University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes - Notre Dame 89, Carolina 79
January 16, 2015 | Women's Basketball
Postgame Press Conference
Notre Dame 89, North Carolina 79 • January 15, 2015
UNC Head Coach Sylvia Hatchell
Opening Statement
“Well, we're extremely disappointed. So that's about all I can say. Turner was tough. I thought we made a good run at them, and got it down to one point, but just didn't have enough fire power, I guess. I guess that's why she was the best player coming out last year because she was tough. [Lindsay] Allen was really tough up there, too. We'll just regroup and move on.”
On the team's effort
“I thought the effort was good. We had trouble keeping people out there, but I thought we played hard. We just didn't get it done enough. We'll keep working. We'll get them eventually. Trust me, we'll get them eventually.”
On the team's aggressiveness
“I think Notre Dame's aggressive, but I feel like we're more aggressive than they are. We're a great team, and we're really aggressive. We do a lot of drills in practice when we go against our practice boys, and we really just throw them around. So that's really how we came out here.”
Alisha Gray, G
On the team's rally
“We thought we would definitely recover from the deficit. But stuff happens.”
Notre Dame Head Coach Muffet McGraw
Opening Statement
“I thought this was a phenomenal win for us, over a really good team. They are a top ten team. They are so talented. I was just so happy with the way we came back from the ten-point deficit that we got in the first half. We got the lead, they made a run at us. We held our poise. I thought we showed really great poise down on the stretch. I thought that Lindsay (Allen) just managed the game, she was exceptional today, and had her career high, but just the way she played on the floor, I thought was fantastic. What can you say about our freshman Brianna Turner, 29 and 18, had she not missed all those free throws, she would have really had a good game. A phenomenal effort by her, seven blocked shots. I thought just a great team effort. Michaela Mabrey, Madison Cable, Taya Reimer, Kathryn Westbeld. I thought that everybody that came in the game really gave us a lift, so couldn't be happier right now.”
On dominating the middle 15 minutes of the game
“I think we were getting some stops. Defensively, I thought we did some good things, and then offensively we were able to get the ball inside. Michaela (Mabrey) hit a couple threes, I think at different times. That really, really helped us.”
Brianna Turner, F on matching up with Stephanie Mavunga
“I just really tried to stay on the glass. She's a really great rebounder. So I just really tried to box, box out and go for the boards.”
Turner on the inside advantage
“No, just really trying to get in the right spot, and jump high, and just really dunk-tip the ball, and just really grab it with two hands.”
Lindsay Allen, G on tonight's play
“I think we used the ball screen pretty well today. They were soft hedging a little bit, so we either had a jump shot, or we had Bri (Brianna Turner) or Taya, Kathryn, for the lay-ups. So just using the ball screens, running the offense.”
McGraw on the long-distance threes her team took
“Not really, no. I was a little disappointed. I thought, especially late in the shot clock, you know they have to shoot it. The one that was just over half-court, that one bothered me a lot because we just stopped playing defense. I thought we were just waiting for the horn. I thought we did that twice, and that's when they made the run. We gave up two back-to-back threes, I think. And we're up 10, now we're up four. And I think that was huge. We'll definitely be watching some film on that.”
McGraw on defense
“Well we were going to try to double Mavunga, she's such an exceptional payer. She's one of the best posts in the league, and she's a force inside. So our game plan really revolved around her. We were trying to double-team her and I thought Butts had a really good game. She made some shots we were hoping she wouldn't make, so we tried some different things. Tried fronting, tried playing behind and doubling, and I thought Bri did an outstanding job when she was fronting her. That was pretty much where our game plan started.”
