NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL SEMIFINAL - NOTRE DAME VS NC STATE

March 25, 2022

Niele Ivey

Olivia Miles

Dara Mabrey

Sonia Citron

Total Mortgage Arena

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Sweet 16 Media Conference

NIELE IVEY: Well, extremely excited to be here. My first Sweet 16 as head coach. Have been a part of many Sweet 16s under Muffet McGraw, but obviously being a rookie in this moment is just really special. I'm embracing every second of this, excited to be able to lead my incredible team, excited to see where we are at this point and how we've grown. And being successful in the first and second rounds is a dream come true, and super, super excited about the matchup tomorrow against NC State.

Q. I've got two questions for you. First one is based on your opening statement. Do you talk to Muffet often or does she give you advice, hey, NCAA Tournament, Sweet 16, a couple things to think about? Obviously you coach under your own philosophy. The second is the mandatory Jaden question. Thoughts on that since you can't be there.

NIELE IVEY: I actually am going to be there. I'm going to answer your second question first. I'm leaving after practice and driving up there. My athletic director prepared a car for me to get me there and back so I'll be there tonight. I'm excited to be there in person. Because of the region, I think it's only a two-and-a-half-hour drive.

The first question for Muffet, yes, we're constantly texting. I asked her for her advice the first and second rounds. She gave me incredible advice. Going to probably reach out to her today. But she's always been somebody that I can lean on this last year and this year. She watches all of our games. She's always been supportive. She's always called me. We've had a great relationship. We do have a great relationship, and we've been really close throughout this process.

I'm fortunate to have a Hall of Famer that I can reach out to to get advice, and again, I just love her support.

Q. I'm curious as to how you approach a team that's very experienced in NC State, while your roster, a lot of the impact players are much younger. Also, what do you hope to learn about the maturity of your team in a matchup like this?

NIELE IVEY: Right. Well, the past two rounds I think I've watched my team grow. We are young, but they're blossoming in front of our eyes. We're peaking right now. We're peaking at the right time. I'm a young coach, as well, so we're all growing together, my group.

I have a lot of trust in them. They know that I have a lot of trust in them and vice versa. I have a lot of confidence in them.

Again, we've grown throughout this season. My point guard, I told her after a month -- and Olivia and Sonia, I told them you guys aren't freshmen anymore. We've played over 25-plus games. So we have a lot of experience going through the year together. And so going against an NC State team like you mentioned, we just have to play our game. We know that they're a veteran team. We understand that it's 40 minutes to get to the Elite 8. Everyone is going to play their best basketball tomorrow morning, and we just hope that we play better. We hope our 40 minutes are better. We have to be ready to compete, we have to be confident, and I will continue to try to instill that confidence in our group.

Q. Do you talk at all to your players about the experiences you had in the NCAA Tournament? And were you surprised at all by that just offensive outburst at Oklahoma the other night?

NIELE IVEY: Well, yeah, I have talked to my team a lot about my experiences throughout the season. I also have a very seasoned coaching staff, Coquese Washington, Carol Owens, Michaela Mabrey, they have all either played -- national champions. And Michaela has helped us to four straight Final Fours her entire career.

So we lean on all those experiences. We have lots of meetings because we do have a young group. Coming into last week we had to talk about what the day looks like, media, practice, not touching the basketballs before the clock starts. We had to go back to the basics.

I know that that last week our experience helped them as far as just understanding the atmosphere, the experience, and now they have two games under their belts, so I think they'll be prepared tomorrow.

But I feel like our journey and my journey, I'm hoping that I can always continue to lean on those experiences to help them.

And your second question?

Q. About Oklahoma.

NIELE IVEY: Yeah, I knew that we were capable of having an offensive game like that, but I was not expecting that outburst from the first quarter. It was our best quarter of the season, Dara Mabrey, I think she ended up with seven threes that game. We were confident. They shot the ball really well in practice. They just came with a different energy. Defensively, offensively, their energy was amazing. So for us to start like that, I'm hoping that we always start like that. That was incredible. It was a special game, a special moment for us all.

Q. How would you describe Olivia's growth from when she first stepped on campus to now? Has there been anything that's surprised you about what she's been able to do and what do you want to see from her tomorrow?

NIELE IVEY: Yes, I've been really impressed with her growth coming in from last year, an early enrollee, to this year. Every game I've felt like she was learning something. She was doing something different, learning something new, different defenses. Everyone kind of game plans around her, so she's seen it all. The off the ball screens, in transition, pressure, being denied.

