What Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said after losing to Notre Dame

Notre Dame and Ole Miss both had a chance to get back to the Sweet 16 on Monday. The Fighting Irish jumped out to a 22-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and never looked back. They’re in the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the third-straight season.

The final game at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, Ind., played a part in the outcome.

“I’m not an advocate for home-court games,” Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said. “I’m an advocate for neutral-site games. There is an advantage when you play at home. One of two things got to happen. We’ve got to figure out how to be a top 4 seed, top 16, so we can have the home-court advantage, or if you’re going to go in someone’s place and knock them off like we did last year, you need to have all cylinders clicking. We didn’t get to have that.

Here’s what else McPhee-McCuin said after Notre Dame’s 71-56 victory.

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Opening statement

“I’d just like to thank the Notre Dame staff for just hosting us and just doing an incredible job. It was smooth sailing, and that hadn’t been our experience every time. I thought they really stepped up and made us feel at home. Everything was really well-organized.

“Just want to congratulate Notre Dame. I thought that they controlled the game from start to finish. You never want these moments to be in the way they are, especially when you’re on the losing end, especially when you don’t think your team displayed what they needed to display for 40 minutes, but nevertheless, super proud of our group, and grateful for this opportunity and this experience.

“Again, just recently, three years ago — four years ago, we were 0-16, and now we’ve put ourselves in a situation to expect to go to at least a Sweet 16 every year. Really disappointed as far as that’s concerned. But not disappointed with the team and what we’ve accomplished this season.”

On the way Notre Dame started the game

“I just thought that they were the aggressive team, like I said, from start to finish. You never know what to expect with 17- to 24-year-olds. If you had told me we would come out in the manner that we came out, I would have called you a liar.

“I thought that they came prepared for a fight, and I don’t think we fought. When someone is prepared for a fight and then you don’t fight, someone is going to get beat up.

“I was expecting a game where both teams would get beat up. I expected it to be low scoring. I expected it to be a grind-out type of game. Two teams that take pride in their defense, they’re more zone, us more man, and they just got the better of us today.”

On Notre Dame doing what it did with just six players

“It’s funny because you have — there’s this narrative, oh, Notre Dame has six, but if you have the right six, it doesn’t really matter. And they have the right six. [Maddy] Westbeld is an absolute stud. I felt like she didn’t even miss. She carried them from inside, and everybody just did their job.

“I know about having small rosters because we had a small roster last year. When it came to how many people we played, we played about six, seven. When you have a small roster, you are way more connected because there’s nobody that can sub in. There’s nobody that can help. When you have big rosters, sometimes 17 to 24 year olds feel like I can just take a day off because someone else will come in and help.

“But that Notre Dame team has been playing in the manner they’ve been playing in for a while now. I didn’t think that that would be an advantage for us at all because they just — they’re ACC champs. I have a lot of respect for them, and I thought they did a great job.

“I was just disappointed because, like I said, had we played in the manner that everybody knows that we’re capable of playing, I thought the game would have been in the 50s and then whatever happens happens. We just had to dig so hard after halftime. I just told them I don’t even know who you guys are right now. It was just not our team and who we were. But I’m not going to let that rain on our parade. We’ll live to see another day.”

On if Ole Miss’ defensive game plan was to eliminate production from one of Notre Dame’s ‘big three’

“Well, the plan sure as hell didn’t work, so I don’t even want to say we had a plan because I’m going to look like I’m crazy. So I’m going to stick with, no, we didn’t have a plan.

“No, they just really showed up. I thought what Westbeld said yesterday in her press conference was phenomenal. She said when you have a big three, someone has to set the tone in that group, and we had a big three, as well. Someone needed to set the tone in our group.

“I just felt like all three of them said, ‘You know what, we’re all going to set the tone.’ I didn’t think all three of our big three set the tone early. When that happens, anything can happen.”

On why Ole Miss was not able to wear Notre Dame down

“Guys, they’re the two seed. They’re the ACC champs. Am I not correct? Did they not just win an Atlantic Coast Conference championship with the same people? They’re legit.

“We expected a fight. The disappointing part was someone got beat up, and it wasn’t them. They beat us up. That’s what’s disappointing when your character and your reputation is to dictate and disrupt.

“It’s just an uncharacteristic night for us, and guess what, you don’t get to see — see, when we would have these games during the season, we could talk about it and fix it. You don’t get to fix it. So we get to go home, and I get to get in the portal and recruit. That’s how it works.”

On Notre Dame freshman point guard Hannah Hidalgo

“She’s as advertised. I think one of the things that I appreciate with her is just her competitive spirit, and that’s not something that you can teach. That’s something that was born inside of her. She was completely relentless the whole time. Yeah, she can pass and she can score, but you can’t teach what’s inside of you. I think that’s her greatest strength.”