Four things Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said before NCAA Tournament tipoff

It’s NCAA Tournament eve for Notre Dame. The No. 2 seed Fighting Irish (26-6) host the No. 15 seed Kent State Golden Flashes inside Purcell Pavilion at 2:15 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Here are four things Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said before tipoff.

On what it’s like preparing with such a limited roster

“Everything is purposeful for this limited roster. I still do the same concepts, you know, I’m really big on player development. I always find time within practice to work on individual skill work, guard, forward-type position work. You know, my practice is always energetic, so I’m always trying to cultivate energy within the drills I do. With a full roster, without a full roster, you just have to be smarter.

“Some things you have to do more half-court. I try to limit full-court activity when it’s closer to the games. Luckily, before today, we’ve had opportunities, practice guys that can help us compete and takes a lot of reps off of our seven that are active, so I just try to implement things, concepts that’s going to help us, but also be very intentional with the number that we have.

“Now, early on, when I had a full roster, I can get up and down more, I can do a lot of things more, practices could have been a lot longer. Now practices are shortened just because once we get the reps, I move on.”

On using the 2018 Notre Dame national title team as a blueprint for playing with a six-player rotation

“We’re at a time that it’s just survive and advance, so no matter how many numbers we have, you have to come prepared, ready to play. For me, I do have the blueprint of what we did during that year as far as practice, performance, recovery, so I have an idea of those type of things that I implemented those things.

“Unfortunately we had a very similar situation last year, so understanding what this team needs. I’ve just pivoted from the Virginia Tech game, losing Kylee, just have had to pivot, change roles, you know, started a new starter, so when things happen this way, things you can’t control, you just have to pivot, so that’s what I’ve done. I try to lean on those experiences of what I’ve learned as an assistant in that year.”

On Notre Dame players being conscious of foul trouble with a limited lineup

“They’re very conscious about defending without fouling. We’ve been working with that for a while. You know, we had a game at Pitt that we dealt with a lot of foul trouble back in January and we really adjusted from that. That was an example for us that we have to defend without fouling. It’s definitely something you have to adjust to in the game. We talk about that a lot.

“I throw in a little bit of two-three zone to try to help us, but you have to see how the officials are calling the game and you have to adjust. I think my team is very, very smart, very experienced so they understand what’s at stake as far as us having a lower roster number where we can’t afford to be in foul trouble, so just praying that that continues.”

On Notre Dame senior center Nat Marshall’s progression

“This has been her healthiest year. So even coming into this season, I’m so proud of her for going through a lot of adversity, like you mentioned. She came in, recovering from an ACL from her senior year in high school, and as you saw her early in the season, she was just playing her best basketball, very confident, but also just making an impact consistently.

“And so now, you know, I think her stepping into this role, she’s prepared, she’s ready. She’s maximizing this opportunity and I thought she was fantastic in the ACC championship game.”