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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 6, 2015Katie MeierJessica ThomasGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA Notre Dame – 77 KATIE MEIER: I thought Notre Dame was very, very focused, offensive game plan and defensive game plan. They came in here and executed a heck of a game plan, had us pretty confused in the first half, switching up their defenses as much they did didn't allow us to get out in transition and get our flow going. I thought we made some adjustments at halftime, picked our tempo up a little bit, and I thought that second half was really great. But we were in a little bit of a hole, so we had to take some chances at the end there to try to cut it. But their balanced scoring is really impressive, and honestly, their 4s, their 4 players, so Reimer and Westbeld really hurt us in the first half. They got a lot of points from those two players and kind of we had to change our schemes a little bit and that opened it up for the rest of them. They showed great patience and great composure. On the flipside I think I had two players who had career highs tonight. They took away Adrienne Motley. I was really proud of Jessica Thomas Jassany Williams to say, all right, they gave us looks and the team has great confidence and faith in each other, and I think we showed balance on the other end, but it took unbelievable effort by J.T. over here and then Jass, and we really went to her, and I thought she came through. Biggest point of the game in my opinion was around the six‑minute mark. I think we got about five stops in a row, and I don't think many teams can say that, that they stopped Notre Dame. That was about a 10‑ or 12‑point game there. I think we got about five stops in a row, and I know we got four empties on the other end, and I thought that might have been where we could have made our little run, and it really, really‑‑ it's so hard to get stops, multiple stops against Notre Dame, and I'm pretty sure there were four or five of them, 53‑‑ something 55, somewhere around there, 53, 43 kind of score, three of our looks I think were at the rim and one was a three. If you're going to beat Notre Dame, you've got to make those plays and you've got to take advantage of those stops because they're like gold when you get them because they're a great offensive team and they showed tonight that they're a great defensive team, as well. Q. You played the No.2 team in the country, so you're not going to play very many better teams. What do you have to do better to make some noise in the NCAA Tournament? KATIE MEIER: Yeah, I think our flow. I'll take that. We saw some looks on film that we thought we could get in resets, and I probably thought a little too much about the resets in the first half. I think you see the essence of who we are is to kind of push the ball up the court on the pass and really execute there. Defensively not many coaches are going to sit here and say they're proud of the defensive effort, but they're very hard to defend. You know, they got about six or seven points at the end there, but I'm thinking we held them around 70 for real in the game, and that's big‑time. But they also went deep into their offense. They didn't want to turn the ball over and get us going. But I think that right now, if you think about our team and you think about us making a run, that performance by Jass and Jess, that really makes me confident that we can really beat some big‑time programs. Q. What was the difference between this Notre Dame team today and the one‑‑ how much of a factor is Reimer's addition‑‑ KATIE MEIER: Well, honestly, it was pretty big in the first half because a lot of our defensive‑‑ we know Reimer had been playing well coming in. It wasn't just Reimer, though, it was Westbeld hitting the three. We needed to do something to Turner and you need to do something to Loyd, and what's your next check down. You've got to choose somebody that you're going to give some catch‑and‑shoots to and we chose those two kids and they made them. So that got us on our heels. I lost a little bit of confidence in our game plan going in, and so we had to get to halftime. I was just trying to get to halftime around 10 so that we could gather and talk and kind of really kind of make offensive and defensive adjustments. But I believe they had 20 points in the first half from that position. It was Reimer, Westbeld and somebody‑‑ I'm talking maybe Cable that was playing a little bit of the 4, as well, and I looked and said, dang, they got 20 points off what we were giving them. So they executed. But we got 24 on what they were giving us. We got 16 off what they were giving us. So that was just a high level basketball game where other secondary players or players that weren't the leading scorer on the team, now their coaches were saying, okay, we'll give you this, Miami, we'll give you this, Notre Dame, and players stepped up. There was a lot going on in that basketball game. Q. Jessica, what about scoring 24 points against a team like that? What does that do for your personal confidence? JESSICA THOMAS: Coming into this tournament, actually, I've not really been in a slump but just trying to figure out my offensive flow, and finishing with 24, still took the L, you know what I mean, but you've got to have more of an impact with 24 points for the team. Q. Coach, all this who gets in the NCAA or not is still a lot of speculation. You don't know what goes on in the room. If you could be in the room, what would you tell the committee about Miami? KATIE MEIER: I think that we've shownthis year and in years past that we can beat anybody, and if you're putting the tournament together and you want to say, well, can they go on the road in sub‑degree weather and beat Syracuse at Syracuse, yeah, we can, with our plane getting delayed and having a stopover, we can handle adversity, we can beat people. We did beat Notre Dame and there's not another couple head coaches in the country that can say that, me and one another, and that's it. That's a team that has such flair and we have such dynamic players. And then I also think that we compete in the nation's best conference where the travel is amazing. It's really something, and you really get beat up and you really get exposed and then you come through and you put your best basketball together in a tournament where you're playing your guts out. We play our guts out, and we're a very, very good basketball team. Q. You brought up the travel. How much of a handicap is that for Miami when you're away at the end of a conference? KATIE MEIER: We are definitely at the end. I will tell you the truth, we take charter flights, which I'm so grateful for, it's so great to have the support, but the charters have to stop sometimes and refuel. You know what, I'm not complaining, but that's the reality. That's what it is. It does wear on you a little bit, and that's why I think our depth‑‑ we are a multidimensional team that plays defense‑‑ we love it, and so I think besides our résumé, besides our wins, besides our top 100 RPI wins and all the other stuff, we've beaten people from major conferences the whole year. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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