Mike Brey Notebook | UCLA Win
Notre Dame basketball coach Mike Brey spoke following the 75-61 win over UCLA on Saturday.
On the win:
"Proud of our group, especially our defense. We were searching for a Power Five win. I thought we won the battle from 15 feet and in for the most part with being physical. We made some big shots when we needed to. A week of growth for us, I think."
On Prentiss Hubb:
"Prentiss needs to be aggressive and hunt his shot. Sometimes I think he gets into quarterbacking too much. He needs to score for us and hunt his stuff.
"We tried to talk to him about that the last couple of days. Hopefully, he can build on that."
On team not being afraid to shoot it:
"We're firing now aren't we? I'm a great guy to play for. We're letting it rip now. Tuesday helped us. Tuesday was some therapy. Let's be honest.
"I thought we came out. Dane (Goodwin) and Nate (Laszewski) hunted their shot.
"Those sophomores need to be aggressive. Next Saturday, you have a chance. It would be a hell of a thing to have these two guys on back-to-back Saturdays."
On Dane Goodwin:
"I think we got him in the right spot. I think we really do. He is coming in and going for it. The great thing is when your teammates, more than your coach, are telling you to shoot it and be aggressive. They'll call some sets for him. TJ (Gibbs) and Prentiss look for him.
"I like where he's at. Nate is hunting his stuff. Nate gave us some great stuff on the backboard."
On TJ Gibbs:
"Rex can go home for Christmas now with this win. TJ has got us started in games. He's made threes early and got our crowd in it. I thought he played with great toughness the rest of the game guarding some athletic guards and passing the ball well."
On defensive effort:
"We really helped in the post. We came down. We were going to give up some jump shots. I thought how we helped our big guys with our guards coming down, we stripped them a couple of times and forced them into offensive fouls.
"Maybe we should play that way against every team no matter who the three-point shooters are. It makes us active. We helped our bigs. Those bodies they have - you can't guard them 1-on-1 when they get position."
On UCLA and Indiana back-to-back:
"We were searching to beat a Power Five team. We were 0-3. We handled the other business pretty good. TJ said it after the game we owe these guys. I thought our preparation was good. This group has ownership of itself. They know who they are.
"I liked in the second half, it looked like we were getting away from them, but we had to do some mentally and physically tough stuff with them lurking on your heels."
On this Saturday vs. last Saturday:
"What a difference a week makes. No question about it. It's a great group. I love them. They want it so bad. I want to be good for them because they're amazingly coachable."