No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 8 DePaul
Game 10 – Quarterfinal, March 4, 2012
XL Center – Hartford, Conn.


Notre Dame Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Muffet McGraw
Opening Statement:
“I think historically when a team plays a game; they're a little bit more game ready. I think we kind of were trying to get back into game mode, so I thought we played much better in the second half, and really to end the first half, as well. I thought we did a really nice job. I was pleased with the defense on (Anna) Martin. She had a phenomenal year, just a great player. So I was really happy with the way we were able to guard her and did a much better job on the post than we did at our place. Overall pleased with the defense, and offensively I thought we did some good things, as well.”

How much more of a fire is Devereaux (Peters) playing with the second half of the season?
“I think that she's always played with a lot of passion. I think that she suddenly had success, and when she had the first game when she got to 15 or 16 rebounds I think she decided that she could do that again. It gave her the confidence to do it again, and now she's seeing her scoring opportunities, which she didn't see as much last year. She stood around a little bit last year and now she's going to the glass, and we're seeing the numbers she's putting up on the stat sheet.”

Can you talk about the opening minutes of the second half, just what adjustments specifically you guys made to get that run?
“Well, you know, we actually kind of reiterated the game plan. We really wanted to keep them off the three point line. They started the game 3 for 3 I think from the three point line. We really were not matching up as well in transition. I thought we did a pretty good job with a little bit of pressure with Devereaux up on the ball. We talked about us kind of settling in a little bit offensively and how we were going to help a little bit more defensively and switch a little bit more on the screens.”

Brittany Mallory played good defense on Anna Martin, but it seemed you threw everyone but the kitchen sink at her. Everyone took a turn. How important was it to limit her opportunities after the last time?
“Yeah, that was the key to the game. We obviously had to find her all the time. We didn't really switch the match ups as much as it happened in transition. I think we did a really good job of finding her, and if Brittany wasn't the first one there, somebody else found her. Then we were able to rest Brittany a little bit, and when she was out we were able to use Natalie Novosel and Kaila Turner. I think everybody did guard her a little, and to get a fresher defender on her was a little bit more effective.”

Did the last loss to West Virginia give you an opportunity to reinforce or teach some things that maybe you might not have had if you had won every game in the conference?
“You know, I think you can learn some lessons when you win. I like those a little better. But you heard their response when asked about the game. They immediately looked at themselves, and I think that accountability is something that we really like, and that's why we've been successful, because they can look at themselves and say if I would have done this, we could have won the game. So I think it was a good time for us to kind of reflect and look at how important each possession is that you have to play each possession as if it's the last. We did a really good job of that all year long. I think that we never looked at the score, we just played the game, and in that game we didn't. So I think it was a good if you can have a good loss, because we did learn quite a bit from it, so in that way, if it propels us on, then it was a good thing.”

What was the psychological effect of walking in there and putting on the white uniforms for the first time in the Big East tournament as the No. 1 seed?
“You know, we didn't really think about it because we would have been the higher seed today anyway. Maybe it'll mean more if we get to the final.”

Can you talk about the rebounding and that 23-4 edge in second chance points?
“Devereaux was always over the boards. She did a really good job. I thought we could have done a little better job rebounding from the guard spot. Brittany Mallory and Natalie Novosel and the guards could have chipped in a little bit more. But overall I think they just really rely on Devereaux, and when she's not in the game we've got to be able to find out who's going to rebound for us.”

Freshman Guard Devereaux Peters
Can you elaborate a little bit more about the shot blocking and just about how you're able to do it and not get into foul trouble?
“I know a few of them I let my teammates get between me and the person on offense. I knew for sure they weren't going to call a foul. I think I'm being smarter about which ones is a block and which ones to go straight up and make them shoot over me.”

What are your lasting memories of the loss to West Virginia, and sometimes match ups are the case, but what did you come out of that game thinking about?
“They had a bunch of lay ups, (Ayana) Dunning and (Aysa) Bussie were getting a lot of points on me, and I was fouling a lot. It was reminiscent of last year or the year before that. They were scoring a lot of points in the post and we weren't doing our job, so that definitely has to change for tomorrow.”

Junior Guard Skylar Diggins
What are your lasting memories of the loss to West Virginia, and sometimes match ups are the case, but what did you come out of that game thinking about?
“I think we didn't do a good job of playing team defense like we've been doing. We've got to get down there and help. I missed a lot of free throws that game, crucial shots and crucial missed lay ups. We lost by two, and when you lose by two, any mistake is the reason why you lost. But it's a good opportunity for us tomorrow to come in and get some revenge. It's going to be a good game. They're a physical team, and we have to come out with a better start than we did tonight.”

Is it nice you guys get another shot at West Virginia?
“I think it's good to have the advantage in a tournament where there's so many good teams, any team can beat you. But definitely we'll come out with a chip on our shoulder. I think we play better with a chip on our shoulder. And it's good to have a second chance because they beat us at home and it gives us another opportunity to advance into the championship. “

Can you talk about the beginning of the second half, that 10 0 run that you guys had?
“Just trying to get off to a better start in the second half than we did in the first. Coach talked to us at halftime and I think we came out and executed better in the second half.”

Can you talk a little bit about the defense that perhaps Novosel and Mallory played on Anna Martin and exactly what was the game plan going in?
“When you have a good guard such as Anna Martin who's a great shooter who you can put on the floor and who has a nice pull up, as well, you have to be ready for her to come off a lot of screens, and she moves. She's constantly moving without the ball, and I thought Brittany and Allie did a great job of tag teaming, chasing her off the screens and tag teaming and talking. I thought the team did a good job of trying to figure out where she was every possession because when you have a player like that you have to find her first. Brittany and Allie have been great defensive players, but I think they do a great job giving each other breaks and being able to play good defense on anybody's best player.”


