Hannah Hidalgo Repeats as ACC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year
- Brenden Duffy
- Mar 3
- 4 min read
On Tuesday, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) announced its 2025-26 regular season award winners and, once again, Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo stole the show after earning her second ACC Player of the Year and third ACC Defensive Player of the Year awards.
Graphics via Notre Dame Athletics
Hidalgo becomes the first-ever ACC Women’s Basketball player to earn both POY and DPOY honors in back-to-back seasons. With back-to-back POY awards, she is now one shy of tying the record for the most ever in the ACC, most recently set by Elizabeth Kitley (Virginia Tech). Additionally, her three straight DPOY awards put her on track to tie Elizabeth Williams’s (Duke) record of four consecutive ACC DPOY honors.
During the preseason, many analysts and some fans expected a “down year” this winter following the losses of Olivia Miles, Sonia Citron, Maddy Westbeld, and many others. Irish Head Coach Niele Ivey and Hidalgo still managed to reach 20 wins and a top-five seed in the ACC Tournament. The Irish, undoubtedly led by their star PG, are playing their best basketball of the season entering postseason play, having won seven of their last eight games, including five straight to close out the season, highlighted by the season-finale upset at #10 Louisville.
This season, the 5-6 junior from New Jersey went on to lead the conference in points and steals by a wide margin. Meanwhile, ‘Grand Theft’ Hidalgo was seemingly making history or breaking a new record in every game. Below, find the PG’s stats, accomplishments, and other notable items from this season:
Stats:
25.2 Points per Game; led ACC, 2nd-most averages 19.3 PPG
9 30-plus point games this season led the ACC
5.6 Steals per Game; led ACC, 2nd-most averages 2.6 SPG, 83 more steals than the 2nd-most
36.1 Minutes per Game; 3rd in ACC
5.4 Assists per Game; 4th in ACC
83.4% Free Throw Percentage; 7th in ACC, only player in the top-ten with more than 157 attempts
47.7% Field Goal Percentage; 8th in ACC, only player in the top-13 with more than 407 attempts
1.7 Assist-to-Turnover Ratio; 13th in ACC
6.3 Rebounds per Game; 20th in ACC
3 games with at least 30 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals - the rest of the country has combined for 2 such games
Accomplishments:
Fastest player in ACC and Notre Dame history to reach 2,000 career points
Broke Notre Dame career steals record
Broke Notre Dame single-season steals record
Broke Notre Dame career record for consecutive 10-plus point games (active)
Broke Notre Dame career record for 20-plus point games
Broke Notre Dame career record for 30-plus point games
Seven-Time ACC Player of the Week; most in a single-season, no other player won it more than once
Single-Game ACC Records:
44 points (vs Akron) - most points scored by an ACC player this season; most points scored in Notre Dame history
16 field goals made (vs Akron & at Stanford) - most field goals made by an ACC player this season
16 steals (vs Akron) - set all-time DI record for steals in a game
Owns six of the top eight games for most steals in a game by an ACC player this season (13 vs Bellarmine; 11 at SMU)
Notable Performances:
11/09/25 vs Chicago St. - 32 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals, 26 minutes
11/12/25 vs Akron - 44 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 16 steals, 27 minutes
12/11/25 vs Morehead St. - 26 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 6 steals, 1 block
12/21/25 vs Bellarmine - 30 points (76.5 FG%), 10 assists, 5 rebounds, 13 steals, 22 minutes
12/29/25 vs Pitt - 30 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals
01/01/26 at Georgia Tech - 26 points, 10 assists, 4 rebounds, 8 steals
01/11/26 vs North Carolina - 31 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 7 steals, 1 block
01/22/26 vs Miami (FL) - 27 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 10 steals
01/25/26 vs Clemson - 30 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 8 steals
02/01/26 at Stanford - 37 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals
02/22/26 at SMU - 31 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 11 steals
03/01/26 at Louisville - 30 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 steals
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