Mike Brey Notebook: Mount St. Mary's
Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey spoke about the 88-62 win over Mount St. Mary’s on Monday night.
On second half performance:
“I love that trait. I loved that both games we really got going. Our defense to start the second half was the key. I think it was 10 straight stops. I thought Martinas (Geben) did a great job jamming it up. We changed our ball screen coverage a little bit, and it jammed the lane a little bit more.”
On Rex Pflueger’s nights:
“We had him chase a shooter for 35 minutes off double screens on Saturday, and now we have him chasing a little point guard all over the place. I said ‘Gibbs and Farrell, you should take him out to dinner because he’s doing some dirty work.’
“Then to do what he did offensively and rebounding and five assists. It’s really amazing. He’s such a winner and does whatever it takes. He’s an ace in the hole, and he can guard anyone on the perimeter.
“He’s really another leader on the floor.”
On different lineups:
“One thing we did at the end, they were a little tricky to guard because they had four shooters. We went a little smaller, and we switched everything, so we had bodies on people. We changed our ball screen defense where our bigs didn’t extend so much, and that helped us.
“We may have found something good for us long-term on the ball screen.”
On #BreysChase:
“That’s cool, but it’s more pressure. First of all, I can’t believe I’ve been here 18 years and have a chance to be the all-time winningest coach. When I first got the job, I was just trying not to get fired.
“To be here this long, I’m honored. I’ve been really lucky. I’d like to get it sooner than later for two reasons. One, it means we’re having a pretty good start. Two, I won’t be distracted by it, and we can move on to ACC play.
On defense:
“When you have an older team, they talk better. That’s what a DJ Harvey is learning. You can say talk more, but you have to give them a language. I think he’s learning the language of our defense, where our old guys have been in our system, and they’ve really heard each others voice a lot.
“That group that starts has played a lot together, and I love their chemistry on both ends of the floor. When you put (Elijah) Burns, you don’t lose much as a communicator. John Mooney is starting to learn and fit in to talk to guys.”
On positives from first two games:
“We are really defending. We know we can play defense and we like to defend. I don’t have to sell it. They are upset when they get scored on, so there is a great mentality. That’s led by Bonzie, and he’s set a tone by talking about it. Rex sets a tone with it too.
On inside game:
“We thought we could beat them up inside and throw it in there. If they are going to play Bonzie with one guy, we’re going to keep throwing it in there. You felt you could hurt them in there.”