Notre Dame Women's Basketball Notebook After A Loss To North Carolina
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Notre Dame women’s basketball had its worst shooting game of the season in Sunday’s 60-50 loss to North Carolina. The Fighting Irish (12-2, 3-1 ACC) were just 16 for 57 (28%) overall, including 2 for 22 (9%) from 3-point range in the loss to the Tar Heels (10-5, 1-3).
“Felt like we got the looks we wanted,” Notre Dame assistant coach Charel Allen told the Notre Dame Radio Network after the bad shooting night. “Like you said they just didn't fall. Honestly, I don't think we'll go 2 for 22 again from the 3-point line this season. Yeah, they just didn't fall.”
Zone Woes
The Irish had so many looks from 3-point range, in part, because of the 2-3 zone defense North Carolina employed most of the night. The Irish had several open looks from the corners and the wings, but they were unable to knock them down.
“We worked on it all week,” Allen said of the Irish preparation for the Tar Heel zone. “And honestly, we prepared for it the best we could. You know, it's hard. We can't really stimulate North Carolina's zone with our practice players, but I felt like we were just trying to get the ball to the high post and whether it - look at the dive or look at the corner threes and like I say we got the looks. Honestly, we missed layups. We anticipated the refs calling fouls. So offensively, we got the looks we wanted.”
The Shooting Backdrop
It was not just that Notre Dame’s shots were not falling. They were missing badly. At least a half dozen of the 20 misses from 3-point range were air balls. It was uncharacteristic of a team that has been one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the ACC all season.
The Carolina women play in Carmichael Arena, where Michael Jordan played his college games before the Dean E. Smith Center (where the UNC men have played since 1986) was built. Allen offered no excuses when asked if the backdrop in the arena may have impacted Notre Dame’s shooting touch.
“No,” Allen said. “Some of the girls did mention it at shoot around today. But you know, every arena is different. And that's hard. I felt like I was never a pure shooter growing up, but if your shot's not falling, you would hope you can do other things. And more so play defense, honestly, you can't control the offensive end of the floor if your shot's not falling, but defensively you can.”
A Long Break
Notre Dame had a full week between games after playing at Miami on Dec. 28 and at home against Boston College on Jan. 1. It’s the third time in the last month they have had at least a week between games, first due to final exams, then Christmas break and in this case their ACC “bye” week giving them last Thursday off.
“I mean we wish we had our bye week a little later,” Allen began. “We (were) just getting in the flow. You know, just playing games is so different than practicing. Just the intensity of the games are totally different than like I said, going five on five in practice. But now moving forward, I mean, it's still early January. We want to be playing our best basketball in March. We have no more bye weeks, so that's a good thing.”
Reverse Transition
The Irish were able to roll up a 14-2 fast break advantage in the first half, but that disappeared in the second half. That’s because the Irish defense held the Tar Heels to 10 for 35 shooting (28%) in the first half and used a 25-19 rebound advantage to push the pace.
But the Tar Heels shot nearly 46% in the second half and the Irish were only able to muster a 3-2 fast break advantage.
“When we get stops that allows us to run, right,” Allen offered. “That's our bread and butter to get stops and run. But, if we're constantly having to take the ball out of bounds and then allowing them to get set up into their zone, it's going to be hard to play Notre Dame basketball.
Top Priorities
Notre Dame also turned the ball over 19 times in the loss. That becomes priority No. 1 at the Irish gear-up to host Wake Forest this Thursday before going on the road for two games against Syracuse and then Clemson.
“We just want to take better care of the ball, because 19 turnovers a game, I'm not sure where we're averaging (16 per game), but that's just giving them extra possessions and if we can limit that, at the end of the day, a missed shot is honestly better than a turnover because that gives you a chance to get an offensive rebound,” Allen explained. “So many more things can happen with a missed shot. And then defensively just pride because we can play defense when we want to play defense. I think we can play defense with the best of them. But just pride on defense, being competitive in practice, going hard at each other or the practice guys and then good things will happen when we play defense.”
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