Nov. 16, 2013

Recap | Box Score | USATSI Gallery

Notre Dame Head Coach Muffet McGraw

Opening Statement…
“No more emotional pre-game ceremonies. We got off to such a slow start. I thought it was the emotion of the day that was the problem. It took us two and a half minutes to score our first basket. But then we really started playing well. Lindsey (Allen) did a really great job of pushing the ball. Her and Jewell (Loyd) I thought were really the sparks offensively, especially early in the half when we really needed to get going, so I am really pleased with both of them.”

On the explosiveness of the offense…
“I thought it was the best our transition game has looked. We really were running the floor well. We were rebounding well and getting the ball down the court. I was really pleased with that, it was an emphasis coming out of the half. We really wanted to get on the scoreboard early. Defensively, we came up with some steals and that was a big key for us.”

On Taya Reimer…
“In the Princeton offense the person in the post, Taya, has the ball in her hands a lot and she is going to get a lot of assists. Six assists for her is fantastic. I would like to see her rebound a lot more though, I was disappointed in her rebounding today. I thought her shot selection was pretty good tonight. Overall, she definitely needs to get on the boards more. We missed enough shots for her to rebound.”

On emotions of the day…
“I needed a tissue after that. I think players that played with her felt it. You know, we kind of said `let’s do it for Sky’ and that didn’t work so well.”

On Loyd’s progress…
“I think the biggest change is how active she is on the glass. She is really doing a good job on both ends, offensively and defensively. She isn’t settling for shots and is attacking the basket. But she is in there fighting for rebounds all of the time. Even if she doesn’t get it she is in there trying to tip it to a teammate. She is a lot more aggressive, looking to score and we need her to do that. She drives it, she shoots the three and she’s really hard to guard because you just don’t know what she is going to do.”

Notre Dame Players

Jewell Loyd – Sophomore – Guard

On what triggers the transition game…
“I think it is the rebounding. Especially when guards and even Taya (Reimer) get the rebound and push it up the floor, when we are looking ahead and not wasting dribbles, that is when we succeed.”

On her rebounding…
“It’s a mindset. I try to get in there and be aggressive. Every possession is vital so I’m just trying to keep things alive.”

Lindsey Allen – Freshman – Guard

On her play today…
“I felt good about it. I was just trying to get out on the break, push the ball and get some steals.”

On her confidence in the transition game…
“I’m definitely feeling confident. I think it is our best asset as a team. We are a lot faster and athletic than most of the teams we are going to play so pushing the ball and getting running is the easiest way for us to score. It’s instinctive now, you get a rebound and you just go.”

On the impact of their transition play…
“It’s definitely demoralizing to the other team. We’re beating them down the court before they even have a chance to figure out who they are guarding.”

Valparaiso Head Coach Tracey Dorow

On Notre Dame’s explosiveness…
“It started in the first half. I thought they were very aggressive on defense and did a great job of jumping passing lanes. We did not do a very good job of making the reads, ball faking and some of the other things we had worked on but give them a ton of credit. They anticipated well, they attacked the rim hard and they got us into some foul trouble. They really attacked every facet of the game, and it was very impressive on their part.

On Jewell Loyd…
“She’s so quick and explosive. She rebounds the ball hard and can play anywhere she wants to play. She defends well too and plays hard every second. There’s no doubt about it, she’s going to have a great year. We hope that our players will learn from that and become a lot more competitive just like the kids at Notre Dame.”

On the performance of Notre Dame post players…
“To compliment their post players, they’re not only big and strong but they’re very mobile. I thought they were very aggressive and moved well and were always in position. Even when they were switching some of the ball screens, their guards out-hustled our posts and then were really aggressive with them. They’re all long, athletic and smart and it was hard for us to get ball to our posts because of that.”

On Skylar Diggins’ induction into the Notre Dame Ring of Honor…
“It’s a really neat thing for her. I worked at Notre Dame camp when she was a camper in about seventh or eighth grade and you could see even then that she was something special. I was really excited to be here and to be a part of the celebration. She’s a real class act. This was big for women’s basketball.”

Valparaiso Players

Sharon Karungi – Junior – Forward

On playing against Notre Dame’s athleticism…
“It was definitely a learning experience. They are really athletic and it was great to play against such athletic players. They definitely had the upper hand on the inside and had a lot of players that were bigger than us but it gives us a great chance to learn.”