Mike Brey Notebook | Boston College Win
Notre Dame basketball coach Mike Brey spoke following the 80-70 win over Boston College on Saturday afternoon.
On the win:
"God knows we needed it. We needed it and I was impressed with us offensively. That's more of 40 minutes of playing how we play offensively and we were better defensively. Our sense of urgency defensively, in staying in front of your man and chest and him up a little bit. Something we really addressed since we got back from the Virginia swing. I thought we did a better job of it."
On guys stepping up:
"We had a couple different guys do it together on a night in a league game. Cormac Ryan is coming and man, did he make defensive plays for us, but he's feeling his stuff off offensively. I have a lot of respect for Juwan (Durham) because looking at him at shootaround this morning because of his back, I didn't think he'd be able to go today and he gave us great stuff.
"I thought Prentiss (Hubb) just quarterbacked us and then defended on the other end and didn't force anything. It was maybe one of his better games, just on both ends of the floor being solid as a rock and leading us."
On the team getting confidence back:
"We had some intense practices where we had to - I just thought we needed to really compete more and stick our nose in there more.
"We hung our heads on the Virginia baton death march through the state of Virginia. We hung our heads. Good teams, man. They're really good teams. I thought we did a better job of moving on to the next play, defending better and then our offense today, which is how we play. We were just really efficient.
"It was going to probably be hard to catch us because we just are too good with the ball and we're going to make enough shots if we get looks."
On offensive flow:
"We actually got a couple stops in a row and we actually got a little bit in transition. We threw ahead. I thought Prentiss, he was pushing it. We weren't walking it up the court and when you have to walk it up the court against a set defense, any set defense in college, it's hard.
"When we can rebound an outlet and get down to the floor and we have high basketball IQ guys on the offensive end - I didn't call one set today. We played basketball and on the offensive end. It was kind of neat to see guys trust and know how to play."
On winning the battle of hustle plays:
"That was a big possession when we ran down, wasn't it? When we ran down with a low clock and you wait, you worked on the post feed because it wasn't there right away. That was big. We got loose balls. We got deflections. We were flying around a little bit more on the defensive end. We competed better.
"I mean, these guys are great competitors. You don't get scholarships to Power Five schools unless you know how to compete. I don't know if we dug in and competed to the level we needed to compete on the road trip in Virginia and that's something we just have to do it in practice every day we practice. We can't go light and we can't have a shooting practice.
"We got to feel what it's like to play some one-on-one and two-on-two and dive on the floor a little bit, you know? I think that helped our guys juices flow a little."
On finding a game this week as the Howard game was postponed:
"What's Bethel doing Tuesday? I'm just kidding, even though we should play an exhibition against them, don't you think maybe next year? That would be cool. That was actually a sellout last time we did that.
"We want to try and find a game and we've gotten pretty good at this as everybody in college basketball has when things are shut down, everybody kind of starts reaching toward each other.
"Now that people have probably seen that the Howard game is done, we probably have a bunch of messages on our cell phones back in the offices from people that may be available this week. I really want to try and get a game because I'd like to build on this and not wait till Miami a week from tomorrow."
On Howard game in 2022:
"We are going to do it next year. We will be there in 2022. I'm disappointed because I think it was going to be an unbelievable story, especially given what's going on in our country and everything that's happened in the last week. Really an educational opportunity for my players as we aligned with when we all vote with the Howard guys. There was some really cool stuff that happened, but we're going to play it next year.
"Picture it in 2022. MLK Day, a packed house and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be in that gym. I guarantee it, especially Kamala. She's a Howard grad and she's going to be working the refs probably. We're going to do it in 2022."