DePaul Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Doug Bruno
Opening Statement:
“Working from the back of our postgame conversation we just had with our team, I just really talked to them about how proud we are that they put themselves in position to play in the NCAA tournament. Not that we're taking anything for granted, but we think that we've put ourselves in position to have earned that, and there's only 33 teams that do that if you don't win your league outright. So I just really want them to understand that that's not something easy to do because our program has gone to 17 of these and they're going to 10 straight, and it's not something that should ever be taken for granted. It's hard to earn your way into the NCAA tournament.
So I'm really proud of these two juniors. Deanna Ortiz is a senior, and the two sophomores that haven't been playing, Kelsey Reynolds and Jasmine Penny, and our two freshmen, Megan Rogoski and Brittany Hyrnko, for earning their way into the NCAA tournament again. I don't want to be presumptuous by talking this way, but I think that we have earned it with a 20 RPI and a16 strength of schedule and all the good teams that these guys have beaten. That's at the end of the day. That's at the end of the conversation, and at the beginning of the conversation was just a coach's irritation with a facet of sports that has to be overcome by this group, and we're getting better at it, but when anything happens to keep your wits about you. You have to stay strong.
I just thought at the beginning of the second half we were cowarded up. I don't want to say they're cowards. I thought when the score got against us; it's psychologically something you just do. You feel sorry for yourself, and there's people watching you, you don't like to be embarrassed, you don't want to be down. That happens in sports. You know what, we've got to fight. Batters strike out and the Kobes of the world get blown out, and you've got to fight through that. That's the part of the second half that was irritating, that we just didn't fight harder right after the halftime situation.
And really those are the two subjects. Notre Dame is a great team. Let's get back to Notre Dame and talk about how great they are. We talk about how great they are all the time. They really are a great basketball team and they're one of the two best teams in the country and they're great for a reason. They've got a Hall of Fame coach and they've got very, very talented basketball players at every position that are hard to guard, and they're hard to guard and they guard you and make it hard to score when they're guarding you. It's a very, very good basketball team that we played against and we knew that we were going to have to I don't like that stuff where you have to play a perfect game to win. I really don't kind of believe that. I really think you've got to do all the things you can control, though. You have to do all the controllables to put yourself in position at the end of a game to steal it, and that's what we were trying to do, and we didn't quite get that done.
Again, these two young women sitting next to me have been great, great young women to coach, Anna and Katherine, and we're blessed to have them at DePaul. Again, hopefully the rest of the Big East here shows very, very well in the rest of the tournament and in the NCAA tournament.”

The team had zero foul shots today in the game. As you go forward are you going to work on trying to draw some fouls?
“I think really it's always a great question. Of course we have to get to the free throw line much more, and this is a team that's not gotten to the line very much as a team all year. We've gotten to the line about 14 times a game, which isn't what you're trying to do. The game, though, was a game in which I don't think I don't think anybody got to the line for a real long time if I'm not mistaken. So it was one of those games where that's the way it's being called, so some reference of mine to my players on the bench is it's your job to make them call fouls. I'm up here talking to them and I'm tired of talking to them, you've got to make them call fouls. You've got to be tough enough to make them call fouls.
I think we drove the ball again, I can't say that you're wrong. I agree with you. We've got to get to the free throw line. Everybody has got to get to the free throw line. But I'm not sure that we didn't maybe earn a little bit more right to go to the free throw line than was happening.”
How important is it for you guys going forward to get a second or third consistent scoring option to sort of help Anna out and maybe free her up a little bit more?
“We've really had some pretty good balance all year, and Jasmine (Penny) is averaging 13 points a game in the BIG EAST, and Brittany is averaging 11. You know, yesterday we were three baskets away from having five players in double figures with Anna getting 33. So I think it's huge that we have balance, and that didn't happen today. It did happen the big guys got to get we've got to get something inside. You just can't rely on shooting threes, and we don't just rely on shooting threes, but we've got to get something going inside. We always have to get Jasmine and Katherine aggressively looking to score inside. So it's very important that we have more than just Anna. And this has never been …the Anna show. It's not trying to be the Anna show. She's taken about 15 shots a game, and that's a pretty reasonable number of shots for a scorer. You know, I haven't even looked down because I haven't put my glasses on yet. Maybe she took ten shots, and that's a tribute to Notre Dame, too. It's not like we're trying to skew this thing and turn Anna into the next Jackie Stiles here. It's really about balance, and we're at our best when we're totally balanced. It's the way it's been all season long.”

Junior Guard Anna Martin
It seemed that they put seven different defenders on you. What did they do defensively that caused you so much trouble?
“Well, Brittany Mallory was guarding me most of the game and she's just a great defender. I felt like anything I did she was right there. Being a junior and being a leader I think I needed to notice that sooner, how she really took me out and Notre Dame really took me out and set up my teammates better.”

Junior Forward Katherine Harry
Can you talk a little bit about the match-up problems that Devereaux Peters presents and what was it like in the lane today?

Well, Devereaux is a great defender. She got defensive Player of the Year in our league, so she's a great defensive player for a reason. She's really long and she uses her length and she's got great timing on blocking shots and she can alter a lot of shots and gets her hands on a lot of balls, a lot of steals and a lot of defensive rebounds. So it was tough going against that length…and try and establish myself against her early. I had success with that, and then I kind of shied away and took myself out of the paint and was settling for more jump shots than I thought. I should have just gone back inside and sat back in the post and played more in the post. But give respect where respect is due; Devereaux is a great player, and she got herself some easy buckets on the offensive end by getting offensive rebounds and that's on me not blocking her out. I'm not very happy with the way I rebounded today because I didn't, and props to her for going and getting those boards and creating problems on the defensive end.”