‘A lesson for us’: Everything Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said after losing to NC State

Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey had to speak to the media following a loss for the first time in nearly three months Sunday following her Fighting Irish’s 104-95 double overtime loss to NC State. Here is everything Ivey said after the loss.

Opening statement

“Incredible environment. Incredible matchup. ACC, hats off to NC State. I thought they were fantastic today. I thought their guard play was tremendous. Something that we were really focused on, trying to contain their big three, and I thought they came out on fire and fed off the energy of the crowd.

“A lesson for us in wanting to be better defensively. That’s where my focus is, is being better defensively. But again, double overtime. Amazing matchup in the ACC. We had some fantastic performances from a lot of people on our team. Hannah [Hidalgo], 26 points. [Olivia Miles], 22 points. Liatu [King] had 16, a double-double with 16 and 14. Hard-fought, just obviously didn’t go in our favor. Double OT, didn’t do a good job of containing them. Lopsided, only scoring 3 points and giving up 12.

“I thought [Sonia Citron] was fantastic for us. The three that sent it to overtime, one of the best shots I’ve seen in such a long time. She’s a dog, somebody that comes in, thought her defense was extra solid. She has to do everything for us and does such a great job rebounding and using her athleticism and size. She was great putting the team on her back in crunch time.

“We got to get better. We got to learn from it and move forward.”

On Notre Dame not shooting well from three

“I thought our shot selection could have been a lot better. I thought we kind of settled. If we could have mixed it up more, getting to the rim, getting downhill, getting some more paint touches, maybe that number wouldn’t have been as low as it was. They put in the work. They know they have a lot of freedom within the offense. We just needed to have better shot selection at times in the game.”

On Notre Dame being in foul trouble in overtime

“Unfortunate [Hidalgo and Miles] had foul trouble. It was just doing a great job of trying to keep the ball in front and focusing on rotations. Just defending without fouling, something we talk about a lot. We’ve been in this situation before, being in foul trouble in OT, so we had this experience. We just didn’t do a great job of one-on-one defense.”

On Notre Dame’s 13 steals

“Our rotations, our deflections, thought we did a good job. Liatu had 4 steals. Maddy [Westbeld] had 3 steals. We kind of mixed it up as far as trying to get deflections. We were focused on rotations. Came up with some good blocks or good steals out of rotations.”

On how she approached being able to win the conference title with a win in the game

“I didn’t address it. That’s more the media, something that they hear about. We never really talked about it. We were focused on playing for 40 minutes. But they know with everything out news-wise. They were aware. We were very aware.”

On the Notre Dame vs. NC State rivalry

“So much success here. Wes [Moore] has done a tremendous job with this program. I feel like a lot of our biggest matchups, a lot at stake. Sweet 16. Seeing the matchup, championship game last season. Yeah, I think it’s great for the game. I think it’s great for the ACC.”

On NC State’s atmosphere

“That was fantastic. We knew with the way that the arena is set up, it feels like the fans are right on top of you. Very close. They were super loud. Fourteen and now 15-0 at home. You can tell they feed off the energy. I thought the crowd was really great. We’ve been in a lot of hostile environments. This is one of the top 10.”

On the value of the magnitude of the game

“I thought it was amazing. This was our first time having College GameDay, which means there were more eyes on our game. Hopefully the viewership was where it needed to be. We just want to come out and play. We’re just happy to have the opportunity to play, number one. But again, just bringing a lot of attention to the women’s game, to the ACC, is a positive.”

On Zoe Brooks going off for 33 points

“She got to the free throw line 14 times individually. We didn’t even have that many as a team. So, did a great job of getting downhill, playing with a ton of confidence and it was one of the nights for her, having a career high. Hats off to her. She played well.”

On Notre Dame blowing the lead in overtime

“I think we missed a couple opportunities. We turned the ball over at really crucial times. We had a couple chances. Just didn’t go in our favor.”