Jan. 18, 2016

Recap | Box Score | Notes | USATSI Gallery

Notre Dame vs. Tennessee
January 18, 2016
Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center – Notre Dame, Ind.

Notre Dame Head Coach Muffet McGraw

Opening statement…
“I was really pleased with a lot of the things that went on today. I thought that the end of the first quarter and the end of the fourth quarter showed some things we need to work on. I thought the first quarter was me subbing, and I thought during the fourth quarter we got a little sloppy with some free throws and we didn’t have quite the urgency when we got up by 20. Our postgame, 13 of 17 from the field, it was just a tremendous day. We played some really great players — Mercedes Russell and Bashaara Graves are great athletes, great players, and it’s really hard to score on them. I thought Arike [Ogunbowale] coming off the bench was just great with great energy. She drove the ball, defended and did a little bit of everything so I’m really pleased.”

On the third quarter…
“That was my favorite quarter. We hit some threes so we got transitions going, and we got rebounds. I thought rebounding was the key to the game. We didn’t do a good job on the boards. I thought had we rebounded better we would’ve been able to get the transition game going. We missed some people that were ahead of us sometimes but that shows us things to work on.”

On the series against Tennessee…
“I like the last six games rather than the first 20. I think the win in the NCAA tournament was a turning point for us. I thought that win, beating Tennessee to go to the Final Four for the first time in a while and beating Connecticut in the Final Four, was a huge turning point in our program.”

Arike Ogunbowale – Freshman – Guard

On matching up against DeShields…
“I was face guarding her, so any player who is used to scoring a lot and used to getting what they want would be frustrated. It was just basketball and we were being competitive.”

On her performance improvements…
“I just have to get in the gym and shoot jump shots. People know I’m going to drive and they’re just going to be falling left to right so I have to work on my pull ups and that’s what I tried to do today.”

Brianna Turner – Sophomore – Forward

On the freshmen…
“I think these freshmen are extremely confident. They’re a lot different from me, Kat, and Mychal from last year. They’re just fun to be around and they’re always laughing. That’s what makes it fun to play with them. They’re always having a good time.”

Kathryn Westbeld – Sophomore – Forward

On her performance tonight…
“It was a success tonight, finally. Bri is such a great post player and they’re always looking to double down on her so I was open a few times at the free throw line tonight.”

Tennessee Head Coach Holly Warlick

Opening Statement…

“I thought it was a hard fought game. Notre Dame was solid. I’m really proud of our young ladies. We have had a hard time giving up and not fighting. I thought they battled, and obviously we continued to turn the ball over, and that’s not been a good thing for us. I was proud of our effort and we just have to get some things straightened out for us.”

On correcting the turnover situation…

“We’ve been dealing with this. I think we have to value the basketball. We haven’t shot the ball well in games, and so that makes you second guess. And you don’t want the ball, so you try to get rid of the ball, and you try to make some things happen. It just hasn’t been good. I just think things are in their head and I don’t think we’re as bad of a passing team as what we’re showing. Turnovers, to me, I’m okay if we’re attacking the basket and being aggressive. But the ones that are unforced, you’re not going to win too many games when you’re doing that. And obviously, the games that we’ve lost, our turnovers have been in the 20s. So it’s not a good stat for us. When we get 20 turnovers, we normally get beat.”

On what Notre Dame did differently to start the second half offensively…

“I just thought they played. They attack, they ran back doors, we knew what they were doing, and we just got undisciplined. We’re standing up. I thought we did a great job in the first half of keeping people in front of us. And in the second half, we didn’t. We gave them open looks. And then we fouled jump shooters. We fouled people that were driving to the basket. At times, we aren’t very disciplined and smart.”

Diamond DeShields – RS-Sophomore – Guard

On if she hurt her right shoulder in the first half…
“Yeah, at some point when I came in at halftime, I didn’t realize it during the half, but I came in at halftime, it felt like something was bothering my shoulder. I went out to shoot, it was a little tough for me.”

On how she felt about the team effort…
“Well it’s definitely still too many turnovers, but the positive we take away from it is that’s something we can control. Once we stop turning the ball over and once we start playing defense, we had a 25-plus point fourth quarter, and that was because we took care of the ball and we played defense. So just going into the rest of the conference and knowing that we are capable, and we are a very resilient team. This has been a very up-and-down season for us, and we know that, but we are going to get through this. We are sticking together and this is making us stronger. And like I said, we are going to head back to Knoxville and get ready for Vanderbilt.”

Bashaara Graves – Senior – Forward

On what happened in the third quarter…
“I think we just got casual on defense and we kept turning the ball over in the third quarter. Off the pick and roll, they were just hitting shots, and we couldn’t stop it.”

On whether the turnovers committed were due to Notre Dame’s pressure or Tennessee’s errors… “I definitely think it was a mix of both. A couple of our turnovers were very unforced, but also they were getting into it us defense and making us turn the ball over.”