Brey Notebook: 5-0 ACC Start

Notre Dame (16-2, 5-0) moved up to the No. 15 in the Coaches Poll and AP Poll on Monday, but the Irish can’t celebrate the ranking for long, as they travel to Florida State (16-2, 4-1) on Wednesday evening.

It will be a battle of the top two teams in the ACC and Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey expects his team to be ready for the moment.

“I think it will be the third-straight road game we will be underdogs and this one probably by more,” Brey stated on Monday afternoon. “It’s another home win streak I can talk to my guys about snapping. It kind of builds and gets contagious upon itself when you have success on the road.

“I think we will go to Tallahassee very confident, but knowing we are playing a really gifted group with a lot of depth, athletic ability and the atmosphere will be great.”  

With the Irish moving up in the polls, Brey isn’t overly worried about his squad being able to focus on the task at hand, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t making sure they don’t get off track.

“I emailed our guys this morning about being humble and hungry one day at a time and we needed a great practice today,” explained Brey. “We haven’t had a lot of great practice reps since last Wednesday. We got refreshed yesterday and we want to stay day to day.

“We don’t want to get ahead in rankings or bracketology or who can win the regular season championship. We want to bring it back to day to day.”

In fact, Brey didn’t know his team was ranked in the Top 15 at the time of his presser.

“We’re all good,” said Brey. “What were we today? 27? I am lobbying for 27. We’re good and we will take what we got. I love where we are at. I think we were able to refresh mentally and physically. This league can flip on you in a heartbeat. We know how this road is and the length of the season.

“We’re blessed to be where we are at.”  

When it comes to being in first-place in the ACC, Brey wouldn’t have thought his team would be 5-0 in league play, but he’s rolling with it.

“I would have fallen off this chair,” Brey said if someone told him Notre Dame would start 5-0 in the league. “I would have sprinted to The Grotto to light some candles. We are getting stop under that four-minute mark. We’ve been able to get those kills at a key time. Our offense kind of senses the moment.

“Matt Farrell has been really fabulous at driving the ball at key times down the stretch for him to score or to distort the defense for us to get a really good luck. It was exciting to see TJ add to that with his drives.”  

VJ
One of the storylines to this point in the year has been the inconsistent play from senior VJ Beachem. The captain only had four points in Saturday’s win against Virginia Tech, but Brey isn’t about to take him off the floor, as Beachem means more to the team than being a scorer.

“That’s why you have him on the floor, especially in crunch time,” Brey said of the big plays Beachem makes late in games. ‘He’s a deflection here, a steal there and a blocked shot or a reverse layup against Miami. The runner that hit every part of the rim in Blacksburg – he has a knack for doing that. While the previous 38 minutes weren’t beautiful, you kind of want him in there to finish.

“He really leads. He and Steve record a lot of minutes, but the two of them have a great voice in how they talk in huddles. I think they keep us calm. They know how to talk to the other guys, because they are veterans.

“VJ’s presence and personality on the court is important to us too.”  

FARRELL
On the flip side of Beachem is Farrell, who has turned into one of the nation’s top playmakers. On Saturday, Farrell made big plays on offense, but it was his steal late in the game, as the Hokies were rolling the ball up the court that made the difference in the game.

“That’s Matty being a high basketball IQ guy,” stated Brey. “He mentioned on the bus that he was kind of thinking about it because they rolled it up a bunch. A lot of people are doing that now, so I think he was lining it up and man, he picked a spot to do it.

“It certainly epitomizes the player he is. The toughness and how he kind of gives our group a toughness look.”

via GIPHY

 

In all of his years coaching, Brey doesn’t believe he has seen a play like Farrell’s steal and doesn’t expect to see one for a while.

“I don’t think I have – where it’s just a flat out fumble recovery,” Brey said. “Then to have the athletic ability to get up and it was close to a walk, but I think he really put the dribble down before he got all the way up. He had the presence of mind to scoop it back to TJ (Gibbs).

“Just a heck of a play by a guy who is really confident and has been amazing in the moment.”  

ZONE DEFENSE
Notre Dame has used its offense and the three-pointer to win games, but on the offensive end, it has been zone defense in spurts that has allowed Notre Dame to get opponents out of rhythm.

“Sometimes it’s lineup generated when we have Martinas (Geben) and Bonzie (Colson) in there,” explained Brey. “Martinas can really anchor down back there. It gives a team a little different rhythm. Once thing playing against zone, you have to handle the ball and think a little more as a team. Against man-to-man, you can ball-screen and drive downhill. I think that’s one of the reasons Syracuse takes advantage of 60 possessions of having to be focused and good with the ball.

“We have always been able to kind of run out of it. You’re able to kind of explode out of those set positions a little better than in man. I think we are kind of seeing where the wind is blowing with it. The Pittsburgh game it got us back in the game in the first half, because we couldn’t guard them. Against Miami we rode it pretty good and sometimes you just ride the heck out of it.”

ROTATION
Against Virginia Tech, Notre Dame got 24 points from its bench to go with the consistent hustle on the defensive end. Brey stated in the past that this is one of his deepest teams and it can go even deeper if he wants.

“We feel really good about nine guys, even though Matt Ryan’s not getting major minutes, but I want to get him in there, because I just think he can get going for us,” said Brey. “I haven’t got him in the second half the last two games, but that could change on Wednesday. I just need him to keep his head up.

“As far as (Austin) Torres Rex (Pflueger) and TJ, they like to guard and they are attacking guys. They have given us a great lift. Our bench gave us a fabulous lift in Blacksburg. I think Torres is playing the best of his career.”