She does a great job of like asking a lot of questions. She always comes to me and asks a lot of questions, to her position coach, lots of film. And all of our losses this year, I felt like it was something for her to learn in those losses, and she's been in the fire, to be honest. I've thrown her in the fire. She has a lot of weight on her shoulders to carry this program, and the fact that she's done that and led us to a Sweet 16, first player, man or woman, to have a triple-double in their first NCAA Tournament game just shows you the caliber of player that she is.

I'm mostly impressed by her growth. Regardless of what happens, she's never too high or too low. She understands it's part of the journey, and she tries her best to do whatever she can to help this team win. I just love having a point guard like that.

Q. Since your game against State on February 1st, when you watch the film now how much have they changed and how much have you guys changed?

NIELE IVEY: Right. First of all, NC State is such a powerhouse defensively and offensively. They have a lot of depth. They're well-coached. They have a lot of experience. They're used to being in this moment. They're used to being in the Sweet 16.

I think they've grown just with their confidence. Again, like I said, they're such a powerhouse that they haven't changed it up too much because it's working and they haven't lost since. But again, I think their experience, their will to win, I think that's grown. The ACC Tournament champions, I think two straight years, so they have that experience.

Again, they're just an incredible team.

Q. You said in your opening statement that you were excited about this matchup. What excites you about the prospect of playing NC State?

NIELE IVEY: I mean, it's two ACC teams, and it just shows the strength of our league. Again, having had the opportunity to play them, so we have the film, I know and our team knows their personnel very well. We know what worked and what didn't work, so we can go back and watch the film ourselves, not just scouting other teams.

So I think that's exciting for me. And again, I think we're going to have great point guards, great shooters, and great posts going at each other tomorrow. Cunane is one of the best posts in the country going against Maya Dodson, and it's going to be a great battle with a lot of great talent. And I think that's just going to be exciting for the women's game.

Q. To piggy-back off that, is it easier with a young team to face a team you've played before that they already know the team a little bit, you're not playing a team you've never seen in the NCAA Tournament, you have a team you've faced as an ACC foe?

NIELE IVEY: I'm hoping. I'm hoping this group can feel confident and comfortable because they know NC State really well. We've all watched them even just playing against other teams the way we scouted other teams in the ACC so they're very familiar. We understand what it feels like by having them play us on our court. So I'm hoping that that experience that we had early on in February can help us tomorrow. Just knowing their tendencies, knowing what they run, knowing how they're going to guard us, I'm hoping that that helps us tomorrow.

Q. The more players advance in the tournament, the more opportunities they're getting to make money. How has that impacted your team at all? How has it impacted you in terms of recruiting? Second question, Syracuse just announced they're going to offer a four-credit course on NIL. Is that something you think would be advantageous for student-athletes?

NIELE IVEY: Yeah, well, I think that NIL having more opportunities to make money for the student-athletes, I think it's incredible. I'm hoping that where -- us advancing is giving them more opportunities just because of them being in the Sweet 16.

We have a center on campus called the Gold Center that helps our student-athletes maximize their name, image and likeness. They give a lot of education. They've done a great job of just having a resource for our student-athletes, and I feel like our student-athletes have utilized those resources on campus, which I think is great.

It's all new for everybody. This is a completely new landscape. I feel like my players are starting to get more opportunities. I see them posting a little bit more, getting involved a little bit more. In the beginning of the season, I think it was still so brand new, but now I feel like I see a lot more opportunities for them, and I'm hoping that those opportunities continue.

I think that's great to have a course at Syracuse because, again, I think everyone is trying to figure this out. So having a specific course that just specializes in the NIL space, I think that will be great.

Recruiting impact, I think it's huge. Again, like I said, we have that resource on campus that's helping our current student-athletes. And that's what I talk about in my recruiting pitches, knowing the power of Notre Dame and having the resources to help them maximize their name, image and likeness is going to be very beneficial at Notre Dame.

Q. You obviously have two Mabreys on your team now in Michaela and Dara, and Marina who was a legend at Notre Dame and seems to be your biggest super fan following you throughout the tournament. What can you say about the impact the Mabrey family has had on the program?

NIELE IVEY: Well, they have had such an incredible impact. All three of them very different in terms of their personalities but similar in the way they compete. They're high energy, three-point shooters, but they've made such an incredible impact. They've created their own legacy here at Notre Dame, their family. They're loyal, they understand the tradition of Notre Dame, and I feel like -- especially Dara, she's one of our captains, and she does a great job of trying to explain that tradition and legacy to my current team.

