No. 2 TCU
Women's Basketball
LOS ANGELES — Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles added another bullet point to their respective accolade lists on Tuesday, as the Notre Dame guards were named to the John R. Wooden Award Late Midseason Top 20. Both players have been on the list in their careers, and Hidalgo was a finalist last year.
After a record-breaking season, Hidalgo has taken it up a notch in her second year. The sophomore out of South Jersey is averaging 25.9 points (second in the nation) and 4.0 steals (third in the nation) per game. She is pacing the ACC in swipes, ranks eighth in field goal percentage (50.4), fourth in free throw percentage (86.1) and third in 3-point percentage (43.5). She is also sinking 2.4 triples per game, good for sixth in the conference.
This season, Hidalgo reached 1000 career points in 44 games, a program record. After back-to-back 30-point performances last week against Virginia Tech and Louisville, the guard now has nine with 30+ in her career, second in program history and trailing only Irish legend Arike Ogunbowale. On Sunday against Cal, she recorded her 45th career game with at least 20 points, tying Skylar Diggins for fourth in program history.
After suffering a torn ACL in February 2023, Miles has returned and is having the best year of her career. She is averaging 16.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game and is the only player in the nation posting 16, 6 and 6. Miles leads the ACC in both assists (147) and assists per game (6.4), and the Phillipsburg, N.J., native is the NCAA’s active leader with 6.7 assists per game across her career. She also ranks seventh in the conference this year with a 52.5 field goal percentage. Along with Hidalgo, Miles is the only ACC guard shooting 50 percent from the floor, 40 percent from deep and averaging 15 or more points per game.
The greatest improvement in Miles’ game since her return has come from beyond the arc. Over the first three years of her career, Miles shot 24.6 percent from deep. This season, she’s sitting at 43.1 percent, which is 28th in the country.
Additionally, Miles has three triple-doubles already this season, more than anyone else in the nation, and now has six in her career, tied for the most in ACC women’s basketball history. She also is the only active player with at least 25 double-doubles and at least five triple-doubles.