Louisville-Notre Dame Postgame Quotes
February 07, 2016 | Women's Basketball
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Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On Notre Dame's late run)
"We put them at the free throw line. We fouled them some and they went to the line, which I thought was critical, and then they did a really nice job getting the ball to Brianna Turner. She's hard to handle in there. We tried to go down and double. We tried to jump with the pass and push her under, but we just could not seem to contain her. And then for about the last two and a half minutes, I thought we did a nice job where she didn't get any easy looks, but, at the time that they needed her, she stepped up and did a really nice job for them."
(On losing Myisha Hines-Allen for the last three minutes)
"She is a scorer. She is one of our scorers, she is a rebounder, but the problem is, she drives and she's got a great layup. If you make the layup, you're not going to foul, because there is no offensive rebound to go get. Obviously, they aren't trying to miss any layups, but like I told them in the circle, there's a reason in a practice that as a staff, we're on them all the time about 'you've got to go hard, you've got to go hard.' They come back, they are important ones. Even twice in transition, Lindsay Allen did a great job of stripping the ball from us where we had a layup, where we just worked on that the past week, of really ripping it over and pulling it over your head and going up with it or a power layup. That's four points. That's four big points that she did a great job stopping us from getting."
(On using this game as a measuring stick for where the team is)
“I was proud of us. I thought these kids, these young women, played extremely hard. If we will dedicate ourselves to coming out every day in practice and practice as hard as we just played, then we have a chance to do some good things. There is no question. But we definitely have some room to improve. We have to continue to work on our post defense, we have to work on executing at the offensive end. But overall, I think we showed a lot of people today that we have made a lot of progress, there's no question, but we have a lot more to go."
(On Notre Dame's Muffet McGraw calling Louisville a top-five team)
"That's really nice of her. I really appreciate that, but unfortunately we have some work to do before we get there."
(On defending the arc against Notre Dame)
"Yes, I thought we did a great job. I thought we did a great job, but unfortunately we lose them right there at the end. It's a one-point game. I'm looking forward to seeing that clip, I though she maybe traveled before she passed that thing out, but, it's a 50-50 call, I guess. I'll give her credit, she stepped up and made it. We had some wide open looks that we did not make, and when you're playing a team like this, you've got to be able to score the basketball. Defensively, I thought we did a great job. I told our kids, if we could hold them in the 60s, I really thought we'd win, but I didn't expect us to go 5-for-22 in the fourth period. It's one of those, it's like I tell everybody, we have Pitt on Thursday. So now you've got to – go in there hurt - it sucks to lose, it's awful, I hate it, but it can't define your season. So now we have to take a day off tomorrow, unfortunately, because we have to. Then we'll get back at it on Tuesday and Wednesday. There is a lot of basketball still left to be played and we can go one of two ways. We can keep building on what we have done over the past two months, or we can feel sorry for ourselves, and I absolutely refuse to let them feel sorry for themselves."
(On hope and focus you can get from playing top team so close)
"I hope, because, it's a game of this and that. I really thought we outplayed them, but they made big shots at crunch time and we didn't. I thought in the first half, we executed extremely well. We got some foul trouble the last minute-and-a-half of the first half. It was tough, we're up nine, and then they score four straight. That really was some big baskets by them. There's no question about it, and we had three freshmen on the floor. Those are the situations our freshmen have to continue to grow to understand defensively what we're trying to do, because you are playing against some really good players. You have a breakdown, and you're going to get scored on."
(On if there has been talk of playing at home in the NCAA tournament)
"No, we haven't even talked about that, or discussed that at all. We are now going to turn our focus to Pittsburgh. We're trying to continue to worry about the next game. If we start to look ahead, it probably won't be pretty. So we aren't good enough to sit here and think, 'okay when we get to the NCAA Tournament, we'll get a chance to play at home.' We have to win ballgames first, so we aren't quite there yet, no."
(On Briahanna Jackson's outlook through shooting struggles)
"I think tonight, she still did not shoot the ball great, but she defended. I thought she did a great job defending. She comes up with four assists. She can give us so much more than just scoring, and that's what I've got to continue to get her to understand. She can't let points dictate her game. And that's the thing she's really trying to learn, and trying to understand. Because the places she's been in the past, if she didn't score, her team didn't win. And now you're learning, that 'okay even if I still don't score, we can still win, and I've just got to get the ones who are shooting the ball well, the ball.' It's just little things like that. We work on film. Hopefully, she'll continue to get better for us."
(Notre Dame seemed to focus on Mariya Moore, what does she have to do when that happens?)
"She had some good looks, she just missed some shots. She had a wide open look in the corner starting the game... within the first four or five minutes of the second half. The ball just did not go in for her tonight. Those things happen, but I thought she did a great job of rebounding the ball. She came up with seven boards, three offensive. She comes up with three assists. There are times when they're focusing on you, you're not going to score. They came out and went triangle-and-two, and I think we scored four straight possessions – and they didn't touch the ball. The other ones have to be able to step up and make open shots, and we did. There are games within a game, and Mariya's going to continue to see how they play us. And it's a challenge because we've got to continue to get our other ones to be able to step up and do that. And teams have to play straight up because you've got two main threats to score."
Briahanna Jackson and Cortnee Walton
(On keeping them in the game at the end)
Briahanna: “I was just focused on trying to get a stop so we could get a bucket, but it got close in the end. I don't know; that was it, just focused on getting stops. I wasn't even paying attention to the shots.”
(On how tough it was when Myisha fouled out)
Cortnee: “It got tough because she was helping me with Brianna Turner and she's really big. So Myisha is a really good presence in rebounding. So I felt after she fouled out, that's what we were kind of missing, not only defensive rebounding, but offensive rebounding as well.”
