Notre Dame basketball coach Micah Shrewsberry spoke following Tuesday’s loss to No. 17 Virginia.
Opening statement:
“We're not into moral victories. Nothing about us is about that. We are about the process. We are about using every opportunity to learn and keep getting better and that's what this team is doing. A lot of people have counted us out. Nobody gave us a chance to win this game. People quit on us a long time ago, right? These dudes have kept coming, kept fighting, kept competing, and trying to play their best basketball as the season goes on.
“I wanted this so bad for them and how hard they're working in the shadows, not the spotlight. They're working their ass off in the shadows, coming back and competing every single day. They just put it on the line, man, for 50 minutes. Just went toe-to-toe with a really good team, put it all out there on the line. We're gonna learn from it, we're gonna grow from it, we're gonna keep getting better.”
On how Notre Dame got better despite the loss and what they can do to build off the performance:
“We just competed. At times, we were like outmanned, too, right? You look at the box score, it's like Carson (Towt) played 17 minutes. He's somebody that you count on for a lot of different things. You just don't have him for long stretches.
“BK (Brady Koehler), he didn't come out of the game in the second half. There's been times where he's picked up early fouls and hasn't been able to play, but that growth of being able to guard tough matchups, whether it's the five, whether it's a 23-year-old foreign dude who is a freshman. He's battling those dudes toe-to-toe. There's growth, right?
“Cole (Certa) is making big shots. He's been doing it. But now, how they were guarding the physicality of the game, now he's driving it and drawing through contact and getting to the free-throw line. That's growth for our group, right?
“People are gonna look at wins and losses and results. Yeah, it sucks, man. I'll be the first one to tell you that I hate losing, but I'm seeing growth in this process. I'm seeing these guys grow every single day and that's all I care about.”
On giving up a 17-2 run and blowing a 19-point lead to take the game into two overtimes:
“They do a better job of playing through physicality, right? The alarm bells go off in my head when they called all those fouls early and we got to the bonus early in the game. You know what's happening next. They're getting to the bonus quicker. They go on a run to end the first half because of that physicality, which carried over to the second half. We gotta do a better job of handling physicality, right?
“You used to say, you gotta be 10 points better than somebody on the road. Well, we gotta be 10 points better than somebody at home then, right? Handle physicality, drive through contact, run through screens, continue to set screens, continue to do good things that lead to good offense. We just need to do it more times.
“I thought their physicality really impacted the game on the other end of the court with how they guarded us. When we struggled with their physicality and we didn't score as much, I thought it affected us defensively, though we got really undisciplined. We were jumping on shot fakes. We were letting them get to the baseline. We can't have that happen. We gotta keep our discipline while still playing through what's happening and playing through our offense.”
On if he considering fouling up there with 19 seconds remaining in the first overtime:
“Absolutely, I did. That's what I've done my whole career. I was a little gunshy. Last time that happened, got four point play, right? Even when you told the officials that you were gonna foul, there's no guarantee they're gonna call it. There's no guarantee it's not gonna turn into a four point play.
“We were just gonna guard it out. Guarded the whole possession. Somebody was standing there straight up and down with a contest and the dude made a tough shot. I gotta live with that.
“I'm not gonna let the same mistake happen to me twice, right? We lost to North Carolina on a four-point play. We lost to Cal on a four-point play. I was gonna let our guys try and keep playing. But yeah, I was gunshy gunshy because of what happened at Cal.”
On his team hanging with No. 17 Virginia and not giving in:
“These guys are tough. They're tough. We're also playing -- you look at them start two grad transfers, a junior, a 20-year-old freshman, a 23-year-old freshman. We start a junior, one senior, an old senior, I'll give you that, Carson's old. Cole, who's probably 20, right? BK's 19, 18, right? We're playing with kids out there. Garrett Sundra is a sophomore off the bench. Ryder Frost comes off the bench as a freshman. Sir Muhammad is a sophomore, Logan's (Imes) a junior.
“They don't care. They just fight. They don't care who's in front of them. That's why I recruit them, because I love the fight, the swagger, the competitiveness that they have. It sucks now, that's why I said I want this so bad for them, because I see it on a daily basis of how hard they work. I want them to get rewarded for that work, but they are getting rewarded because these dudes are getting better each day.”
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