Those special highlights shown on the Purcell Pavilion videoboard to entertain/energize periodically during Notre Dame home games got a fresh supply on Sunday night.
Dazzling first with a relentless hawking defense that helped force 22 turnovers, then adding an almost frantic-paced offensive assault, the 2-0 No. 6-ranked Irish overwhelmed Purdue (1-1), 102-58, at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind.
It was the 10th straight win against the Boilermakers and gave the Irish a 15-14 edge in the series.
The highlights were everywhere.
Dynamo guard Hannah Hidalgo was slapping, diving and picking pockets all night, making life miserable for any Boilermaker stuck bringing the ball up the floor. She was credited with six steals, and her pestering helped produce a few others.
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“She loves defense, and that's always kind of been her thing,” said Irish coach Niele Ivey during a post-game Zoom meeting with the media. “She's a two-way player. She played with her brothers growing up, and playing against guys gave her that toughness, that chip on her shoulder.
“You have somebody that actually loves that side of basketball. … When you have somebody that loves it, has that defensive mindset, that dogs defensively, I think that's just what she is.”
And certainly a lot more. On the offensive end Sunday, she regularly took on hard contact to get to the basket and somehow score, finishing with a team-high 28 points on 50% shooting. The 5-foot-6 sophomore added seven rebounds.
There was 6-foot Pitt transfer Liatu King, who had as many rebounds in the first half — a dozen — as the entire Purdue team. She followed up her 24-point game against Mercyhurst in the season opener on Nov. 4 with 18 points on 9-for-12 shooting, and finished with 15 rebounds to lead a 53-28 board advantage. She also had four steals.
Two games in suggests she’ll be a fabulous fit.
And there was senior guard Olivia Miles running the show, contributing 17 points (7-for-15), including the night’s biggest highlight – a 3-pointer on a shot about 10 feet beyond the half-court line to end the third quarter.
Moments from each will look good on the videoboard, but maybe the best news of the night was the solid return of senior guard Sonia Citron, who missed the exhibition and season opener to protect an aching ankle.
She averaged 17 points and 5.5 rebounds, and delivered solid defense in 35 minutes last season, and the Irish aren’t the same team without her.
With her on the floor, the Irish had eight healthy players, and Ivey felt that much better about her team.
“I thought we did a really good job defensively, but really excited, just again to feel a little bit healthier and just to see the balance that we had offensively and defensively,” she said.
Citron was the fourth player in double figures with 14 (4-for-7, 2-for-4 on 3s) and had six rebounds in just 24 minutes.
She said her mobility is not an issue, but the stamina is.
“I think it's gonna take a couple of days at least just to get my wind and quickness back,” she said. “I have to say, I felt a little slow. But yeah, I think my mobility is good.”
Offensively, you have to nitpick to locate negatives with the Irish going over 100 points in each contest, though Sunday’s 17 turnovers in a much closer game might produce some angst.
Against Purdue, Notre Dame shot 51% from the field and 44% from the 3-point line (8-of-18), a big step up from a year ago.
“I'm always just trying to make sure our offense is fluent,” said Ivey. “I'm always trying to make sure our team is playing to its strengths. We love pace. Our defense dictates the way that we push tempo. … We're always working on all the little things, but having so much talent and having so many weapons, we get a chance to try to go to whatever we feel is a mismatch. … I give them a lot of freedom, and it's nice to see that our offense is jelling right now.”
The drama left Mackey Arena and a hopeful crowd of nearly 6,000 quickly.
The Irish went up 9-0 as Purdue missed its first six shots, and the first quarter ended with ND leading, 28-7.
There was a hiccup or two in the second quarter, when the Irish had a rash of turnovers and Purdue went on a 6-0 run to get to within 15, at 36-21, at the 2:53 mark. It wasn’t panic time, but Ivey thought it was time for a reset and called a timeout.
The Irish came out of the break and delivered a 9-0 run.
Nothing close to a threat emerged again.
“I thought we just needed to have some composure,” Ivey said of the moment. “It felt like our shot selection – we were one shot and done. Then they came down, hit a couple really big 3s, and then the technical foul [on Miles for excessive contact on a foul], getting two free throws and the ball back, I thought we kind of lost our composure. So, I was happy that we settled in after the timeout.”
Freshman 6-5 center Kate Koval, who dominated a small Mercyhurst team in the season opener with 18 points, struggled early against the defense of 6-4 freshman Lana McCarthy. She had five turnovers and also picked up a technical foul for taunting following one of her four blocks. But she wound up with eight points (2-for-8), including 4-for-4 on free throws, and had 10 rebounds.
Sophomore Emma Risch came off the bench to hit four of her eight attempts, including 1-4 on 3s, and totaled nine points in 21 minutes.
Next up for the Irish is a 7 p.m. Wednesday home game against 3-0 James Madison.
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