BIRMINGHAM — Five weeks ago, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were No. 1 in the nation, and now here was Hannah Hidalgo, watching her last shot of the season bounce off the rim and out of bounds. The end was sudden and slow—the Fighting Irish led by nine midway through the third quarter, but they started faltering in February. Hidalgo looked over at teammate Liatu King, her face asking questions her voice dared not utter: How did I miss that, how did we lose this, how is it over …
A 71–62 loss to the TCU Horned Frogs was a painful way to end a really joyful run. Starting with a win over Texas on Dec. 5, Notre Dame won 19 straight games. The Irish spent 11 weeks in the top three of the Associated Press poll. They lost four of their last eight games and were eliminated in the Sweet 16. You can look at those facts and say they collapsed. But it’s not that simple.
This Notre Dame team played beautiful basketball, the kind that only occurs when smart, skilled, unselfish players earn the trust of an excellent coach. At their best, the Fighting Irish were a pleasure to watch, and there were stretches against TCU when they looked like that team. But this game also revealed their limitations.
Only one Notre Dame starter is taller than 6' 1": Maddy Westbeld, who is 6' 3". That was a problem against TCU’s 6' 7" Sedona Prince. Westbeld said, “The game plan was just to be as physical as possible with her—really tried to push her off the block and make her work for everything.” She battled gamely. But Prince still scored 21 points, and 11 were free throws. The Irish also had no answer for Horned Frogs star Hailey Van Lith; Hidalgo is a defensive menace, but she is undersized, and fellow guard Olivia Miles was limited by an ankle injury. Van Lith drove into the paint at will. It was just too easy for TCU to get good shots all day long.
That put pressure on the Notre Dame offense to be great. At times, it was. In the fourth quarter, it wasn’t.
“No offense to them, but it was really nothing they did,” Miles said afterward. “…We literally were just missing shots we normally make. Shots that we should make.” The Irish missed some shots they normally make down the stretch, and they scored just 10 points in the fourth quarter. But this is also not as simple as it seems.
TCU blocked eight Notre Dame shots in the second half. Prince blocked five. When players have that many of their shots blocked, they tend to compensate, either by rushing shots or altering their shooting trajectory. Notre Dame appeared to do that in the fourth quarter. Hidalgo is an extraordinary player, but she missed 16 of her 19 shots, in part, because Prince was protecting the rim, and Prince is 13 inches taller than she is.
Notre Dame had a slim margin for error against a team with a tough penetrating guard and a shot-blocking center who can score. The Irish still could have beaten TCU, but what would they have done against Connecticut’s Paige Bueckers, who is bigger and better than Van Lith, or UCLA’s Lauren Betts, who is just as big and better than Prince? (Yes, I know Notre Dame beat UConn, but that was in December, not in the NCAA tournament, and Azzi Fudd did not play.)
The Irish seemed to understand that while the ending was disappointing, the story of their season is one of achievement. Forget the rankings: If you watched Notre Dame, you saw a team that squeezed everything it could out of its roster. Senior Sonia Citron said afterward, “I’m not even thinking about the game. I’m thinking about the people.” She’ll miss them, they’ll miss her, and they should all look back on this season and think about what they gave, not what they gave up.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Notre Dame Sees a Disappointing End to a Memorable Season .
