INDIANAPOLIS — Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles have been stuffing the stat sheets together this season and earned midseason recognition for it on Monday, as the U.S. Basketball Writers Association named the two guards to the Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Year Midseason Top 50.
Hidalgo had a record-breaking freshman season and has taken it up a notch in her second year. The sophomore out of South Jersey is averaging 26.1 points (second in the nation) and 4.0 steals (third in the nation) per game. She is pacing the ACC in swipes, ranks seventh in field goal percentage (50.1), fourth in free throw percentage (85.5) and third in 3-point percentage (42.5). 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.
After suffering a torn ACL in February 2023, Miles has returned and is having the best year of her career. She is averaging 16.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game and is the only player in the nation posting 16, 5 and 5. Miles leads the ACC in both assists (137) and assists per game (6.5), and the Phillipsburg, N.J., native is the NCAA’s active leader with 6.7 assists per game across her career. She also ranks sixth in the conference this year with a 52.8 field goal percentage and is one of three ACC guards averaging at least 15 points and shooting better than 50 percent.
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 41.9 percent, which is 32nd 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.
Hidalgo, Miles and the Irish will be back on their home court on Thursday, as No. 3 Notre Dame (19-2) hosts Stanford (11-10, 3-7) at 8:30 p.m. The matchup will air on ESPN, the program’s sixth game on a major network (ESPN/2 or NBC) this season.