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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: LEXINGTON

March 24, 2016

Lexington, Kentucky

THE MODERATOR: We will open it up with questions for the Notre Dame women's basketball team. We're joined by head coach Muffet McGraw.

Q. You played Stanford in this round last year. What are the differences you see in their team this year?
COACH MCGRAW: Well, I think both teams lost really good players with Jewell Loyd on our side. Amber Orrange, Bonnie Samuelson really shot it well against us last year. So I think they're a young team, very talented. Erica McCall I think probably really improved more than anyone on their team. She's really, really playing great basketball right now.

Q. Lili Thompson for Stanford seems to be heating up. You all really held her in check last year. Just what you see from her on film?
COACH MCGRAW: I'm not sure if we held her in check. I think she got into foul trouble last year. She's the key to their team. I think she's the emotional leader. She's somebody that can really drive the ball well and coming off a huge win over South Dakota State with the late-game drive. She can shoot the threes, put it on the floor. She's a difficult matchup for us.

Q. I'm curious with two Pac-12 teams, what you've seen from the West Coast a few years ago? Is it harder to get those kids to come east now?
COACH MCGRAW: I think that the Pac-12 had a great year. I think they were not as highly regarded in the past. I think they've always played good basketball, and now they've really kind of stepped up a level. They were No. 1, I think, in the RPI. So I think for us recruiting wise, we try to recruit nationally, but it's getting a lot more difficult to get kids off the West Coast. They can play close to home, stay in the Pac-12, and it's great basketball. I think it's definitely changing.

Q. Lindsay has had two different type of games in this tournament so far. What do you want from her in terms of scoring, distributing? In the first game she didn't do much scoring. Did a lot of other stuff, and second round she got 20-something for you.
COACH MCGRAW: I think the thing that makes her the best point guard in the country is she takes advantage of what the defense gives her, and she does whatever we need her to do on that particular day. You're absolutely right. In the first game she had eight assists at halftime. Did not attempt a shot, and with 11 assists, 1 for 2 from the field.

In the second game, needed her to score 10 for 13 from the field and still had seven assists. So she does whatever we need. She has a great sense of this is what the defense is giving us today, and that's what I'm going to take advantage of.

Q. When you lost Jewell after last season, at that point in time how certain were you of what you had with this team and where it could go?
COACH MCGRAW: I think there were a lot of questions early on. Especially it was going to depend on the development of our freshmen. We lost 20 points a game, we lost rebounding and a big shot maker in Jewell. We had to hope that our freshmen were able to fill in. What surprised me was Madison Cable. She stepped up and really took over the big shot part of the game. She made big plays at both ends of the floor. And Arike (Ogunbowale) and Marina (Mabrey) really came along quickly, and they were fearless and confident, and they were able to come in and give us statistically the scoring that we missed with Jewell. So I think we made great strides.

Hannah Huffman has played a lot more minutes without Taya (Reimer), and she's played extremely well. I think it's great for the senior class. It's really had a lot more of an opportunity to play, and they've really embraced it.

Q. Could you talk about Brianna Turner and the fact that she missed six games? Lot of questions early in the season. Not only do you count on her, but she delivers every game.
COACH MCGRAW: When she went down, we almost felt the season vanish in front of our eyes. We were so happy she was able to come back, because during that stretch I think we played four or five ranked teams, and without her in the lineup defensively, gave up a lot of points. She just gives us so many things on both ends of the floor. Somebody that can score, run the floor, helps us defensively. She's a great presence in the lane. She has really improved this year as the season has gone on. She's become a much better face-up player, much better passer. She's so important to our team. I think probably in the last maybe eight to 10 games she's gotten a lot more aggressive offensively and is looking for the ball more.

Q. Could you talk about Hannah Huffman and the fact that she came in as a freshman playing the post at 5-9 and really developed her game? This has to be a special game for her against a West Coast team like Stanford when she's really contributing playing her best basketball right now.
COACH MCGRAW: She gives us so much energy off the bench. She's another player that does whatever we need her to do. She comes in for defense, rebounding. She's got so many huge offensive rebounds in the ACC Tournament. Eighteen rebounds in three games coming off the bench. So she does a lot of the little things that don't show up on the stat sheet. She gives us the points and the energy.

Q. Notre Dame is shooting 50 percent for the entire season. What's enabled you to be so efficient offensively?
COACH MCGRAW: I think our shot selection is very good. I think we're really smart offensively. We know who is going to take the shots and what shots they're going to take. I think we've shot the ball really well from the 3-point line this year.

