Mike Brey Notebook | Howard Win
Notre Dame basketball coach Mike Brey spoke following the 79-50 win over Howard on Tuesday night.
On the win:
"Our group likes playing together. When you have 22 assists, you're moving the ball a little bit. It's a team you should beat and handle. I'm glad we did that. Hopefully, we can do that the rest of the month."
On balance on the offensive end of the floor:
"It's been such a hallmark of our program. Sharing and moving the ball. I just love how we're throwing the ball ahead. We're firing the ball down the court. We've thrown a couple away deep and that's OK. We're driving it more and we've charged a couple of times, but that's OK.
"That group that's coming off the bench gives us a nice lift and they can score a little bit too. They're getting comfortable coming in together, Carmody, Laszewski and Goodwin. Those three guys will be very important for us."
On guard Dane Goodwin:
"He's played a little bit more pissed off quite frankly. I thought he was disappointed with how he played in Chapel Hill. He's being aggressive and going for it. Now, he's ready to do that. As much as I told him to do that last year, it was hard to do. He gets it now."
On guard Robby Carmody:
"Carmody was born aggressive. He came out of the womb driving to the basket and knocking the hell out of people. He's a bull in a china shop. Is that Pittsburgh guy or what?
"He knocks the crap out of people and that's OK."
On forward John Mooney and forward Juwan Durham:
"They love playing together. It's kind of neat. They room together. I think they have a nice chemistry. We're learning how to be more efficient offensively with them on the floor. When we downshift and open the floor, we probably have more scoring spurts, but those two guys get second shots and they've become good passers."
On Mooney rebounding:
"It's an art form watching him rebound the ball. I don't care who we're playing. He goes and gets 13 to 16 rebounds.
"How he goes and gets it is really beautiful to watch. He's a great rebounder."
On bench scoring:
"We need it. I downplayed it when I had guys on the bench who couldn't score. Then we put oxygen on our six-man rotation.
"Dane, Robby and Nate have to be aggressive for us when they come in there. They're doing things more like second-year guys and like they should."
On Juwan Durham's offensive game:
"When you score a little bit, then you do a little bit of everything else. He has good hands and feet around the bucket. The footwork on the Eurostep for a 7-foot guy, just doing that with no one around is pretty good. He's an agile guy. He's not the most physical guy and he gets blasted out of there sometimes. He's a smart basketball player. He's just starting to become a believer."