Nov. 9, 2013
Notre Dame Head Coach Muffet McGraw
Opening Statement…
“I thought it was a good opening game. I was really, really impressed with Jewell Loyd and Kayla McBride. I thought they looked in mid-season form. I thought they played well. I thought the freshmen [played well]. Lindsay Allen came out and played extremely well. First game of her career, I was really pleased with her. She shot the ball well and did a nice job defensively and ran the team. Taya (Reimer) had 12 rebounds. Great start for a freshman. We are anxious to get Natalie Achonwa back in the line up, but until then I think Taya is doing a fabulous job inside. We got great production off the bench. Michaela (Mabrey) had a career high. I’m really pleased with that.”
On the shooting performance tonight…
“We did shoot the ball well. We got a lot of layups. I thought Michaela (Mabrey) shot it pretty well and Jewell (Loyd) did as well. I thought offensively we executed really well. We got good shots and we were able to make them. I thought we shot pretty well from the free throw line too.”
On the impact of Michaela Mabrey off the bench…
“That’s huge for us. Especially right now when we’re still searching for the next sub coming off the bench. I’ve been really happy with Michaela all year. She came back in great shape. She’s playing well. She’s shooting well. We want her to keep shooting threes. She’s talking more. She’s a really good communicator. She’s running the team as much a she can when she doesn’t have the ball. I’m happy with her game. I think we need her to be able to come in and give us that kind of production. Not necessarily 19 points, but certainly some production off the bench.”
On the impact of Jewell Loyd…
“I’m happy with the blocks. I’d like her to do that more. Defensively she was our stopper last year and now she’s really challenging people. She did a good job without fouling. I thought she was in the right spots for most of the game. I was pleased with her offense, but defensively I thought she played really a complete game today.”
Michaela Mabrey – Sophomore – Guard
On her impact…
“I think I went on a little run. Got some and 1’s and got to the basket. My shot wasn’t really falling, but I think my teammates set me up well. Overall, I thought I did pretty well offensively and defensively.”
On what she was most pleased with about her game today… “I thought defensively I tried to pressure the ball as much as I could. I got a few steals and some tips. That’s what I’m really trying to work on so I thought I got better at that today.”
Jewell Loyd – Sophomore – Guard
On her performance today…
“I’m trying to stay aggressive. I’m trying to focus on rebounding and try to get to the right spots. On defense, I’m working on getting two feet in the lane. Something we’ve definitely worked on at practice. Just communicating as much as I can and do the little things right.”
On the team’s defense today…
“I think we’re getting there. It all starts with communication. Defense is all about heart. If you don’t have heart and determination it’s really hard to play defense. We’re working on that and we’re building on that. So we’re continuing to grow.”
UNC Wilmington Head Coach Adell Harris
Opening Statement…
“Obviously, Notre Dame is extremely talented, one of the best teams in the country, and we are slowly trying to rebuild who we are and find our identity. We played a lot of freshmen and there aren’t a lot of bodies, but I thought our kids were fighting the whole game. Notre Dame is an extremely talented group.”
On the impact of Notre Dame’s rebounding…
“When you get out-rebounded by thirty, you’re going to have a hard time being in the game at any point. They’ll out-rebound a lot of teams by a lot. They’ve got great size in all positions and they’re very aggressive. I think that’s one of the things that Coach McGraw wants to be, a rebounding team. I think they’ll give everybody trouble this year on the glass.”
On how they handled Notre Dame’s pressure…
“I don’t think they really pressured us. I think they were just trying to keep us in front a little more and make shots at the rim very difficult. I don’t know if that’s what [Coach McGraw] was trying to do at all. I anticipated more denial and more on-ball pressure, but I think with our speed and lack of size in multiple spots, the smartest thing for them to do was not to try to crowd us on the drive. I am glad our kids didn’t turn the ball over and took care of it.”
On what this game does for her team…
“You can look at it several ways. We bring six freshmen in here. We play all six of them. All of them played more than 20 minutes. Kelva Atkins is our only upperclassman who was here a year ago and understands the vision of the program and how we want to be a team that competes in the NCAA tournament. We want to win championships. I think they come here with a great deal of respect for Notre Dame, but at the same time they have an awareness of what they’ve got to do moving forward to get better. I think it helps in that way. They’re young, they’re resilient and they’re not crying about this loss. They’re like, `Man, I wish I could do that better. I should’ve done this. We should’ve done that. We should’ve executed that play.’ They’re talking about how to improve the situation, which is good.”
Kelva Atkins – Junior – Guard
On the game in general…
“I thought we could’ve rebounded better, drove the lane more and gotten more open shots.”
On what the team will take away from this game…
“I think we can learn how to manage mistakes, learn to move on to the next play and stay together as a team.”