Q. Where the team is at right now, are you comfortable with a No. 1 seed playing a Sweet 16 game and an Elite Eight on another team's home court?
COACH MCGRAW: I think that's probably a good question for Washington. We were kind of focused on Stanford. But I will say when we played the regional in South Bend on our home court it was a tremendous advantage. We beat Baylor, and having that home court, the electricity of the crowd, really, really helped us.

Q. Along those same lines, the city of Lexington is known as a basketball city. Can you talk about the host city and playing in historic Rupp Arena?
COACH MCGRAW: We've had a player from Lexington so we know a little bit about Kentucky basketball, and we have one coming in next year from the same area. We think basketball is big in Indiana and it's equally big in Kentucky. The All-Star Game has always been a lot of fun for everybody in the state. We know the fans here embrace basketball, especially women's basketball, and we're excited to see the crowd.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us for the press conference for the Notre Dame women's basketball team. We're joined by student-athletes Lindsay Allen and Hannah Huffman.

Q. Lindsay, what do you remember about last year's game at Stanford? What do you remember about that game and how they look on film now?
LINDSAY ALLEN: Yeah, I think we're both kind of two different thing teams. I think we did a great job sticking to our game plan well. We figured out what they're doing on ball screens and we got our shots that we worked on in practice.

So I think this game is mostly kind of worrying about Erica McCall, a great post, and making sure we give the ball to Brianna (Turner), who is really great. She's averaging a great percentage in there. And then focus on Brianna and make sure the guards are ready to shoot the ball and just make sure we're sharing the ball.

Q. How do you feel about the way you played the first couple rounds of the tournament and what you need to improve on heading into the regionals now?
HANNAH HUFFMAN: I think the first two rounds we kind of got out our tournament jitters. So I think in the last game we kind of struggled with doing some of the things that we originally practiced. I know we were trying to get in certain areas of the zone, and we do a good job of that. So I think that's what we're going to focus on what we did in practice and translating that to the game. We do a better job with that.

But I'm pleased with the fact that we got through the first two rounds, and I think we're in a pretty good place right now.

Q. Lindsay, you're one assist away from having a phenomenal number of 200 assists going into tomorrow's game. With so many options when you get the ball, last game you had 22 and the game before that you had one point, but you had 10 assists. When you get the ball and you have so many options, are there times in the game when you're looking for a certain player and try to control who is going to get the ball and a touch at a certain time?
LINDSAY ALLEN: Yeah, I think I do. I think it's mostly whoever has a mismatch at the moment or whoever has a hot hand at that time in the game. We just kind of go through our offense. It's really whoever is open and who makes the right read. We do a good job of sharing the ball. We're really unselfish. It's mostly about whoever is open and can make the best shot.

Q. How important has defense been for Notre Dame during the course of the season? Some of the big wins we've had have a lot to do with defense as much as offense. Can you talk about that mindset going into tournament time? You've had some outstanding efforts defensively for the Irish, and that's going to be important.
HANNAH HUFFMAN: Yeah, I think especially when you just see the game, being focused and dialed in on defense, it's really important. I think the best thing about defense is effort and your mentality. I think when we decided to really lock down on the defensive end and understand the matchups and personnel, we're a really hard team to score against. So I think we did a great job of that this year, and it's going to be important moving forward.

Q. I know Notre Dame's shooting almost 50 percent for the entire season. What's enabled you to be so efficient offensively?
HANNAH HUFFMAN: Lindsay Allen. Probably the one thing is Lindsay does a really good job of organizing the offense. And I think our offense allows for a lot of people to do a lot of different things and operate well in their different niche.

So I think we do a good job of organizing that and people do a really good job of fulfilling their roles on the offensive end.

LINDSAY ALLEN: What Hannah said, I guess, I don't know. I think we're just a really smart team and willing to give up a good shot for an even better shot, and I think everyone on this team knows their roles and what they bring to this team. We're just really smart and unselfish.

Q. Being from the West Coast and California and being an hour and 45 minutes away from Stanford, any special thoughts about the Cardinal growing up?
HANNAH HUFFMAN: Yeah, I went to my fair share of Stanford games growing up. They're about 40 minutes from me, and they're kind of the big powerhouse on the West Coast. So I'd definitely go to their games. My best friend played on their team last year. I've definitely grown up liking Stanford and appreciating how incredible they've been and how successful they've been over the last couple years. It's kind of nice to see some West Coast representation between them and Washington, but at the end of the day, it's just another team and a game that we've got to win, so I'm looking forward to it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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