Dec. 13, 2014

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Notre Dame Head Coach Muffet McGraw

Opening statement…
“I thought we came out a little flat today. We just lacked a little energy on offense. The defense was okay. I was a little disappointed how we came out. Lindsay [Allen] and Kathryn [Westbeld] both played really well. Hannah [Huffman] brought some energy off the bench. We played better in the second half, but we still have more work to do. We’ve been in a long haul. We’ve been going since September, and it’s been a tough schedule with so many games in a row and finals upon us. Now we have some time to regroup and get some practices in. Hopefully we’ll play better in the next game.”

On the team’s offensive performance…
“Kathryn [Westbeld] really gave us a lot of scoring in the post and drove the ball well. I thought we got going better in transition during the second half. We are just really struggling to shoot the ball now from the three-point line.”

On the team’s passing ability…
“We have some really good passers. Lindsay [Allen] and Michaela Mabrey are probably our best two passers. They both had nice assist-to-turnover ratios today. Other than that, I think we are still turning the ball over too much. We’ve been careless with the ball and we have a lot of work to do with our passing.”

On Michigan’s ability to stay in the game…
“They only had 24 points at halftime, so I don’t think it was our defense. We were just turning the ball over too much and giving them too many opportunities. They were getting a lot of points off turnovers, so I think that was the key stat in the game.”

On what Michigan was able to do to limit Jewell Loyd offensively…
“I thought they did a good job defensively. They got up and guarded her pretty well. They placed a bigger defender on her, so that took away the option of going down to the block. I don’t Jewell was hunting down her shot as much today, and we weren’t calling her number as much today.”

On the team’s decision to wear “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirts before the game…
“This was planned. I think Notre Dame is a place that has always fought for social justice. In my office, I have a picture of Fr. Hesburgh and Martin Luther King arm-in-arm in the fight for civil rights. I was really proud of our team, and especially Taya [Reimer] for stepping up and publicly standing for something they really believed in. I think one of the things I try to teach them is they have to fight for what they want. You have to fight for playing time. You have to fight for a national championship. You have to be willing to stand up and fight, and you have to be accountable in that fight. It’s not just about basketball. Basketball is just a game. The thing that it teaches you is about life. These are the lessons that I want them to learn. I want to have strong, confident women who are not afraid to use their voice and take a stand. I don’t ever want them to be victims. I’m really proud of what they did today. Hopefully, it is something that will catch fire and people across the country will start to think about and make them look in the mirror and ask, `What are you willing to fight for?’ I think there is an old saying, `If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem?’ I couldn’t be prouder of what they did today.”

On whether she was surprised by the decision to wear the T-shirts…
“It’s funny, we had just talked a couple weeks ago in the locker room about some issues going on around the country. I asked them, `What would you be willing to fight for?’ It was kind of funny when Taya [Reimer] texted me and said, `I think we found something we’re willing to fight for. How do you feel about this?’ I think it was a great idea.”

On her conversations with administration about the T-shirts…
“The girls did it all on their own. They paid for the shirts. Of course, I went to Jill [Bodensteiner] and Jack [Swarbrick] and they felt that if it was a unanimous thing they wanted to do, then they would support it. If you have a cause, you have to fight for it yourselves.”

Lindsay Allen · Sophomore · Guard

On taking a bigger offensive role for the team…
“It just came a little more naturally for us. I was just taking what the defense was giving us and getting out in transition and the break. I was just trying to do the little things to get our team going energy-wise on the court today.”

On taking two charges during the game…
“It’s just about getting into position and being willing to take the hit. You know your team is going to help you up afterwards, so you just need to sacrifice your body in that moment.”

Taya Reimer · Sophomore · Forward

On why the team chose to wear “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirts before the game…
“It was a thing that all of us were passionate around, and we’ve all been talking about it. The other day, we had the die-in on campus and that was something that kind of motivated us to try to find some way to get involved. A lot of us talked about it and we thought that wearing these shirts today would be a cool way for us to show our support and give our condolences for the families who have lost loved ones.”

On whether she took part in the campus die-in this week…
“I did not. I was walking to class with a few of my teammates and saw it. We were kind of debating it, and looking back on it, I think we kind of wish we could have, but this was our way to do something and support the cause.”

On whether or not she expected to receive national attention for wearing the shirts…
“I’m not sure we really expected much out of it. It was just something that we came together for and were all passionate about. This was kind of our way to support the message. We didn’t really expect attention for it in any way. It’s not an anti-law enforcement message, or anti-anything. It’s all about showing condolences for the families and supporting them.”

On where they obtained the shirts…
“Ace [Natalie Achonwa] was in charge of getting the shirts, but I think she just had them printed at the mall. We had them made.”

Kathryn Westbeld · Freshman · Forward

On adjustment to her bigger role in the rotation…
“I’ve just been trying to get a lot more reps during practice inside and outside. I’ve been playing the guard spot and the wing, and coming in to play the post. We have a lot of motivation after a disappointing finish against UConn. We know what we have to do, and we’re just going to continue to get better.”

