SYRACUSE, NY – There is no place on the court where Olivia Miles doesn’t demand attention. When she drives into the paint it becomes of utmost importance. Hannah Hidalgo also needs to be watched closely, especially when she’s on the wing waiting to fire her own shot or cancel out an opponent’s.

They are the dazzling, dazzling, hard-hitting playmakers who carry on the legacy of Notre Dame’s Guard University. Not a game goes by where they don’t make their way to the highlight reels or score a few extra points at the end of quarters. Add in WNBA prospect Sonia Citron and you have a backcourt player that few in the country can match.

A trio does not and cannot win games alone in the age of women’s basketball. Not even when the three stars average two-thirds of their team’s offense and open ACC play at Syracuse and each of them scores 20-point double-doubles.

The Fighting Irish’s oft-overlooked No. 8 frontcourt has held its own in the first month of the season despite being hampered by injuries that forced it to rely almost entirely on two rookies. They’ll be the deciding factor in another top-10 matchup when rival and second-seeded Connecticut (8-0), with its elite guard duo Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd, takes on Thursday (7:00 p.m. ET on ESPN). South Bend travels. .

In a matchup of potent backfield players who could cancel each other out, eyes will be on Notre Dame freshman Kate Koval (7-2) and graduate transfer Liatu King against UConn’s Sarah Strong and Ice Brady. In Koval and Strong, two of the top recruits in the freshman class, coaches have discovered traits their storied programs haven’t seen in a long time.

Injuries force Notre Dame freshmen into the starting lineup

Notre Dame hasn’t quite overcome the ongoing injury threat that impacted its 2023 game against UConn. The Fighting Irish will be without their two-year starting team of fifth-year forwards Maddy Westbeld and Kylee Watson.

The 6-foot-3 Westbeld, who has started all but one game in her career, was hoping to return to conference play after offseason foot surgery so she could be back soon. The 6-4 player suffered a torn ACL in the ACC Tournament and could be out for the season. Liza Karlen, a Marquette graduate, left the Oct. 30 exhibition game with a foot/ankle injury and was wearing a walking boot.

They have selected Koval and King as their mainstays and the only true forwards in a pool of seven available players.

“This group is resilient,” Irish head coach Niele Ivey said. “Everyone is doing everything they can to help us win, which I really appreciate with our backs against the wall. … We have so many people who basically step up and do whatever it takes. When you have such a selfless group, they are great to work with.”

Koval, the No. 5 recruit in the 2024 class, is on pace to break the program’s blocked shot record while averaging 3.7 per game, second-best in Division I. It surpasses Ruth Riley’s 3.3 in the 1998-99 season. Only four players in Notre Dame history have averaged at least 3 per game.

“We haven’t had anyone with her confidence, her presence, her strength (and) physicality in a long time,” Ivey said. “She is a person who is like a sponge. She has a very high IQ. And she just grows and blossoms.”

Notre Dame doesn’t need massive double-doubles from the 6-5 McDonald’s All-Americans, but it does need to stay out of foul trouble so that it can be there to deliver when the defense tries to hound or dope one of its guards. Her best performance came in the season opener against Mercyhurst when she scored 18 points on 81.8% shooting (9 of 11) with seven rebounds, five blocks and three assists. Against then-No. 3 USC, she scored eight points (4 of 6) with seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

“She plays like she’s not a freshman,” Hidalgo said. “Liatu, she’s what? Six feet? She plays bigger. We just have a lot of heart.”

King, who is actually listed at 6 feet, transferred during the conference from Pittsburgh to Notre Dame, where she averaged career highs – 18.7 points on 52.3% shooting with 10.3 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1, 5 blocks. The reigning ACC Most Improved Player and All-ACC first-team selection increased her level with 11 rebounds (eighth) and 2.8 steals per game. She has four double-doubles, including one against then-No. 4 Texas.

“King has the experience,” Ivey said. “She has a lot of poise and is great in the midrange. She plays much bigger than her own size and is very versatile.”

Although King hasn’t attempted a single 3-point shot in her 115-game career, Hidalgo said she should pay attention because she showed it off in practice over the summer. That versatility and Koval’s presence gives Notre Dame freedom and flexibility for the guards to work within the offense, and the quality depth will only improve as their veteran starting forwards return.

But in their first UConn game, they face a tall task.

UConn sees strength in freshman forward

The Huskies continue on an injury-riddled path that still led them to a Final Four berth in 2023 despite only having eight players available. Fudd, their star shooting guard, rejoined fellow No. 1 recruit Bueckers and graduate transfer point guard Kaitlyn Chen in the backcourt, but she will likely sit out of the Notre Dame game. She sprained her knee in Saturday’s Champions Classic against Louisville and will be “day-to-day,” head coach Geno Auriemma said Tuesday.

With her available, “you’re obviously dealing with a Final Four team from last year that’s gotten a lot better,” Auriemma said. “Unfortunately, many other teams felt the same way.”

Strong is a key catalyst following a string of great UConn forwards. The No. 1 recruit in the class, signed the morning after UConn’s Final Four loss, brings a dimension that Auriemma said he hasn’t had on the roster in nearly a decade.

“Since Stewie (Breanna Stewart) has been here, I don’t know that anyone has the offensive ability that Sarah has,” Auriemma said after another Strong 20-point win at the Champions Classic on Saturday. “They are completely different players. They are built differently. They play the game differently. But they achieve broadly the same thing.”

Unlike Stewart, she will need to be a big contributor right away at one of women’s basketball’s elite powerhouses due to injuries last season and the departure of Aaliyah Edwards to the WNBA. A month into her career, the 6-2 freshman looks like a veteran upperclassman, attacking the basket, maintaining her composure and reading the game.

“A lot of kids have come to us and made an impact right away as freshmen,” Auriemma told reporters last week. “The difference was often that there were a lot of high school students that they could just learn from….She’s in a unique situation.”

Stark is averaging 16.3 ppg while shooting 57.3% and 35.7% from 3, right on the heels of or better than Huskies leader Bueckers (18.9 ppg, 56.3%, 42, 1%). She has made the second-most 3-point attempts and has 7.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game.

“Sarah is more of a guard than any other post player I’ve played with,” Bueckers said.

Brady, a 6-3 redshirt sophomore, is more efficient than she was her freshman year, when she came off the bench in all but three games. Now Auriemma can move to the bench for the size of 6-foot-2 center Jana El-Alfy after she enrolled in early 2023 but missed her first season at the 2023 FIBA ​​U19 World Cup due to an offseason ruptured Achilles tendon .

Although a trio alone can’t win games, Auriemma described his best Huskies teams as three-pronged. The highlight, according to Auriemma, was having the best point guard in the country (Renee Montgomery), the best center (Tina Charles) and the best player in the country (Maya Moore).

“If you can appeal to people with those three things, then you have a chance to win every single game,” Auriemma said. “And we’re lucky to have something like that (now).”