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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 4, 2018Muffet McGrawJessica ShepardGreensboro, North Carolina Louisville 74, Notre Dame 72 MUFFET McGRAW: I thought that Louisville played a really good game. I thought they made big shots when they had to. They got some huge offensive rebounds. I thought the offensive rebound kick out was probably the dagger and the game-winning shot. We had some opportunities that we squandered but our execution wasn't quite as good but I think that's because of their defense. They really did a great job defensively. We were not able to really see the mismatches when we had them. I thought we could have got the ball in to Jess a little bit more but I thought Jess played a great game. But I thought Carter was the difference in the game. She was the one that really showed up big for them. Q. Coach, want to ask you about, there's a huge possession at the end of the game, you're down by two, have the ball. You didn't look like you liked what you saw. You called a time-out with 12 seconds on the shot clock, and you still end up getting a shot clock violation. What happened on that possession? MUFFET McGRAW: Yeah, we turned it over, drove the ball and just lost the handle. It was just a great defensive play by them. Q. You made some really uncharacteristic mistakes at the end of the game. Do you think that you were just tired? MUFFET McGRAW: No, I don't think so. I think our execution was poor for most of the game. I think our guards didn't handle the pressure well and we weren't able to execute. Q. Do you feel like you have a 1-seed locked up, though? MUFFET McGRAW: No, I think it depends on what happens in the tournament, in the other tournaments. I think we certainly are in the conversation. Q. Obviously you're disappointed in the outcome, but I assume this is one of the reasons you came to Notre Dame was to play against a top-five team in a championship game. How does this prepare you for the next couple weeks? JESSICA SHEPARD: Yeah, obviously that's why I came to Notre Dame is to compete for championships. For us there's a lot to learn from that game. I think the emphasis Coach has been putting on the little things, it got exploited and there are things we have to fix if we want to reach our goals. Q. Obviously it stinks right now, but you guys have had a really incredible year, and you're sitting next to one of the best coaches in basketball, not just the women's game, but in all college basketball. But how has she managed to keep you together and make sure you could still accomplish goals considering how much you lost? JESSICA SHEPARD: She's a Hall of Famer for a reason. We never have to doubt that she's going to put us in positions to win the game. She just comes in every day with the same energy, the same effort, and just comes down to us, really. Q. You were talking about the ball pressure. Was that the key to the game, you guys not being able to handle that? MUFFET McGRAW: Yeah, I really thought that we weren't able to execute at all because of the pressure on the ball. Q. I noticed you switched out your guards quite a bit. Were you just trying it find the right combination to try to overcome that? MUFFET McGRAW: We put Jackie at the point because we wanted Marina to get on the wing and try to get her free for some shots. Jackie was a little more steady with the ball I thought in the backcourt. Q. Playing Marina off the ball, still there were a couple of late threes but for most of the game they took the three-point shot away from you. MUFFET McGRAW: I'm sorry. I didn't get the question. Q. They took the three-point shot away. Was it something they were doing or something you weren't doing? MUFFET McGRAW: Yeah, I thought their pressure was really good. They were switching. They really weren't going to let Marina get free for anything today. Q. Asia was struggling most of this tournament. Were you a little bit surprised by the balance they had? MUFFET McGRAW: We thought Hines-Allen and Durr were the two players we really had to try to contain, and that's why I thought Carter was the difference in the game. MIKE FINN: Thanks, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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