Post-Game Quotes vs. Notre Dame
12/2/2021 8:34:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Head Coach Suzy Merchant
On what was not working for the team tonight…
We have been getting a little more on our post play, but we knew getting into this … [Maya] Dodson is the best shot blocker in the country, not sure if we would get a lot back to the basket. I kind of thought when she went out, 'We may get a little more back there.' I liked our fight; four kids in double figures. We shared the ball, we did some things, we took care of it. There were some untimely offensive rebounds for them that kind of lead to … I think they had 16 second chance points. There were probably three or four, maybe five this game that I felt if we could have secured those, things may have been different.
On getting over the five-point hump that was present during the game…
I thought there was a couple that were right there. Then we had just a couple easy things, we were ball watching a little bit. I thought we did a good job on our key. To make [Olivia] Miles shoot 15 times and 4 of them from the arc, their guard, that's not her role, she is not a primary scorer for them. I thought we did a good job on [Maya] Dodson and [Maddy] Westbeld. I thought when [Sam] Brunelle only played four minutes, but she is a scary person when she comes in. [Dara] Mabrey did not shoot it that well, I thought we did a good job on some of their key people. But again, number 11 [Sonia Citron] kind of went off on us a little bit. Some of those were just silly mistakes, we were ball watching, a couple back cuts we were too far off her, that was definitely not the game plan. We had a couple of break downs that had we not had those I think that she may have not scored 29 points. They're a team that, the stuff they run you cannot really zone them, they're too big and we did not feel that it was something we could do going in and I don't think that was as big of a factor for sure. We just did not shoot the ball well in that second quarter, that was big. Although they did not pull away as bad as they could have, thank God. We found a way to keep it a four-point quarter between us that could have got ugly. I thought our kids fought really hard all the way through.
On Moria Joiner's performance…
I got into it a lot on the bench there because she's capable of more, like when she missed that layup there that was … as a junior in this situation, I just kind of got into it a little bit. When she went back in in that first half, that was a long first half. She just has a way about her, she can stretch the defense, she finally knocked down her threes. I thought she was gutsy as all get-out defensively, just found ways to bother them on both ends of the floor. She was a huge reason for us to be successful for sure tonight. She's a fighter and offensively I talked to her about being more aggressive and helping us a little more on the offense end which I think she did tonight.
On this group and how close they are to being "something special"…
I think they realize there's a couple games that we can't get back, but if we [had] had this kind of fight in us. I think there's some good things that can definitely come from it, but I think we just have to level it up one more level. We have to get to [that level] sometimes and be consistent. We need to shoot the ball just a smidge better, especially from the field to the line. To give Notre Dame credit they're long, they're big so I think that bothered us a little bit. Even [Sonia] Citron she was no look, no touching Nia Clouden there in the second half. She's a long guard, I mean they're big and physical. I liked our fight. I just think we were close, but we have to continue to improve in some areas. Defensive rebounds are one of them for sure. I thought we shared the ball well. I thought we did a lot of really good things we just couldn't get over that five-point hump as you mentioned.
On shooting struggles…
I don't think it was fatigue, maybe a little. I mean they played four games in seven days. They've had an off day and they have caught our breath, we're feeling better. Some of the kids are still under the weather but not like we were. I liked our fight. I just I think again, and I sound like a broken record, but you miss experiences Julia [Ayrault] in size. Mo [Joiner]'s playing kind of out of position, she's a foreman for us and she's at guard. She's got a lot of fights in her and that helps. I don't know, tonight we could have used one more guy or half a guy, I guess. So, there's times when you would like to give other people a rest and you aren't able to sometimes.
On the upcoming schedule…
I mean it's basketball season, you just get ready for the next, on to the next. They battled hard, I mean this is a really solid Norte Dame team and I think we did a good job of. I thought the players did a good job of understanding who was in front of them and what we were trying to accomplish didn't always work out exactly. From a game-playing standpoint, you're going to have to do some of that. Given our short bench, all the injuries we've had and the lack of experience. I really do think we did a good job of trying to help each other when we could, trying to be up in our gaps, knowing who's a commit, who's a stunt. There's probably a handful of loose ball rebounds away, maybe a shot goes down. Especially in the second quarter.
