah," Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said. "These type of moments are part of our journey. It's part of our growth as a program, as a team ... we're going to learn from all the wonderful experiences we've received this season. We've had so much growth this year, and I'm really, really excited for the team that's returning. It's going to be incredible to see."
