Hannah Hidalgo’s nose ring was forcefully removed during Notre Dame women’s Sweet 16 game

The Notre Dame staff was forced out in the second quarter as training staff struggled to remove her nose ring.

Hannah Hidalgo isn’t just the leading scorer for the No. 2 seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The 5’6 guard is one of the very best freshmen in the country, and she’s turning into one of the biggest stars of March Madness, too.

Hidalgo entered the Sweet 16 averaging 22.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game this year. The Irish need her on the court as much as possible. But during the second quarter of Notre Dame’s regional semifinal matchup against No. 5 seed Oregon State, Hidalgo had to head to the bench while the refs forced her to remove her nose ring.

The officials forced Hidalgo to sit during the second quarter while her nose ring was “extracted.” Oregon State eventually beat Notre Dame, 70-65. Watch the bizarre video here:

Hannah Hidalgo missed some time in Notre Dame's Sweet 16 matchup with Oregon State to have her nose ring removed. pic.twitter.com/1XF0XCCrjM

— ESPN (@espn) March 29, 2024

Hidalgo missed more than four minutes of game time while Notre Dame staff was trying to remove her nose ring.

This game had 40 minutes for Hannah Hidalgo written all over it but she has not played in the first 4:09 of the second quarter because she has a stud stuck in her nose. Can't play with it.Notre Dame training staff can't seem to take it out. Can't make that up.

25-22 Oregon State

— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) March 29, 2024

If this was such a big problem, why didn’t the officials notice and enforce it pre-game? It seems so wrong to force her to sit out value minutes midway through a Sweet 16 game.

Hidalgo struggled offensively during the second and third quarters after being forced out of the game:

Hannah Hidalgo has not made a field goal since the first quarter (pre-nose ring extraction).

— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) March 29, 2024

Hidalgo is such a crafty scorer. She’s poised to become one of the faces of women’s college basketball over the next three years.

This is the stuff from Hannah Hidalgo that's grown so much throughout the year: getting the most out of her screeners

She can dust pretty much anyone, but if she sets her defender up into a screen with her handle... open space more efficiently pic.twitter.com/298rEjUGLY

— Mark Schindler (@MG_Schindler) March 29, 2024

Notre Dame’s season is over. Oregon State faces the winner of No. 1 seed South Carolina vs. No. 4 seed Indiana in the Elite Eight.