Just to have that family tie that we have with all three and the success of all three has had on our program, I think, has been just incredible for me to be a part of. I recruited Marina and Michaela as an assistant and now I get a chance to coach the baby sister, and I've watched Dara grow up by recruiting Marina and Michaela. It's a special bond that we all have and it's an incredible family, a family full of winners.

Q. When you were talking about Olivia's growth, you mentioned a film study as a part of that. How does she approach film study, and what does that say to you as her coach and also somebody that has that positional kinship?

NIELE IVEY: Well, she is very high IQ. She has a very high IQ. When I sit down and watch film with her, she can notice things right away. If I point things out, she's like, right. She goes -- it's a back-and-forth conversation because she sees it just as much as I see it as a head coach. So that just shows her IQ.

Her growth, honestly, is not just on the floor. She points out a lot of things. She sees a lot of things and sometimes she brings it to me, which is very similar to Skylar Diggins. She was very similar in that way as far as knowing and understanding the game. I think she's years above -- her level of play is years above her age. I think she's very mature, very, very bright.

And I just love -- obviously in being a point guard, it's great having that type of chemistry with the point guard because I had the same with -- Skylar and I had the same with Coach McGraw when I was a player, and we didn't have as much film, so much access to film as the players do now.

I think that's a trait that's going to continue to help her expand and become even greater.

Q. I'm curious if you can walk me through how you believe the way women's college basketball has been received by mainstream audience and how that has changed since the time that you played and what are maybe the starkest examples of those changes?

NIELE IVEY: I definitely feel that with social media, that has helped a lot in bringing attention to our game. I know that we still have a long way to go as far as the women's games being televised and making sure that everybody understands that we have great talent in women's basketball. And to put that on display, I think we have a long way to go, but I definitely feel like it's grown tremendously since I was a player.

Just having even just NBA players, people that are highly respected to respect our game I think is big. Again, like I said, social media, having it out on a lot of different media networks and television. You see our players -- Paige, Hailey Van Lith, players that are having multiple millions of followers of all types of ages and men and women that are following our women. Our talent is elevated, and I feel like people are starting to show that respect, but I definitely feel that we still have an area to grow.

I know that we talked about the disparity last year even with the tournament, and I know that we're trying to grow our sport, but I'm happy to see where we're trending and want to continue showing the respect that women need to have.

Q. Olivia, how much did coming to Notre Dame early help you for this year? You're a freshman but not a freshman, I guess. Freshman and a half maybe?

OLIVIA MILES: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I would say it more so helped me on the academic side. I didn't have the role I had this year playing on the team as I did last year. Basketball, it helped me in a sense of getting familiar with playing in a game, getting familiar with college workouts and the rigorous 6:00 a.m's and the workouts and pickup and all of just the college basketball schedule.

But I feel like it more so helped me academically. I was able to get ahead, get acclimated more quickly, and help out those who were new here and just know the ropes.

Q. This is for all of you. I'd like the perspective across the aisle. Obviously you all went on a tear against Oklahoma, such an offensive scoring performance. I'm curious as to potentially what the next step is. If you take the court tomorrow against NC State and the shots aren't falling like that, what is that next adjustment that you automatically have to make and how crucial could that be in a game like tomorrow?

DARA MABREY: I think you have to find ways to get easier shots to whatever shots aren't falling for you. Sometimes you can't control if you miss lay-ups or like easy bunnies around the basket. That's just the mental part of it. You just have to keep going and find a way to do it. But as for missing other shots, our staff does a really good job of adjusting and recognizing if we happen to be missing shots. I don't even like talking about it.

But yeah, it's all right. Just find a way to get easier ones within the offense.

SONIA CITRON: Yeah, I mean, I would agree with what Dara said. We're a really good team in transition, so when we're doing that and we're running, we're going to get easier options to score and just make our shots.

Also putting an emphasis on defense, like just if our offense isn't working, we've still got to lock in defensively because that's just really important.

OLIVIA MILES: Yeah, I was going to say the defensive part. If they can't score, they can't win, either; just stop them on defense. And like Sonia said, we love to run out in transition so some lay-ups are going to fall eventually, and like Dara said, our coaching staff is really good at adjusting.

