Kicking off the start of Sweet 16 matchups on Friday afternoon is arguably the most up-for-grabs
contest as No. 2 seeded Notre Dame (28-6) faces off against No. 3 seed Oregon State (26-7) in
Regional 1 at Albany.
Both teams handled their opening rounds with relative ease. While Notre Dame may have the slight edge in Friday’s matchup, they’ll need every bit of the offensive firepower that has carried them to success throughout the season in order to keep pace with a Beaver team that has put together a historic 2024 campaign.
Notre Dame as it heads into its Sweet 16 matchup
First-team All-American Hannah Hidalgo serves as the head of the snake for an Irish offense that averages 79.2 ppg. Hidalgo has a team-high 22.9 ppg on 45% shooting. But the ability to orchestrate their high-powered offense doesn’t rest solely on her shoulders. Case in point, Sonia Citron, who sits second on the team in scoring with 17.1 ppg, led the team in scoring over their first-round opponent Kent State with 29 points while Maddy Westbeld poured in 20 on Saturday against Ole Miss.
As a team, the Irish shoot 45.9% from the field on offense. More than half of their production has come from inside the three-point line with a 60.8% rate while shooting 35.4% from beyond the arc. From a defensive standpoint, they’ve shown themselves to be every bit as lethal in the tournament. They have averaged 9.5 steals in their two wins including an 18-point average of points off of turnovers.
📍Albany, NY#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/vr2g79Vv4u
— Notre Dame Women's Basketball (@ndwbb) March 28, 2024
Hidalgo, who was named ACC Defensive Player of the Year, averages 4.6 steals a game, the nation’s best while she also sits at the same average number of steals per game as Oregon State’s team as a whole. For head coach Niele Ivey, it was that focus on the defensive side of the ball that gave her a sneak peek into the player that Hidalgo was going to become:
Notre Dame HC Niele Ivey
“The potential that I thought was she’s going to be really special in college because of the way she plays defensively. You don’t see a lot of players that love to play defense […]. Her offense is most of the time dictated by her defense. The passion that she played with it, I thought she’s really going to change the game with that.”
Hidalgo broke the record for steals this season with 147, a record previously held by Skylar Diggins-Smith. She is also a semifinalist for the 2024 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year. Friday’s matchup will mark the sixth time both teams have faced off against one another. Notre Dame holds the edge with a 5-0 record. Their most recent matchup came in 2021 as the Irish came away with a 64-62 victory.
Oregon State and its Journey to the Sweet 16
In Oregon State, the Irish will be facing a team that has squared off against some of the toughest talent this season. This Beavers team has all of the makings of a squad that could make their first Elite Eight since 2018. The road to the Sweet 16 was paved with victories over Eastern Washington in the opening round. This was followed by a 10-point victory against Nebraska on Sunday. They were led by Talia von Oelhoffen in scoring.
From an offensive standpoint, they register three players in double-figure scoring with Raegan Beers leading the team with 17.5 ppg followed by Timea Gardiner at 11.4 and von Oelhoffen’s 10.9. In the last four games, the Beavers have also seen the emergence of freshman Dominika Paurova. Paurova has been able to make an impact on the offensive end of the floor when she has come away averaging 11.5 ppg.
Resilient and together.
— Oregon State WBB (@BeaverWBB) March 27, 2024
Cinematic Recap | Back to the Sweet 16 pic.twitter.com/1uwbfYl8M7
Beers, An All-American third-team select, led the team offensively in their tournament opener with 19 and 9 and has been a headache for opposing defenses all season long while averaging the best field goal percentage in the country with 66%. Oregon State averages 71.4 ppg, nearly 10 points less than their Sweet 16 opponent, and averages 13.3 turnovers per game.
As a team, they shoot 35.7% from deep, with Lily Hansford and Gardiner leading the squad. Hansford shoots 45% and Gardiner 40% from beyond the arc. Defensively, they hold opponents to 59.3 ppg, limiting their past two NCAA Tournament opponents to 31% shooting from the field. Both teams face off at the MVP Arena in Albany, NY, for a spot in the Elite Eight.
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