SOUTH BEND, Ind. — When Notre Dame was knocked out of the ACC tournament semifinals by Duke in a 61-56 loss, they took a break: a break from each other, and a break from basketball. With the school on spring break, the Fighting Irish head coach Nielle Ivey gave her players and herself some time off.
Hannah Hidalgo, who was named a first-team All-American on Wednesday, went home to see her family in New Jersey. Senior Sonia Citron joined her family at her brother’s house in Florida. Ivey went home to South Bend and spent time with friends.
“We had a couple days to reset and just focus on what’s to come and just get our mental right,” Hidalgo said on Thursday ahead of Notre Dame’s first-round NCAA tournament game on Friday. “Because, you know, we’ve been through a lot of highs and lows. Just being able to reset and then come back and regroup and appreciate everything that we have in the locker room was really important.”
[You could win $25K in the Women’s Bracket Mayhem contest. Enter now!]
The Irish had a winning streak that started with a win over then-second-ranked UConn on December 12. Behind Hidalgo and Olivia Miles, Notre Dame strung together 17 victories, which included wins over North Carolina, California and Duke. They even picked up a No. 1 ranking in both the AP and the coaches polls in Week 16, after starting the season ranked No. 6.
But a loss to North Carolina State on February 23 started a rough patch. It was followed by a home loss to Florida State four days later. Notre Dame regrouped for its final regular-season game winning by 13 against Louisville, and ended the season ranked No. 8 in the AP poll.
In the ACC tournament, the Fighting Irish were knocked out in an ugly semifinal loss, as no one outside of Hidalgo and Miles scored in double digits. Two starters, Maddy Westbeld and Liatu King, didn’t score at all. At the exact time Notre Dame needed to be picking up momentum, they looked like they were running out of steam.
When the team returned to South Bend, they went to senior Maddy Westbeld’s house, and she cooked for her teammates. They played Mafia and regrouped.
“It was nice, when basketball seems like the end of the world, we were just spending time together,” Citron said.
Ivey was thrilled when she heard her team had decided to have that dinner and spend time together off the court.
“I think it’s our culture, togetherness, sisterhood, that family atmosphere,” she said. “They told me that they had dinner. I just loved the idea that they got a chance to get together and be away from the game but also connecting with each other. I think connectivity is a big piece of chemistry. When I found out they had dinner, it warmed my heart.”
Connection and chemistry will be important for Notre Dame, the No. 3 seed in the Birmingham 2 regional, as they face Stephen F. Austin, the 14-seed and the champions of the Southland Conference. The Irish play best when they are passing the ball, averaging 17.4 assists per game as a team, 20th in the NCAA. But in the ACC tournament loss to Duke, Notre Dame had 10 assists. They had only had 13 assists in the loss to NC State that began their slide.
“We’re trying now even more than ever to trust wholeheartedly in each other. I think that’s a big thing for us, trusting that my teammate has my back, my teammate is going to be there for rotation, help, talk to me,” Hidalgo said.
In February, Notre Dame was ranked as one of the four top seeds in the NCAA’s early seeding reveal. The losses at the end of the season were disappointing, and pushed the Irish down to a three-seed. But Ivey views that adversity as a chance to grow.
“As long as you learn from those lessons, those failures, they can always provide growth. That’s what I’m looking for for our team,” Ivey said. “We had some great practices, time off for us to regroup. Tomorrow you’re going to see a different team. What I want the crowd to see is to see a team that’s going to leave it all out on the floor, like Sonia says, with a defensive tenacity. That’s an area I’m trying to fix.”
At the beginning of practice on Thursday, Notre Dame was loose but focused. They started by standing in a circle, passing along elaborate handshakes to the whole group. That connection is what they want to carry onto the court on Friday, and with their home crowd behind them, show they can move past their rough patches and into the second round.
No. 3 Notre Dame takes on No. 14 Stephen F. Austin at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN.
