Game Preview/Thread: #1 Notre Dame vs. #1 Mississippi State
Notre Dame might hold the signature win in college basketball this year, but it wasn’t for a National Title. The Irish will have a chance to bring a National Championship back to South Bend on Sunday evening against Mississippi State at 6:00 p.m.
Head coach Muffet McGraw has tried to dial in her team over the last 24 hours to take the focus off the UConn win and focus on playing for a championship.
“Nobody on my team has been in this position,” stated McGraw. “I guess possibly Kat and Coco. It's all about the mindset. Really it's all about this is a game, two teams coming in playing for a National Championship. They were here last year. They know what it's like.
“So for us, I think just a matter of continuing to do what we've been doing and not let the pressure of the moment get to us.”
Sophomore guard Jackie Young scored 32 points on Friday night as UConn’s focus was on Marina Mabrey. It’s doubtful Mississippi State will leave Young open after her performance, but the career-night didn’t surprise her head coach.
“I don't think they're going to leave her open,” McGraw said of Young. “It will be a little different defensively. I'm just so proud of her, for her. She is somebody that has always been almost like a secret weapon. She's had huge games. She was the MVP of our Gulf Coast Classic where we beat South Florida and South Carolina. She's played well in a lot of big games. And even when she doesn't have a lot of points, she seems to hit dagger shots when we really needed them over this past weekend in the Sweet 16.
“She's capable of taking over. I think she defers a little bit to Arike and Marina. But I think she proved last night she's as good as anybody.”
Notre Dame will have its hands full on defense as Mississippi State has one of the nation’s best players on the roster in Teaira McCowan. At 6-foot-7, McCowan is averaging 18.2 points and 13.9 rebounds a game. Now, Victoria Vivians leads the Bulldogs in scoring at 19.8 points per game, but McCowan is the engine to the car.
“She has 17 assists on the season,” McGraw said. “We're hoping that she doesn't add too much to that total. But she is a force inside, tremendous player. Works the boards like nobody I've ever seen. I mean, she is a tremendous rebounder. Just a phenomenal player inside. She's so dominant, both ends of the floor. She's a tough matchup. We haven't faced anybody like that. I mean, A'ja Wilson was really mobile and did a lot more away from the basket, but just the sheer size.
“We have a player in the league, I think, that's big, but not quite as wide and as dominating as she is. So, yeah, that's going to be a first for us.”
In fact, McGraw might turn Notre Dame’s focus to Vivians on Sunday night.
“I don't know that you can,” McGraw said of containing McCowan. “You've got to try to get a body on her, but she's so darn big that you can't out jump her. We've got to try to keep her off. She does such a great job with her body of getting great position. So I don't know. We have a couple of plans that we'll go to, and hopefully one of them will work.”
Jessica Shepard will get the likely task of guarding McCowan, but will Shepard be able to go after suffering an injury during Friday’s contest?
“I don't know that she'll practice,” stated McGraw. “I think she's probably just going to take it easy. Her and Kat will both be sitting on the sidelines. I'm not sure how much time we'll put in today, a little bit of a walk through maybe. Everybody is a little bit banged up. One more day and just got to give it your all.”
At 6-foot-1, Vivians will be another matchup problem for the Irish on both ends of the floor.
“She's just a great all-around player,” explained McGraw. “She's going to be a really tough matchup for us. When you have somebody with her size that can also put it on the floor and take it to the rim, she is shooting the ball very well. She can do pretty much whatever she wants offensively. She's just really hard to guard. Defensively, she's a great presence for them. Their whole team, great pressure defense. I think Vic does a great job just with their defense and getting up and getting on the ball.
“She's an All-American for a really good reason. She is just a great player.”
McGraw has kept the pressure on her team all year, but in the final game of the season, she wants to take a little bit of the pressure off the Irish.
“I define success as achieving your potential,” said McGraw. “So if we get to a year where we get to the Final Four, and maybe that's the potential of the team. We've had a couple of those years where we got to the final that I really felt like that was one that got away. There was probably two of those. So I think -- you know, for this group, this is their first time. I try to look at it from their point of view, of first time here. Let's see what happens.”
Muffet McGraw and Vic Schaefer Preview National Championship
Note:
McGraw also addressed the injury situation for the long-term.
“Mikayla Vaughn is way ahead of schedule. She's doing really well. Mychal Johnson, way ahead of schedule. Mychal will be graduating. She will not be coming back. Lili Thompson exhausted her eligibility, so she won't be coming back. So we have two coming back and two graduating.”