Notre Dame women's basketball coach Niele Ivery spoke on Monday as the Irish start preparations for Fairfield in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
On making the NCAA Tournament:
“I'm super excited. I'm excited about the seeding. I thought that February into March was obviously great for us. I thought we put ourselves in a great position. Outside of wanting to host, I think being in that market, which is closed for our fans, is great. It's a four-hour drive.
“I'm excited to play Fairfield. For me, it's a blessing to be in the tournament. I never take it for granted being able to dance. We had a great team meal yesterday. I'm super excited for this opportunity. I'm ready to go.”
On how she plans to get Notre Dame ready to start tournament play on the road:
“I think the ACC has really prepared us to have that road warrior mentality. I think it was my second year we had to go to Oklahoma. Personally, I understand what that feels like. You have to come in with a different mindset. Again, it's win or go home. That's our thought process. We're just getting better every day. We have four days to prepare for Fairfield on Saturday. That's what we're going to do.”
On balancing giving her team rest and practicing following the ACC Tournament:
“After the ACC tournament, I gave them four days off to recharge, rest and recover. We got back to work last Thursday and had a couple of amazing practices. I felt like this group needed that break. We needed that mental reset. It was spring break for everybody on campus. They came back energized, ready to go. We had a couple of great practices. We were off yesterday. This week is going to be a great week of preparation.”
On making a run as a No. 6 seed:
“Again, you have to be locked in. It's staying healthy. It's continuing to build off the momentum, peaking at the right time, playing great basketball right now. You have to take it day by day, but it's a mindset that you have to have going into every game, especially being on the road.”
On if the Duke game can give them momentum despite the loss:
“It was big. Duke, back-to-back ACC champions, very physical team. We've seen every style this season, especially in the ACC. That was a big challenge for us, but we also had a great fight, especially in the second half. I think we learned a lot from that game, playing them twice. Every matchup that we've had in the ACC is going to prepare us for Saturday and for March.”
On what Fairfield brings to the table:
“Really high-octane type team. They're averaging 11 threes a game, which is first in the country and I think they're second in three-point field goal attempts. So live and die by the three and that's what I've seen. But they play really well, very disciplined, play hard, very tough. Undersized team, but just very, very smart, very high-IQ team.
“Coming off a MAAC championship, so we have our hands full, but I'm excited. It's a five-out team. It's a style that we've played before, so we have to do a great job of defending the three-point line and put a lot of pressure on them.”
On what encourages her about Notre Dame’s defense:
“I think that's been our identity and trying to turn people over and being disruptive, that's something that we've gotten better at all season long, something I've talked about a lot. We have a lot of pride in that. We've been forcing a lot of turnovers and I think we're like 12th in the nation with that.
“It's something that we're going to rely heavily on Saturday. We have to pick up full court. We have to be very disruptive to try to get Fairfield out of what they want to do.”
On her relationship with Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff as he was a former Notre Dame assistant when Ivey was playing for the Irish and potentially playing him in the second round:
“Getting to the second round, winning means the most to me. Advancing is the biggest thing for me. I have a lot of family ties at Ohio State. Kevin McGuff and his wife, Letitia McGuff, is one of my best friends. My goddaughter is their daughter.
“They're calling me, making sure that I'm going to be OK as far as outside the court. I'm excited to see them. And, again, hopefully we can see them. But regardless of where we are, we've got to take care of business, and it's one game at a time starting Saturday.”
On the balance of preparing for Fairfield, but also scouting Howard and Ohio State for a potential quick turnaround:
“We do a great job of making sure that we have all the information. You've got to make sure you're coming in prepared today. We watched a lot of film overnight, but our sole focus is Fairfield. We'll do whatever happens after that, but this whole week we're going to be preparing for Fairfield.”
On preparing for Fairfield’s three-point shooting, but not neglecting other areas of the game at the same time:
“We do have a great coaching staff. They do a great job of preparation, preparing me, preparing the team. We've had enough experience this season playing teams like Fairfield as far as five-out teams, even in the ACC. You have to make sure that you're checking every box on all aspects, finding out their weaknesses and trying to take away their strengths.”
On what can give Notre Dame an advantage going into the tournament:
“I think our grit. I think our resilience. I think that we've really grown in the last couple months and we're confident in that regards because we've learned how to fight. We've learned how to trust each other. We've gotten stronger. We've gotten a lot better together as a unit, and I think that's what we are – that's our identity right now. We know that we need to play together for us to be successful and we have to fight and have a lot of grit to do that.”
On what Notre Dame can take from the Duke game into the tournament:
“I gave them a couple days off to just regroup and we got back to work on our fundamentals, our habits, and then Saturday and Friday, I really focused in on the things that we have to get better at from Duke. We talked about it, so a lot of collaboration, but I think film does a lot of justice as far as you seeing the things that you're saying. We broke film down, showed them, and we worked on that the last couple days. They're aware.
“I think just being on the same page with the things that we have to get better at. For us, that game was rebounding. Transition defense was a big part of that. They got a lot of easy baskets off of our mistakes. So narrowing our unforced turnovers was a big part of that. When you're playing against ACC opponents, it prepares you for what we're going to see. So just taking all that into effect and utilizing everything that we learned from that game is going to service us down the road.”
On why Notre Dame hasn’t dwelled on losses this season:
“I think we've been great. We've done a great job of turning the page. I think that's something that I really focus on because, again, understanding that it's a long season. I think that's the reason why we're in this position. This group is very deliberate and intentional about figuring out what we need to get better at and then turning the page and getting better at that and focusing on the next day.
“They've done a great job of not holding on to things. We've had a lot of highs and lows, a lot of adversity, but they do a great job of turning the page, but getting to the next day and not taking that on as long as I think players could. And credit to our captains and our leaders to make sure that we're focused and preparing for the next opportunity.”
On if that mindset can pay off in March:
“You have a sense of urgency. Our sense of urgency went through the roof in February and I think just knowing that you have to have that to survive, you've got 40 minutes to get to the next opportunity. That sense of urgency is what you need to have right now.”
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