On what she has learned since the start of the season…
“I think a lot of it revolves around chemistry and getting to know your teammates and what each person can do. I just had to come out and play the game the way I know how.”

Notre Dame Athletics Director Jack Swarbrick

On the team’s decision to wear “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirts before the game…
“If there’s anything I worry about, it is that our kids get too focused on the athletics side and don’t worry about other things. I was very happy that they had a broader perspective and wanted to do this. Jill [Bodensteiner] confirmed there was no rule issue involved, which we always do. I view these things as student-athlete choices, and while I was happy to be informed, I didn’t view it as something that needed approval. I want our kids saying what they believe in and doing what they believe in. As Muffet [McGraw] suggested, I like that it was done as a team because that is part of the lesson too.”

On Notre Dame’s connection to social justice…
“This place is fundamentally about all issues associated with the sanctity of man. I couldn’t possibly say it better than Muffet did, but so much of our history is tied up in issues of social justice and civil rights. Whether it is Fr. Hesburgh’s role in the civil rights movement, what we do in Haiti on a year-round basis, or so many of the programs that our students are involved in, this is just one more example of that. Our students-athletes did a Habitat for Humanity project this year. They did all the work and did a phenomenal job. That’s what we want them to be doing. If all we’re doing is teaching them to play sports, we’re missing the boat. We want to create an environment where they make decisions like this.”

On whether other teams will make a decision…
“This is not top-down driven. They may have a different issue they want to talk about or address. I’m not going to discuss what any team may or may not do. I’ll respond as things manifest themselves publicly.”

Michigan Head Coach Kim Barnes Arico

Opening Statement…
“I thought we played extremely hard. Notre Dame is an outstanding team. I know they’re coming off of a tough game the other night so we were kind of hoping to catch them maybe a little tired. I thought we gave a great battle. We didn’t get a lot of shots to fall. If we made a couple more shots and taken care of the ball a little bit more maybe we would’ve been in the game a little bit tighter. They scored a lot of their points off of our turnovers. But they did a great job. They’re a great team. They offensive rebound like crazy, so credit to them.”

On playing in such a vibrant atmosphere…
“I think our kids come to the University of Michigan for an opportunity to play in this kind of environment. I think they get excited about the opportunity to play here. Maybe some of the younger ones, it affected a little bit, but I think our older, experienced kids were ok and handled it.”

On the key to getting back in the game…
“Yeah we couldn’t score. I mean we had great shots. We had really good looks and we couldn’t get them to fall. We were stuck on nine for quite some time and then they had made that run. And then we started to get a couple shots to fall and then we were able to close the gap. Then we turned it over a little bit and they scored in transition. If we could make some shots, we’d get an opportunity to set up our defense. And I think we do a better job against them when our defense is set, compared to letting them go in transition. They’re a very good transition offensive team, so when we got an opportunity to set up our defense I thought it was really helpful to us. So us scoring some baskets gave us a chance to set up our defense, which gave us some stops.”

On Notre Dame’s play today…
“I think they have probably been adjusting to Bri [Brianna Turner] not being in the mix. She’s obviously a phenomenal player; phenomenal kid and has been off to a ridiculous start to her college career. So I think when she went down it’s probably taken them a little bit of time to adjust to that and a new rotation. They’re going smaller, different people playing different spots. I think now that they have a couple games under their belt, they’re also at home again and they had a great crowd tonight, so they were probably feeling a lot more comfortable and people were probably adjusting to their roles.”

On any positive takeaways from the game…
“I thought our effort was great. I thought when we were down 20-9 we could’ve packed it in. We fought back; we battled back. I thin Cyesha [Goree] had a really great game. Jewell [Loyd] only had 14 points coming off of 41; that’s pretty good. I think Nicole Elmblad did a pretty good job on her. I don’t know what Notre Dame is ranked right now, pretty high right? So to come into their place and have a battle with them I think is pretty effective.”

Cyesha Goree · Senior · Forward

On her play today…
“I think just how I was able to chase down the balls and how my teammates were able to look for me in transition [was key today]. What we worked on in practice, to know what to look for, helped me focus a lot more and put in my shots.”

On her play inside…
“Rebounding is one of my strengths, so I know when I do that, I tend to help my team a lot. So I was really focusing on rebounding and giving what my team really needed to be successful. “

On the team’s play tonight…
“Based off of what we watched, we kind of saw that we could push in transition. So we did kind of looked to push more during offensive transition off their misses or taking it out off their makes. But that was something that we did kind of look to do, but it was also that we had to be smart by pushing. Like coach said, we didn’t want to get a quick shot because then who is going to go back on defense.”

On the difference between this game and the game against Princeton…
“Just our effort. Overall, playing hard. We’re coming into an environment with a lot of fans and playing one of the top teams in the country. It’s a great opportunity to play against them and see where we are at. I liked the effort that we gave. Coming off of that tough loss we didn’t really want to get embarrassed. We wanted to show that we’re a team that plays hard. We wanted to be respected for how hard we play.”