Ahead of Friday's Sweet 16 clash between Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball and Vanderbilt Commodores women's basketball, Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo gave Vanderbilt guard Mikayla Blakes her flowers by comparing her to Caitlin Clark.
Blakes enters the regional semifinal as the nation's leading scorer, averaging 27.0 points per game while shooting 46.4% from the field, 36.6% from three, and 85.8% from the free-throw line. She also contributes 4.6 assists, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.9 steals per contest.
“The way she's able to put the ball in the hoop, it's like Caitlin-type of level,” Hidalgo said on Thursday, per ESPN's Andrea Adelson. “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.”
The statistical comparison to Clark is striking. During her junior season at Iowa, Clark also averaged 27 points per game and finished her four-year career with the Hawkeyes with an NCAA-record 3,951 points. Blakes currently has 1,661 career points and is on pace for over 3,300 if she maintains her scoring trajectory.
Hidalgo, however, brings her own accomplished portfolio into the matchup. She ranks third nationally with 25.2 points per game while adding 6.7 rebounds and 5.2 assists. Moreover, she leads Division I with 5.6 steals per game and has recorded 189 steals this season, a Fighting Irish single-season record. She also became the first player in program history to surpass 400 career steals, earning both ACC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Blakes also spoke highly of Hidalgo, pointing out the shared tenacity that both players bring to the game.
“She's really good, and I feel like one thing about both of us is we never get denied the ball,” said Blakes, according to Adelson. “We're always finding a way to the ball.”
This will be the first collegiate meeting between the two guards, though they previously competed in high school and represented Team USA at the FIBA AmeriCup. No. 6 seed Notre Dame reached its fifth consecutive Sweet 16 after an upset win over Ohio State, while No. 2 seed Commodores advanced to their first Sweet 16 since 2009.
The winner will face either the UConn Huskies women's basketball or the North Carolina Tar Heels women's basketball in the Elite Eight.
