High Octane, High Efficiency

When you rank among the nation’s top scoring teams, as Notre Dame does, it’s generally expected that your turnover count is also going to be pretty high. More often than not, the theory holds water.

Not surprisingly, the No. 1 team in scoring offense, North Carolina, was 191st among 326 Division I teams in turnovers per game through December 16, when the last set of NCAA statistics was released. The No. 2 and No. 3 scoring teams, Oklahoma State and DePaul, ranked 38th and 52nd, respectively, in the turnover category.

Notre Dame, meanwhile, has managed to run its high-octane offense with frightening efficiency. While ranking fourth nationally in scoring at 82.8 points per game (an average that dropped slightly in a Dec. 21 game at IUPUI), the Irish were also turning the ball over just 12.7 times per contest, and had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.43. Both figures placed them second in Division I.

Head coach Muffet McGraw believes that her team is “a little more skilled offensively” than it has been in years past, and with most of last year’s roster returning this winter, there is a little more cohesiveness – but she gives a good bit of the credit to senior point guard Tulyah Gaines.

“It all starts with the point guard,” McGraw said, noting that the three primary ballhandlers in the starting lineup – Gaines, Charel Allen and Ashley Barlow – rank 1-2-3 on the team in assist-turnover ratio, all at 2.4 or better through 11 games. Backup guard Melissa Lechlitner is fourth at 1.7.

Barlow believes that having a number of skilled ballhandlers on the floor allows the Irish to get out and run a little more easily. She and Allen rank among the team’s top rebounders, and rather than kill time looking for an outlet pass after grabbing the ball, neither has a problem just heading up the court themselves.

“We don’t have to look for a point guard,” Barlow said. “We’re comfortable with lots of people bringing the ball up.”

And everyone that’s comfortable bringing the ball up is comfortable doing so quickly – although ideally, Notre Dame is just creating turnovers and running rather than trying to force action after a made basket at the other end.

“I know that I stress with our guards, outlet quick and push the ball up the court,” said first-year assistant coach Niele Ivey, the starting point guard for McGraw’s 2001 national championship team. “(Lechlitner) does a great job of pushing the ball in transition and Tulyah does too, and when you have those types of fast players, it gets the tempo up and gets everybody going.”

“I love that kind of run-and-gun type game,” Gaines added with a grin.

More often than not, the running game has been there – largely because of some tough Irish defensive pressure. Notre Dame ranks in the top 20 nationally in steals per game, and the 25 or so turnovers it forces per game lead to easy baskets.

That might explain why, despite not having yet developed a dominating post presence, the Irish are among the NCAA leaders (sixth through Dec. 16) in field-goal percentage. Allen and Barlow were both over 50 percent through 11 games, quite rare for a guard.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the puzzle here is that while Notre Dame is making fewer mistakes with the ball this season, McGraw is generally letting the girls loose much more often, something she credits Ivey with helping to encourage.

“The thing with Niele is that she was a very creative point guard,” McGraw said. “Having her on the bench has been great, because she encourages (the guards) to play their game. In the past, from the bench we would choreograph a lot more plays, but (Ivey) lets them just play their game, and I’m all for it.”

Of course, it’s easier for Ivey to push for more of a freestyle-flow approach when she has so many backcourt weapons to work with – more bodies not only mean fresher legs, but also more options within the team’s Princeton-based offensive scheme. In recent years against the elite teams, McGraw opted to slow the game down (last season’s NCAA Tournament clash with UNC being a prime example), usually out of necessity.

This year, the coach tried the same approach in an early-season game at Maryland, Notre Dame’s only loss thus far. Don’t expect to see the slow-down plan again.

“That was a huge mistake,” McGraw conceded. “(Up-tempo) is how we want to play. Slowing it down, in hindsight, was a big mistake on my part...We’re not as good when we do that.”

“I feel like they play better when they’re just playing their normal game,” Ivey agreed.

The players also concur with that assessment – they want to run.

“I like playing transition ball,” Barlow said. “The less you have to set up the offense, that’s better for you. Just get steals and get layups.”

It’s a good blueprint for success – but only if it’s executed well by a team that can force mistakes without making their own.

So far, it’s working out pretty well for McGraw, Ivey and this year’s Irish.