Dec. 2, 2015

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Notre Dame Head Coach Muffet McGraw

On the game …

“I think Ohio State’s a really good team. Kelsey Mitchell is phenomenal. She is electric. She is really difficult to guard and puts so much pressure on the defense because of the way she attacks the basket. I thought we shot ourselves in the foot a little bit in the second half. We made some errors that we don’t usually make like turning the ball over and missing a lot of threes. Overall, I thought we got our composure when we needed to. I thought Mychal Johnson did a good job at the end. We had a foul to give and she used it at the perfect time. She really did a great job managing the clock down the stretch, and I was really pleased with the win.”

On the health status of Taya Reimer and Brianna Turner…

“Taya was cleared to play and she is allowed to play up to her pain tolerance. We are going to have to manage that and see how her soreness is. With Brianna, we are deciding whether to have surgery right away or to play in a brace. That is what they are discussing right now. We will probably think about it for 24 hours. She can’t play for the next week, so we’ll have some time to think it over.”

On whether a potential surgery would be season ending …

“Yes, it is a six-month rehab.”

On playing the half-court offense and improving it …

“It was hard for us today because we played four guards a lot and haven’t had enough time to work it out. We had two games in the Bahamas and we haven’t had a chance to practice it. It’s going to look ugly for a while. I thought Hannah (Huffman) did a good job helping us run the offense because she played inside. When we went with the four guards and had to put Kat [Westbeld] back inside, we really looked out of sync. We got a lot of shots, but we missed a lot of shots too. The three point shot wasn’t working for us today. Overall, we have a lot to do on offense.”

On Huffman’s career-high nine rebounds, including seven on the offensive glass…

“She outworks people; that’s all it is. She’s a really good athlete. She’s strong and she can jump, but she really just wants to go after the ball. I think it’s mostly her attitude.”

On the team’s rebounding efforts without Reimer or Turner…

“That was spectacular. With what we had in the post, I thought the guards had to come in and Madison [Cable] did a really good job, putting up a double-double. We have to do everything as a team. We have to team rebound. We have to play team defense. We have to share the ball on offense. Everybody playing together, that’s how we are going to win.”

Madison Cable – Guard – Graduate Student

On her go-ahead three-pointer with 56.2 seconds left…

“I thought I was open and I knew we needed to shoot it and at least try to get a rebound if it didn’t go in. I thought I had a decent look, so luckily it went in.”

On her back-to-back career scoring highs …

“As long as we win the game, I don’t think about anything else. I mean that’s great, but we won, so that’s greater.”

Lindsay Allen – Guard – Junior

On Madison Cable’s play …

“Madison is playing with a ton of confidence right now. Her three-point shot is working well and she is always working hard for us. I think we are really confident when Madison is in the game. She can give us any spark we need at the moment. She’s been playing really well these last few games.”

On what bothered her personally…

“I think it was the press. We didn’t expect that kind of press and the way they were trapping and pressuring us. We weren’t expecting that. I think throwing different things at us, pressuring us in the half-court, and getting us out of sync on offense really bothered us.”

On her history of last-second shots, including at the end of the second and third periods tonight…

“I think a big part of it is my teammates getting the ball out quick. We are able to get a full head of steam going down to the basket and that makes it easier for me to get down the court and take a jump shot or make a layup. It’s knowing how much time there is on the clock. We talk about that in the huddle and are always aware of it.”

Ohio State Head Coach Kevin McGuff

On the game…

“They’re a great team. We were really well prepared tonight, played hard, and executed on offense. It was a great opportunity for us but you have to give them credit because they played well.”

On getting outrebounded…

“I thought that was the difference in the game. I thought we were fine through the first half, but we really got beat on the glass, especially in the third quarter. They got too many second-chance points. That and points off turnovers were the two struggles for us tonight. They played hard, scrapped, and found a way to win.”

On the success of their press defense…

“I thought that pressing a bit in the first half got us going. I think it got our energy level up. As much as it was affecting them, I also think it just got us playing a little bit harder. I think that was a big key for us.”

On being back in South Bend to coach…

“This is such a special place for me and my wife. I had such a great experience here both professionally and personally so it was great to see a lot of people I haven’t seen for a while. It’s tough because I don’t like coaching against people that I’m as close with as I am with Coach McGraw and her staff. This was just a wonderful experience for me.”

On Madison Cable’s play…

“She shoots the ball so well and really stretches the defense. We were late on a couple of closeouts at the three-point line and she’s going to make you pay for that. She’s as good a shooter as there is in college basketball, and she played great tonight.”

On what the team takes away from the tough stretch of games…

“I think we’ve learned some things about ourselves. We’ve got to continue to get better defensively and on the glass. We learn that by playing the best teams in the country. For us, it’s been about trying to learn from these games, and it’s tough when you don’t win. But we have to make sure to take inventory of where we are and make sure we get better.”