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On what was not working for the team tonight…
We have been getting a little more on our post play, but we knew getting into this … [Maya] Dodson is the best shot blocker in the country, not sure if we would get a lot back to the basket. I kind of thought when she went out, 'We may get a little more back there.' I liked our fight; four kids in double figures. We shared the ball, we did some things, we took care of it. There were some untimely offensive rebounds for them that kind of lead to … I think they had 16 second chance points. There were probably three or four, maybe five this game that I felt if we could have secured those, things may have been different.
On getting over the five-point hump that was present during the game…
I thought there was a couple that were right there. Then we had just a couple easy things, we were ball watching a little bit. I thought we did a good job on our key. To make [Olivia] Miles shoot 15 times and 4 of them from the arc, their guard, that's not her role, she is not a primary scorer for them. I thought we did a good job on [Maya] Dodson and [Maddy] Westbeld. I thought when [Sam] Brunelle only played four minutes, but she is a scary person when she comes in. [Dara] Mabrey did not shoot it that well, I thought we did a good job on some of their key people. But again, number 11 [Sonia Citron] kind of went off on us a little bit. Some of those were just silly mistakes, we were ball watching, a couple back cuts we were too far off her, that was definitely not the game plan. We had a couple of break downs that had we not had those I think that she may have not scored 29 points. They're a team that, the stuff they run you cannot really zone them, they're too big and we did not feel that it was something we could do going in and I don't think that was as big of a factor for sure. We just did not shoot the ball well in that second quarter, that was big. Although they did not pull away as bad as they could have, thank God. We found a way to keep it a four-point quarter between us that could have got ugly. I thought our kids fought really hard all the way through.
On Moria Joiner's performance…
I got into it a lot on the bench there because she's capable of more, like when she missed that layup there that was … as a junior in this situation, I just kind of got into it a little bit. When she went back in in that first half, that was a long first half. She just has a way about her, she can stretch the defense, she finally knocked down her threes. I thought she was gutsy as all get-out defensively, just found ways to bother them on both ends of the floor. She was a huge reason for us to be successful for sure tonight. She's a fighter and offensively I talked to her about being more aggressive and helping us a little more on the offense end which I think she did tonight.
On this group and how close they are to being "something special"…
I think they realize there's a couple games that we can't get back, but if we [had] had this kind of fight in us. I think there's some good things that can definitely come from it, but I think we just have to level it up one more level. We have to get to [that level] sometimes and be consistent. We need to shoot the ball just a smidge better, especially from the field to the line. To give Notre Dame credit they're long, they're big so I think that bothered us a little bit. Even [Sonia] Citron she was no look, no touching Nia Clouden there in the second half. She's a long guard, I mean they're big and physical. I liked our fight. I just think we were close, but we have to continue to improve in some areas. Defensive rebounds are one of them for sure. I thought we shared the ball well. I thought we did a lot of really good things we just couldn't get over that five-point hump as you mentioned.
On shooting struggles…
I don't think it was fatigue, maybe a little. I mean they played four games in seven days. They've had an off day and they have caught our breath, we're feeling better. Some of the kids are still under the weather but not like we were. I liked our fight. I just I think again, and I sound like a broken record, but you miss experiences Julia [Ayrault] in size. Mo [Joiner]'s playing kind of out of position, she's a foreman for us and she's at guard. She's got a lot of fights in her and that helps. I don't know, tonight we could have used one more guy or half a guy, I guess. So, there's times when you would like to give other people a rest and you aren't able to sometimes.
On the upcoming schedule…
I mean it's basketball season, you just get ready for the next, on to the next. They battled hard, I mean this is a really solid Norte Dame team and I think we did a good job of. I thought the players did a good job of understanding who was in front of them and what we were trying to accomplish didn't always work out exactly. From a game-playing standpoint, you're going to have to do some of that. Given our short bench, all the injuries we've had and the lack of experience. I really do think we did a good job of trying to help each other when we could, trying to be up in our gaps, knowing who's a commit, who's a stunt. There's probably a handful of loose ball rebounds away, maybe a shot goes down. Especially in the second quarter.
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Players Mentioned
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