Notre Dame basketball coach Mike Brey spoke following the loss to Boston College on Saturday afternoon.
On the loss:
"I think this was kind of the ultimate trap game and we got trapped in the bear trap. They played great. They were kind of in training camp. They ran some stuff we never saw because it was a new coach and it definitely had us on our heels.
"Having said that, we scored 90 and we give up that - you're not going to win. I give Boston College a lot of credit and Scott Spinelli a lot of credit for getting a group together in training camp the last week and then on Senior Night, guys were playing out of their mind. I've seen that happen before and we certainly couldn't absorb it.
"I loved that we made a run at it. We were trying, but we couldn't get over the hump."
On what is missing from the team where they can't get over the hump:
"We've tried a little bit of everything and tried different starting lineups. I don't think I've been able to help them, quite frankly. I blame myself for not being able to get us into that .500 zone. We thought we could pick off a couple at the end and get to .500.
"We get to play at home and it's been so long since we've played at home. It'll be neat to play at home. I thought we looked mentally tired when we got on the plane yesterday and we are. We've been grinding and been available for every game. We've taken our punches and I think it's up to me to get us refreshed by Monday to play some home games.
"I think just playing at home will refresh us. I told them after the game that one of our themes was to be tougher than the year. They have been. They've been great. I felt for them today a little bit because we were hanging on for dear life at times. We'll go back to work and play a home game - I hope."
On him not being to help the team get over the hump:
"I worried about today overall because I think we took some punches last week. The Syracuse game took a lot of wind out of our sails psychologically and we didn't know what we were going to see today at Boston College. They had new personnel and a new coach. They had a great spirit, which you know they would.
"Basically, what I worried about played out. We're beaten up a little bit. We were beaten up a little bit physically after the Louisville game. We had four guys fall on their backside in the game and they were clean plays. We kind of limped out of Louisville and we may have limped here a little. Somehow we have to find some energy to play on Wednesday.
"I think being able to go into our home routine will help. That will really help us. You move forward and we have to try to generate some momentum for Greensboro. That's what we've been trying to figure out here. You got two teams that are above you in the standings before you head to Greensboro."
On the defensive effort:
"It was a mirage - a matador in a bullfight. Olay, Olay. We just moved the cape and they shot layups. It was not good. We had made some progress earlier this month in that stretch, but that was a little bit of the old habits of December and they know it. We didn't have a whole lot of punch there."
On challenging a team that's tired to play defense:
"Can I get back to you Wednesday after the game? We can evaluate that and see if we've made any progress. I'm not trying to be a smart ass. We've exhausted a lot of different things.
"We tried playing some different zone and they even shredded that at times. When we came off the mat after 0-5 and we weren't guarding, they guarded as a group and understood it. We challenged them and showed it to them. They know that was some old habits today. I don't even have to show them any of that. They know it. Either we're going to do it a little better against NC State on Wednesday, or someone else is going to put 90 on the board. We've got to score 100 to escape."
