THE MODERATOR: Questions for the Notre Dame players, please.
Q. Olivia, one for you and then one for the group. Coach, is saying how the extra days helped your ankle get better, the performance staff. How does it feel, and how have the couple of days off helped you?
OLIVIA MILES: It's been great. Took a few rest days. I practiced yesterday, so it's feeling better. But my performance team is so good. They've been helping me to rehab. You know, keeping me on track, making sure I'm wearing a brace, making sure I'm icing, stim, whatever it may be. They've helped me a lot.
Q. The end of the season didn't go the way you wanted, the regular season. What changed the last couple of games to get you back to where you were playing for most of the season?
SONIA CITRON: Yeah, I mean, I think we've just got back to being us. We're back to being confident. We've gotten more in our rhythm and our flow, and I think it was the practices in between the ACC tournament and the NCAA Tournament that really helped that because we were able to kind of just regroup and work on the things that we needed to work on. Coach Ivey challenged us, and I think we responded.
Then getting to play in those first two games in the tournament, we just got to put what we practiced and really finally play games together and, again, just feel good about ourselves in the way that we won.
OLIVIA MILES: Yeah, I think we got back to our fundamentals, our principles. We were slacking on defense, slacking on our rebounding habits. We just got back in the gym, like Sonia said. She made practice really hostile and really intense, and she challenged us, so it was really good for us.
HANNAH HIDALGO: Yeah, just piggybacking off what they said, Coach Ivey made the practices really intense. It didn't end how we wanted it to, but I think it was good for us because we got that want factor back in us.
We don't like to lose. We hate the feeling. Now it's all or nothing. It's really important that we do all the little things now to take us to that next step.
Q. Since you had talked about practices being hostile, was that similar to those first two losses, when you lost to TCU and Utah? Was it the same type of approach coming out of that?
OLIVIA MILES: Honestly I don't even remember. That felt like ten years ago, but I do remember us being in the film room, you know, seeing the hard stuff. Then it was a refocus after that because we went on a 19-game win streak after that.
So, yeah, it was similar to November in the sense that we just refocused our minds and brought us back to our principles and what makes us a really good team.
SONIA CITRON: I mean, I think Liv said it. I think it was similar to November in the fact that we did have to kind of come back together and think, where are we going wrong? We had to regroup. I don't remember practices being --
OLIVIA MILES: It wasn't as hostile.
SONIA CITRON: -- what they were during spring break. That was a different level of practice, and Coach Ivey really challenging us. I don't remember doing that in November.
I mean, practices obviously got hard because we had to learn, but I think this time around it was definitely different. Yeah, it was just different.
HANNAH HIDALGO: Yeah, I agree. I think we went on break, and then the last three out of five losses we had went on break, and then we came back. We had a week to prepare us. Now we have to get back into game shape on top of that. We ended up on a loss. So the practices were way tougher than what they were in TCU.
I think TCU was more like -- and Utah -- we lost both games, but I think it was more like Liv said, watch film, regroup, see what you are doing wrong. Then get back to practice.
I mean, we still have a whole season, but now it's like real game time, because it's win or go home.
Q. Olivia, we saw JuJu tear her ACL earlier this week. As somebody who has been through a similar injury, what advice would you have for her just as far as the recovery goes, both physical and mental?
OLIVIA MILES: Yeah, I mean, first up, prayers to JuJu. I was actually watching the game in realtime and saw it happen. My heart breaks for anyone that goes through that. I wouldn't wish that injury on my worst enemy. So it's just a tough one.
I think the advice that I would give to her is to take her time. There are a lot of external factors, a lot of people who would like to see you back earlier than you may be able to, and you may rush your recovery, but at the end of the day this injury takes time, and it really takes you listening to your body and what it needs.
So I would just tell her to stick to her rehab plans, don't listen to people rushing her back, and do it on her own time, yeah.
Q. Olivia, you said it felt like ten years ago when you played TCU. How much did you guys learn from that? I mean, you weren't healthy at that point as a team, and they were for the most part. Did you guys watch the film and say, okay, this really wasn't us in a? Way. Coach said you have post depth now and things you didn't have. How much do you take from that game three or four months ago?
OLIVIA MILES: Obviously the circumstances were different. You know, could be a lot of excuse, but at the end of the day it was a bad game whether we had six people, ten people, whether we had Maddy or not, whatever it may have been.
A few days ago we watched the film from when we played them in November, and I was just cringing. I was, like, I can't even watch this. It was difficult to watch.
Coach Ivey showed it to us for a specific reason. She showed it to us to ignite something in us, to make us mad, to see how we were playing and how we've been playing recently. So it showed a lot of growth, but it was definitely hard to watch for sure, yeah.
Q. I have one for Hannah and then one for Sonia. Hannah, going off of what Liv said, what were your emotions watching that TCU game? You were up pretty big in that one and then let it slip away. Obviously, you got a chance to kind of get back at them here.
HANNAH HIDALGO: Yeah, I mean, it was really tough watching it. Especially we saw it from the beginning of the fourth quarter when we were up by, like, 14 points and then to kind of see us give the lead away and just not play our game of basketball and not play kind of what we played throughout the whole season or even these past two games. It was tough to watch, but it's definitely a learning experience.
You know, film is to learn and to see where you can improve and get better. So it definitely helps to see those tough moments because we're able to get back in the lab and kind of work on where we went wrong and make sure we correct those mistakes.
Q. Then the one for Sonia is you've played a lot of NCAA Tournament games without Olivia on the floor, but obviously you've had her, and she's gotten over the ankle injury she suffered last week. When she is on the floor, what kind of difference does that make, and what kind of different team are you guys?
SONIA CITRON: Yeah, I mean, I think it makes all the difference. Obviously, she's an amazing player. She's a playmaker. Not only does she score, but I think her biggest game is in helping, like, getting shots for her teammates, assisting her teammates. I think that's where you kind of -- we kind of miss that when she's not on the floor.
She runs our offense. She's the head of the snake. So I think that, I mean, obviously just having her on the court, it's not only beneficial for scoring, but I mean, she just does so much for everybody else too.
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