Mike Brey Notebook: Syracuse

Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey kept it short after the road win at Syracuse, but he was more than satisfied with the 51-49 win on Saturday afternoon. 

On the win: 
“I’ve been at Notre Dame 18 years and had a lot of good wins – but this is as good of a win given Bonzie Colson, and Matt Farrell are sitting in their apartment in South Bend. 

“I couldn’t be prouder of a group. I thought our defense and rebounding was the difference tonight. A lot of our young and inexperienced guys in a tough atmosphere played well, and it’s something to build on.” 

On holding Oshae Brissett to 3-of-15 from the field and 10 points: 
“We wanted to play off of him and not let him drive. We wanted to make him shoot jump shots. He’s so good driving it. He’s good if he misses his drive that he gets his own rebound. 

“There are other guys you can help off of, so you can jam him with other guys. We felt if he was going to dive us, we were in trouble.”

On rebounding effort:
“I told our guys before the game, we’ve outrebounded our first two ACC opponents and now our third. We’re playing those four big guys and rotating them through. I thought they gave us some great stuff. 

“We’re able to keep them fresh. Our offensive rebounding was certainly a key. We’ve not been known as a big-time rebounding programs. I’m digging this defense and rebounding thing. It’s new territory for our program.”

On not sending more guys to the boards:
“Just our two bigs. What helped was they were always fresh. We kept rotating two for two. When you can stay fresh and keep jumping, I thought it helped us.”

On getting a gritty and ugly win:
“All I know is I looked down at the stat sheet in my assistant’s hand, and we were 1-for-14. We somehow survived it. Any win in this league and any road win, no matter how you get it is huge. 

“For us to be 3-0 with where we are with Colson and Farrell, I may have a cocktail tonight.”