SYRACUSE, N.Y. — There is nowhere on the court Olivia Miles doesn’t demand attention. When she’s driving into the paint it becomes paramount. So, too, does Hannah Hidalgo require a close watch, particularly waiting on the wing for her own shot or to wreck an opponent’s.
They’re the dazzling, jaw-dropping, tough-as-nails playmakers carrying on Notre Dame’s “Guard University” legacy. Not a game goes by in which they aren’t Globetrotting their way into highlight reels or finger-rolling in a couple extra points at the end of quarters. Add in WNBA prospect Sonia Citron and it’s a backcourt few in the nation can rival.
A trio does not and cannot win games alone in this women’s basketball era. Not even if the three stars average two-thirds of their team’s offense and opened ACC play at Syracuse with each of them recording 20-point double-doubles.
The No. 8 Fighting Irish’s oft-overlooked frontcourt has held its own in the season’s first month despite being decimated by injuries that have forced them to rely almost solely on two newcomers. They will be the determining factor in another top-10 matchup when rival and second-ranked Connecticut (8-0), with their elite guard duo of Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd, head to South Bend on Thursday (7 p.m. ET on ESPN).
In a matchup of potent backcourts that could cancel each other out, eyes will be on Notre Dame (7-2) freshman Kate Koval and graduate transfer Liatu King against UConn’s Sarah Strong and Ice Brady. In Koval and Strong, two of the top recruits in the freshman class, coaches have spotted traits their legendary programs haven’t experienced in a while.
Injuries force Notre Dame newcomers into starting roles
Notre Dame isn’t fully past the ongoing injury bug that impacted the 2023 matchup with UConn. The Fighting Irish are without their two-year starting frontcourt tandem of fifth-year forwards Maddy Westbeld and Kylee Watson.
The 6-foot-3 Westbeld, who who started all but one game in her career, hoped to return from offseason foot surgery by conference play, so she could be back soon. The 6-4 Watson tore her ACL in the ACC tournament and could be out for the season. Liza Karlen, a graduate transfer from Marquette, left the Oct. 30 exhibition game with a foot/ankle injury and has been in a walking boot.
They’ve turned to Koval and King as their mainstays and the only true forwards in a pool of seven available players.
“This group, they’re resilient,” Irish head coach Niele Ivey said. “Everyone is doing whatever it takes to help us win, which I really appreciate with our backs against the wall. … We have so many people that are basically stepping up and doing whatever’s needed. When you have an unselfish group like that, it’s great to work with.”
Koval, the No. 5 recruit in the 2024 class, is on pace to break the program’s blocked-shot record while averaging 3.7 per game, second best in Division I. It outpaces Ruth Riley’s 3.3 in 1998-99. Only four players have averaged at least 3 per game in Notre Dame history.
“We have not had somebody with her confidence, her presence, her strength [and] physicality in a very long time,” Ivey said. “She’s a person that’s a sponge. She’s very high IQ. And she’s just growing and blossoming.”
Notre Dame doesn’t need massive double-doubles from the 6-5 McDonald’s All-American, but it does need her to stay out of foul trouble so she’s there to deliver when defenses attempt to track or double any of their guards. Her best showing came in the season opener against Mercyhurst, scoring 18 points while shooting 81.8% (9-of-11) with seven rebounds, five blocks and three assists. Against then-No. 3 USC, she scored eight points (4-of-6) with seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks.
“She plays like she’s not a freshman,” Hidalgo said. “Liatu, she’s what? Six foot? She plays bigger than that. We just have a lot of heart.”
King, who is indeed listed at 6-foot, transferred to Notre Dame within conference from Pittsburgh, where she averaged career-highs 18.7 points on 52.3% shooting with 10.3 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.5 blocks. The reigning ACC Most Improved Player and All-ACC first-team selection upped her level with 11 rebounds (ranking eighth) and 2.8 steals per game. She has four double-doubles, including one against then-No. 4 Texas.
“King has the experience,” Ivey said. “She has a lot of poise and she’s great in the mid-range. She plays a lot bigger than her size and has a lot of versatility.”
Though King has not attempted a single 3-pointer in her 115-game career, Hidalgo said to watch for it as they’ve seen her flash it in practices over the summer. Having that versatility and Koval’s presence gives Notre Dame freedom and flexibility so the guards can work within the offense, and the quality depth will only improve when their experienced starting forwards return.
But they face a tall ask in their first UConn game.
UConn sees strength in freshman forward
The Huskies are farther down an injury-riddled road that still led them to a 2023 Final Four berth despite only eight available players. Fudd, their star shooting guard, rejoined fellow No. 1 recruit Bueckers and graduate transfer point guard Kaitlyn Chen in the backcourt, but she is likely out of the Notre Dame game. She sprained her knee in Champions Classic against Louisville on Saturday and will be “day-to-day,” head coach Geno Auriemma said on Tuesday.
With her available, “Obviously, you’re looking at a Final Four team from last year that got way better,” Auriemma said. “Unfortunately, so did a lot of other teams.”
Strong is a key catalyst following a lineage of great UConn forwards. The No. 1 recruit in the class who committed the morning after UConn’s Final Four loss brings a dimension Auriemma said he hasn’t had on his roster in nearly a decade.
“I don’t know that anyone has had the offensive skillset that Sarah has since Stewie (Stewart) was here,” Auriemma said following another 20-plus point outing from Strong at the Champions Classic on Saturday. “They’re completely different players. They’re built differently. They play the game differently. But they accomplish somewhat the same things.”
Unlike Stewart, she’s being asked to contribute a lot immediately at one of women’s basketball’s elite powerhouses because of previous season injuries and the exit of Aaliyah Edwards to the WNBA. A month into her career, the 6-2 freshman looks like an experienced upperclassman attacking the basket, staying poised and reading the game.
“We’ve had a lot of kids come in and have an impact as freshmen right away,” Auriemma told reporters last week. “The difference, a lot of times, was that there were a lot of upperclassmen that they could just kind of (learn from). …. She’s in a unique situation.”
Strong averages 16.3 ppg while shooting 57.3% and 35.7% from 3, all right on the heels or better than Huskies leader Bueckers (18.9 ppg, 56.3%, 42.1%). She’s taken the second-most 3-point attempts and adds 7.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game.
“Sarah’s more like a guard than any of the post players I’ve played with,” Bueckers said.
Brady, a 6-3 redshirt sophomore, is more efficient than her first year when she came off the bench in all but three games. Now Auriemma can turn to the bench for the size of 6-foot-5 center Jana El-Alfy after she enrolled early in 2023, but missed her first season with an offseason Achilles tear at the 2023 FIBA U19 World Cup.
Though a trio can’t win games alone, Auriemma called his best Huskies teams three-pronged. The pinnacle was, Auriemma said, having the nation’s best point guard (Renee Montgomery), the best center (Tina Charles) and the best player in the country (Maya Moore).
“When you can come at people with those three things, then you have a chance to win every single game you play,” Auriemma said. “And we’re fortunate that we have something like that 1733954846.”