Q. Dara, did you watch the NCAA Tournament last year, and if so, what was that experience like?

DARA MABREY: It was terrible. I was heartbroken. I remember sitting on my couch, my head down in the pillow just crying, honestly. That's a tough question. It's a tough thing to talk about.

I remember that feeling every single game that I played this year because everything matters. It matters if you win or you lose. It matters how much you win by or how much you lose by, as well. I remember thinking especially in late-game situations that I was going to do everything I possibly could, whether it went right or wrong, to put this team in this position. And we're in the Sweet 16 now, so I think that sour taste that I had in my mouth definitely fueled me.

Q. Olivia, we were talking about that adjustment of just going to Notre Dame and having that extra year, talked about how it benefitted you on the academic side because athletically you didn't have as big a role on the team. As you've grown into the role that you have now, what's that been like for you and how have you adjusted?

OLIVIA MILES: Yeah, I give myself a lot of credit, which I often don't do. I'm pretty hard on myself, so just looking back and seeing the progress that this team has made from last year and me being a big part of that, I give myself a lot of credit.

But I feel like I've grown into a leader. I wasn't always a vocal person in high school. I didn't really say much. But I've kind of had to do that. I was demanded that by my coaches, and they've always helped me and had my back. But at times it's been really hard because I have felt a lot of the pressure just because of the role I had. But as I just said, my coaches always have my back, and so do my teammates, and they always help me when I'm struggling and reassure me that they've been in these positions.

Coach Ivey is a national champion point guard, so she's seen the worst of it, and she knows and she helps me.

Q. I wanted to ask all three of you, as teams advance further into the tournament, there's more opportunity for their players to make money, so I wanted to ask you guys, how has that impacted you getting this far, and how much does it impact your thinking going forward? For Dara, obviously your sisters didn't have this opportunity, so are they a little jealous of what you've been able to do and how has that impacted you guys personally?

DARA MABREY: I actually work with Marina on all my NIL deals. But speaking on the basketball end of it, I don't care about anything right now besides winning the game and winning this whole thing.

Yeah, when you win and you perform, you might get some more deals or some companies might recognize you, but I've just got one thing on my mind right now, and I think everybody here knows what that is.

SONIA CITRON: Yeah, definitely what Dara said. It's been really cool to have that opportunity, but as of right now, it's strictly basketball. That's my only priority right now, so I'm not really thinking about anything else.

OLIVIA MILES: Yeah, I feel like when we win, that will all take care of itself. But the goal is to win here, and like my teammates said, that's our first priority, and then the benefits and the bonuses will come from that.

Q. Dara, I saw as Olivia was kind of talking about how she's grown this year and her leadership qualities, you were kind of nodding in affirmation and clearly you were thinking about something. Is there a moment for you, maybe it's a play, maybe it's a game, where you kind of realized, she's taken that leap leadership-wise or she's shown that growth on the floor or off the floor?

DARA MABREY: Yeah. I remember when she first came here, like how nervous she was, like even for her first practice. I'm trying to help her as much as I can while still being excited at the fact that like oh, my gosh, now someone else can get me some shots because I was playing the point guard at one point and that was my job.

Having me there I think helped her because I was going through that pressure and taking care of a team, sometimes in my natural position and sometimes not.

I think off the court our chemistry really helped her grow into her new role on the court because, like she said, at this level, it's really hard. I would say mentally more than physically, even though that was -- physicality of the game was something else when Liv first came.

But she's grown a lot, and I think we share a special relationship in terms of that leadership, because, you know, it appears -- like I'm the voice of the team, a leader, a captain, but her leadership role has evolved, and that just came with her getting more comfortable and then realizing -- I think it honestly hit her the first second she went into the Louisville game, she made a great assist. It was so cool, and she was just like, wow, yeah, I really can do this.

Q. Just curious for any of the players, Coach said that she had talked to you about her experiences in the NCAA Tournament, and I'm just curious what the best advice or the most important piece of advice she has given each of you or what you think is the most important piece.

SONIA CITRON: I think one thing that she said that really stuck with me is that whoever is going to win, it's basically just who plays better for 40 minutes. Like as of right now, it's a new season. It doesn't matter what we did before, what the rankings are, if you're a 1 seed, 2 seed, whatever. It's just whoever is going to play better in that 40 minutes, who's going to work harder, who has more effort. So that's something that really stuck with me.

