Notre Dame has already taken down three preseason All-Americans. The Fighting Irish beat Madison Booker’s Texas Longhorns, and toppled Kiki Iriafen and JuJu Watkins at USC. Notre Dame is electing to play the game on its hardest difficulty. The next level comes in the form of Paige Bueckers and second-ranked UConn.
No. 2 Connecticut at No. 8 Notre Dame
Venue: Purcell Pavilion — South Bend, Ind.
Time: 7 p.m. ET Thursday
TV: ESPN
Streaming: Fubo (try for free)
Thursday’s top-10 showdown should be starry, high-stakes stuff.
Of course, the 7-2 Fighting Irish have a Player of the Year candidate of their own. Hannah Hidalgo has somehow been even better than her First-Team All-American campaign last season. She’s putting up 24.6 points per game, and hitting the 3-ball at a 39.5 percent clip on high volume. Hidalgo also leads the ACC with 4.1 steals per game.
Senior guard Olivia Miles is also enjoying a stellar start to this season, leading the conference in assists per game while scoring more than 17 a night 63.5 effective shooting. Plus, fellow senior guard Sonia Citron is coming off dropping 25 points on just 15 shots to go with 11 rebounds in the Irish’s win over Syracuse on Sunday.
Niele Ivey’s group touts one of the most dangerous offenses in the sport. They are undefeated at…