(On the mood after the game and what coach's message was)
Cortnee: “Coach just told us that we kind of gave that one up because we had the lead for most of the game. You win some, you lose some. I thought we were going to win, but it just gives us more fire to win out in the ACC and then beat them in the ACC tournament.”
(On how they measured up to Notre Dame)
Cortnee: “I think that for a long period of time it was a good measuring stick. I think towards the end of the fourth quarter was kind of where we fell off. So I think that's going to come in where we can't lose focus, we can't mess up on defensive assignments throughout the game. We did a really good job most of the game and we kind of gave it up at the end. So I think going forward for the rest of the year we've got to really focus on finishing the game.”
(On if the team is better now than at the beginning of the streak)
Cortnee: “I think that we're a completely different team. We all know our roles and what we do well, and what we need to do to make our teammates successful and make the team successful. I don't even really remember, well I kind of remember, the team that we had when we 1-4 is completely different than the team that we have now.”
(On how frustrating it was to have the game slip away)
Briahanna: “It's extremely frustrating, we had them the entire game. I feel like it's just a level of maturity that we still have to reach with all of the young players that we have. We're going to go to practice tomorrow and continue to grow and prepare for our game against Pittsburgh.”
(On if it felt good to be involved on both ends)
Briahanna: “Yeah, I feel like I finally got my swag back. From my teammates and my coaches telling me to keep my head up, so I came out and played with energy and I feel like I played good today.”
Notre Dame Head Coach Muffet McGraw
(Opening Statement)
”That was just a phenomenal game, I mean a great game for TV, a great battle, we knew it was going to be a good battle. They are just a tremendous team, they are young, they are talented. They came at us with everything they had. I thought they played extremely well in the beginning of the game and we were just able to figure out a way to win in the end. I thought Madison Cable's three and Brianna Turner inside, being able to go inside to her I thought were the keys to the win for us.”
(On being able to get the ball into the middle of the Louisville zone)
Coach McGraw: “We were trying to work the high-low for most of the game, we didn't have much success in the first half and I think we had a little more in the second half. We ran a little different set and were able to get it to the high post and I thought we were able at one point, you can get the ball up in the air to Bri (Turner) and she doesn't have to bring it down, I mean that is really hard to guard. So that was our plan if we could get that and we were able to get it.”
(On Louisville keeping them away from getting three-pointers)
Coach McGraw: “Yeah their man-to-man was very good, they were on us. They were not going to let Madison Cable get anything, any good looks. They guarded Michaela (Mabrey) pretty well from the three point line. I think when we were able to go inside to Bri, that's what opened up Madison for that final three.”
(On what Louisville did that bothered the half-court offense)
Lindsey Allen, Jr., G: “I think they just did a really good job of kind of pressuring us a little bit… In practice we worked on kind of going back door and just playing against a good defense, but they did a really good job of kind of overplaying and just being physical with on defense.”
(On Briahanna Jackson)
Lindsey Allen, Jr., G: “She's a very good guard - a transfer, so she has some experience at other schools and especially here at Louisville. We knew coming in that she was going kind of run their team for them and get into her pull-up jump shot and attack the basket. She's really quick and she has some great dribble moves. We just had to work on staying in front of her and making sure we were contesting her shots.”
(On the transition play)
Coach McGraw: “Yeah we couldn't rebound. They did a great job on the boards. They got so many opportunities, 20 offensive rebounds, that is unacceptable. I mean we really need to do a better job on the boards and aside from Madison Cable, we can get a lot better,”
(On Brianna Turner's play, particularly in the fourth quarter)
Lindsey Allen, Jr., G: “Bri is always someone we can go to anytime and our plan was to go inside to her, because she always has an advantage inside. We work on it in practice, kind of throwing it up to her and running sets for her and she came through for us in the second half, just tipping the ball up there, keeping the ball alive on offensive rebounds and just being really tough in the second half.”
(Is this the most physical game for you so far?)
Arike Ogunbowale, Fr., G
“Yeah, I think I would say that.”
(On whether they may see this Louisville team in the ACC tournament)
Coach McGraw: “I think Louisville is a top-five team. I think when they play well like they did in the first half and they executed well, they defended well, they rebounded well, I think they are a very, very tough team to play. I think they are incredibly talented and I know at the beginning of the year they had so many young players it took them a little while to gel but they have been playing so well right now. I don't know where they are ranked but I think they are a top-five team.”
(On how big a win it us for them)
Coach McGraw: “It is a huge win for a lot of reasons I think. First, the crowd was phenomenal, just a great day for women's basketball playing in front of a crowd like that and then to be in sole possession of first place in the ACC. I think that was important to us and just for us to really be able to battle a great team and find a way to win on the road. I think it just continues to give us confidence.”
(On why she thinks Louisville is a top-five team)
Coach McGraw: “They are extremely hard to guard. You know, just because they don't have a really big center, I think they are just so hard to guard because they move so well. Their guard play is excellent, they have great guards, they have a great bench. (Myisha) Hines-Allen gives them so much energy, I mean she is a really, really good player. She is somebody that, she'll take charges, she will get rebounds, she'll go to the basket, she will get big baskets for them and she is really playing well this year but I think their guard play is what really separates them.”
(On playing at the KFC Yum! Center and what it was like to come out with a win)
Lindsey Allen, Jr., G: “Definitely one of the toughest places I've played in my career here at Notre Dame. Just a really loud crowd and a great atmosphere to be in. All of my teammates were really excited to come here. This is my first time being here. There was a really great crowd and we knew coming in that it was going to be loud and the crowd was going to be against us and so we just worked on staying together. It was a lot of fun to be out there today.”
