FORT WORTH, Texas -- Nobody needs to tell Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo that Vanderbilt guard Mikayla Blakes leads the nation in scoring. She has her own thoughts on how hard Blakes is to defend.
Ahead of their matchup Friday in the Fort Worth 1 Regional semifinal, Hidalgo referenced Caitlin Clark when asked what makes Blakes so effective as a scorer.
"The way she's able to put the ball in the hoop, it's like Caitlin-type of level," Hidalgo said Thursday during a news conference previewing the game. "She can score on all three levels, whether that's getting all the way to the basket, her midrange, or her three. Of course, that's always tough to guard."
Blakes averages 27 points per game and had multiple 50-point games this season en route to SEC Player of the Year honors. Hidalgo is a terrific scorer in her own right, ranking No. 3 in the nation (25.2 PPG), can do it all for Notre Dame, leading the nation in steals and winning ACC Player and Defensive Player of the Year.
"She's really good, and I feel like one thing about the both of us is we never get denied the ball," Blakes said. "We're always finding a way to the ball."
Their star power essentially powers this matchup, and there is plenty of familiarity between the two.
They played together on Team USA last year at the FIBA AmeriCup and competed against each other in high school. Hidalgo recalled their high school matchup in New Jersey -- Hidalgo's team won -- saying, "It was a show. Two dynamic guards. I had to guard her the whole game. I think just her ability to do what she does, you know, the things that she brings to her team is so different."
This will be their first meeting in college. The two of them tried to downplay the matchup, despite getting repeated questions about the other.
"It's not about me versus Mikayla," Hidalgo said. "It's about Notre Dame versus Vanderbilt. It's really just the way that we're going to win the game tomorrow is by playing together like we've been doing the past couple of months."
Blakes said playing a defender as tough as Hidalgo does not provide any extra motivation. Nor does it mean she will change any part of her game.
"Hannah is a great player in her own right," Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph said. "What I do know about Mikayla is, I don't have to worry about her getting outside of herself. I never have, and my guess is I never will. She was built for these moments. She's prepared and ready, and it really doesn't matter who we play against."
Blakes reiterated that point when asked what the biggest key is against a player with 189 steals, a Notre Dame single-season record. Hidalgo already owns the program record for career steals, becoming the first player in program history to pass 400.
"One thing about people, when they steal the ball a lot, you can't be afraid to dribble in front of them, and we're just going to have to use ball fakes as well," Blakes said. "She's really good at reading passing lanes, but we can't just fully look at where we're throwing the ball, because she'll probably get it."
The roles for Vanderbilt and Notre Dame are reversed in this game. The sixth-seeded Irish, in their fifth straight Sweet 16, needed an upset over Ohio State to make it in; No. 2 seed Vanderbilt is in its first Sweet 16 since 2009. Blakes' ability to help Ralph transform the program is a huge reason; Hidalgo putting her team on her back after a slow start to the season is a big reason the Irish are back on the stage.
But unlike in previous years, Notre Dame is the underdog going into their game. Hidalgo said this season has given her a greater appreciation for making it this far.
"I feel like the past couple of years I might have taken it for granted to be in this position because I felt like we should have been in the Sweet 16 and we should have been winning," Hidalgo said. "So now I think this year it feels so much different."
It feels different for Vanderbilt, too, and that is something players take great pride in as well.
"Vanderbilt is on the up-come right now, and a lot of teams can't really look at us and be like OK, we'll dog-walk them by 20. Now people have to respect us," Blakes said.