DARA MABREY: She just stressed us being confident every single one of us in everything we did. She was like, you have to shoot with confidence, you have to play defense with confidence, lead with confidence. And I think that this team, literally every single player down the roster from the starters to the people at the end of the bench, did everything with confidence. They were cheering on the bench with confidence.

I think, yeah, it showed in UMass but it definitely showed in the Oklahoma game, as well, and we are definitely looking to continue with that confidence.

OLIVIA MILES: Yeah, she's given a lot of good advice, but I feel like the piece that really resonated with me was the fact that we shouldn't be getting too high or too low during the game. When we go on a run and we go up 10, that doesn't mean anything. They can come back in a matter of minutes, seconds. So just staying levelheaded throughout the whole game, focus on the goal, focus on our game plan and what we're doing, and that will really carry us far.

Q. Dara, when you talk about the sour taste that last year kind of left in your mouth with not being in the tournament and wanting to compete until the final minute to try and make sure you guys win moving forward, how do you look as a senior leader to instill that same mentality to the underclassmen or the other players on your team? Is it through your actions, through your words? How do you translate that to everyone else?

DARA MABREY: Yeah, as a leader, one of the cool things is that you can't lead everybody the same way, especially at a time in March when emotions are really high and there's a lot at stake. But I would say for the young ones, especially these two, they've done a great job at handling it. They knew what they were coming to Notre Dame for.

I would say it's through everything. It's by example, it's vocally, definitely through my actions. But I think they understand that even if things aren't going my way personally or if the game isn't going well in general, they can always turn to me. And that's something I'm really grateful for because that means I'm doing my job.

Q. I've got a question for the two first years. Building on what Alexa alluded to, when your coach was talking to us a few minutes ago, she talked about a discussion that she had with the two of you where she said, I don't regard you two as freshmen or first-years anymore during this season.

If you can remember that conversation, take me through what that was like, and what maybe your emotional response was to that in the moment and maybe how that conversation helps you especially prepare for this matchup tomorrow against a very experienced NC State team.

OLIVIA MILES: Yeah, I feel like as a freshman, there's this stigma around it about it being daunting. It's your first time, it's your first experience, and her just, I guess, giving us that reassurance that we're not new, like you're not in that stigma. You shouldn't have that stigma. Like, don't be nervous, and just her having that conversation allows us to be more comfortable and know that at the end of the day we have this experience, we're ready for this, we were built for this. You're not like other freshmen, we're different.

Just that ability to set us apart really just gives us even more confidence. And like Dara said, playing with confidence is the biggest thing that Coach Ivey stresses, and it was how we beat those teams in the first and second rounds.

SONIA CITRON: Yeah, I think one that's really allowed me and Olivia to do so well this season was how we know how much Coach Ivey believes in us, and she's told us this since day one. And we just know how much she believes in us, how much confidence she has in us, so in return I feel like it's given us confidence.

Yeah, we've had already so much experience just the amount of like playing time and just all the games we've played, so at this point I feel like we really believe we're not freshmen. At the end of the day we're playing basketball, and we know how to do that, so that's all we've got to do when we get on the court.

Q. You obviously had many reasons to choose Notre Dame. Coach Ivey I'm sure was in there somewhere. Does the fact that she's a female head coach factor in at all? There are only so many in Division I basketball. The numbers probably aren't where they should be. Did that factor playing for a female head coach? I don't know if you did in high school, but did that factor into your decision-making?

SONIA CITRON: I had a female coach in high school, but I would definitely say that that is a pretty big factor. Coach Ivey does such a good job of just being in the position she's in, just someone to look up to, and she just really instills woman in power and just a really good female leader to look up to, and I think that's really important.

DARA MABREY: I played for both male and female coaches pretty much my whole life, on the high school level and at the collegiate level, so I don't really have a preference. But I would say that Coach Ivey like outside of -- she's going to teach you how to be a confident player and to believe in yourself as a player on the court, but she's going to teach you how to be a confident woman, as well. Because you just watch her walking out there on the sideline, whether she has her heels on that day or the sneakers, she's walking out there like, I'm her, and she is. She's her.

OLIVIA MILES: Yeah, I've also played with women and men coaches in high school and middle school and my earlier years. But having a woman or man coach didn't really -- I didn't prefer one or the other. But it's really important what Coach Ivey did and how much history she's making at Notre Dame already as the first woman of color in the head coaching position.

She is her, like Dara said. She just walks around with this type of confidence, and it just spills out on to the rest of us, and her having that confidence and being a role model is super important for us and our team.