Everything Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said after Sweet 16 loss to TCU

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Niele Ivey is facing the same situation for the fourth consecutive year. The Notre Dame head coach goes into an offseason having lost in the Sweet 16.

The latest third-round NCAA Tournament was a 71-62 defeat to TCU at Legacy Arena in Birmingham on Saturday. This is everything Ivey said in her postgame press conference.

Opening statement

Well, tough loss today. I want to start off by starting my seniors. Exactly what I said after the game in the locker room, these three believed in my vision and they are so loyal, amazing young women that have a lot of great basketball ahead of them. I am just really grateful for what they have done for me and for our program. It’s a resurgence of the program taking over, and they’ve left it better than what they came in with. I’m really grateful, such an incredible group of young women.

I’m really proud to be their coach. They know that I’ve got ’em for life. This is just an amazing group of young women that are so talented, so gifted but more importantly they are better humans than they are basketball players. I’m just really grateful I had this opportunity to be part of their journey. They’re very special to me. They mean so much.

Again, came up short today. I thought with the game, obviously a high game. A game of runs, we had a great stretch in that third quarter defensively that we went up, but unfortunately tables turn, couldn’t make shots that we normally make. Couldn’t get the stops and just didn’t finish the game the way we wanted to.

For this group and for these three, like I said, just really, really grateful and looking forward to eventually trying to build this back up. Or not even build it back up, but, again, with Notre Dame women’s basketball they put it in a great space, a great place and I’m really grateful for that.

On why Notre Dame has lost in the Sweet 16 four years in a row

I think playing forty minutes we showed that stretch that really kind of catapulted us, went up nine but you have to sustain that for forty minutes.

So having the sustainability on this type of stage. Unfortunately our fourth exit but knowing that you have to sustain that for forty minutes because of this stage and how big the stage is.

On Notre Dame defending TCU center Sedona Prince

We were trying to be physical with her, I had more size, adding Liza and Maddy within the rotation. They weren’t available for us the first time around. So just wanted her to defend on the opposite end and be physical with her, wall her up and obviously try to limit her touches but they did a good job of getting her the ball and she had a really great game.

On Notre Dame’s senior class

Absolutely. Special group, so talented coming into the season. Sonia and Liv are generational talents that I have had a chance to foster and help to develop and grow the last four or five years. So it’s been a blessing from the beginning and Maddy Westbeld super versatile.

It’s just been amazing. They’re amazing humans and I feel like you got a chance to listen to who they are as people. They’re very caring, nurturing, they understand at some point it’s bigger than basketball. They love each other, they love this group, they love this university and I wouldn’t want to coach anyone else that didn’t recognize the beauty that is Notre Dame. They understand it. They understand that it’s bigger than the basketball piece, but talent-wise they’re just so gifted. I’m excited to be able to watch them in their professional careers, but, again, they’re just special. They’re special young women outside of basketball.

On Notre Dame point guard Olivia Miles playing on an injured ankle

he was a little sore today, every day it feels differently for her. Last game against Michigan she went off a lot of adrenaline, and today she was a bit little sore, so just kind of watching. It’s more of a feel. We were in great communication, kinda knew before the game that she was a little bit sore.

And she fought through — she is resilient so she was fighting through some things, but, again, just the awareness of how she was feeling. And I taught Cass was great. I thought Cass came in and gave us a great spark, like she always does, always ready, so just kind of saw how the game was dictating itself with her and how she was moving.

On TCU guard Hailey Van Lith

She is a three-level scorer, a great player, and I feel like she saw the ball going in and she kinda rose. You could tell her energy, her confidence was getting stronger, play by play. I thought she made some really good defensive plays as well. Yeah, this is that stage where great players emerge, I thought and she had a really complete game. You know, she is a really good player.

More on Van Lith

I think she has definitely grown with the experience she has had. Playing in the ACC, SEC and now the Big 12, she has all that experience under her belt. I think she is just — her composure has gotten a lot better and just, again, and being able to score with a lot of different defenses, I think, has been really helpful for her, as far as just the way she can dictate games and take games over. But you can tell with her experience she has gotten more confident and has played against a lot of different type of styles with three different conferences, and you can tell it’s paid off with the way that she plays.

On Notre Dame seniors Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron

Exactly what you said. We’re not in a collegiate landscape that you see that very often, so that kind of speaks to their loyalty to me, and I’m really grateful that I’ve the had the opportunity to watch both Sonia and Olivia grow and be their coach for four plus years. It’s special.

They will always have a special place in my heart, because they believed in me when I took over this program and being a first-time head coach, we’ll always that special bond because of that. But, again, it just speaks to their loyalty, the vision that they were looking for, for the institution of their choice, being Notre Dame, and the vision I had with them being my premiere guards. I’m just grateful that they trusted in that and, again, there is a bond that I will always have with both of those two.