Feb. 16, 2015

Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery

Notre Dame Head Coach Muffet McGraw

Opening statement…
“For a team that is known a little bit more for our offense, we played great defense today. I was really happy with the job Jewell Loyd did on Rebecca Greenwell. She didn’t get much of a good look all night long, she kept her under her average. I thought her defensive intensity and focus was phenomenal. We could have done a little better job on the boards, they [Duke] are one of the best rebounding teams in the country. I was a little disappointed that we couldn’t rebound a little better. Offensively on the night, we were a little off, but we really relied on our defense.”

On playing against a ranked opponent…
“The week lay-off wasn’t as good as I thought it was going to be and offensively they went right inside and looked for some mismatches. In our man-to-man defense we had some mismatches and they took advantage of it. I thought when Kathryn [Westbeld] came in the game and Madison [Cable] came in the game that is when we turned it around.

On Kathryn Westbeld…
“She just gets better every game. She had a great week of practice. She is terrific on the zone offense, she can play on the perimeter or inside. I thought she showed a lot of toughness around the basket. She rebounded really well and had some great offensive putbacks. I thought she did a much better job offensively today.”

Jewell Loyd – Junior – Guard

On toughness…
“Maddie [Cable] is willing to risk her body for us and Kathryn [Westbeld] is willing to go in there and get in a fight. I love it, it’s so exciting to see that when I’m on the bench.”

Madison Cable – Junior – Guard

On three-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer…
“The shot clock was running down and obviously teams are going to run at Jewell [Loyd] and I was open and she made a great pass and found me. I just shot it and it went in. I think a lot of people came in and at one point it felt that every shot we took was going in. We were definitely hot there for a minute and it was nice.”

Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie

Opening statement…
“It was a tough game–I think we learned some things in this game. I do not think we played particularly well, but I think it was a good experience. Obviously the difference in the game was No. 32 (Notre Dame’s Jewell Loyd).”

On Jewell Loyd’s development as a player…
“I think she is a super guard–she has grown her game and she also gets more opportunities this year, especially with the graduation of Kayla McBride. She made some big shots today, and without those big shots the game could have gone the other way. You have to give her credit for that. Most of the time you want to tell your team `well, she is a senior, that is just senior leadership,’ but not in this case with her junior leadership. She is terrific and she was the difference in the game.”

On the team’s rebounding advantage…
“I do not think we were consistent. I think at times we were strong and dominant, but at other times I think it waned a bit and I have to give them credit for coming back from our early lead. We did do some nice things: winning the rebounding battle and the offensive rebounding battle, but we also did not convert after our offensive rebounds. If we could have hit our free throws and converted a few offensive rebounds, this would have been a different game. The reality is that Notre Dame did those little things and their players showed up, and their leader Jewell Loyd helped win the game for them.”

On Duke’s three-point shooting…
“It was horrible. You would think that we would have smartened up and gotten the ball inside, we shot terribly.”

Elizabeth Williams – Senior – Forward

On the team’s difficult road schedule in February…
“It is definitely important to finish strong in February. Games on the road are preparation for the NCAA tournament for us because we are going to be on the road most of the time. I think, for us, it will be really important to finish out conference play strong and continue to grow and get better. Obviously we did not do some of the things we wanted to do today but the next couple of games will be very important for us.”