Mike Brey Notebook: 1/25
Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey spoke to the media on Thursday and opened up with more bad injury news as senior point guard Matt Farrell has been shut down for at least the next two games.
On Matt Farrell’s ankle injury:
“Let me start off by saying that we are going to shut Matt Farrell down indefinitely. He didn’t make any progress with that thing healing up from Sunday through Tuesday, and he was really sore Wednesday morning in practice, so we got an MRI on it, and we have a bone bruise on that thing, obviously, it was a pretty bad sprain. The swelling is down, but the bone bruise is there. Definitely out the next two, maybe more, but we will reevaluate him next Wednesday.”
On upcoming lineups:
“We are going to keep Johnny (Mooney) in the lineup, he played well, and he gives you a scorer and can make shots and then he holds his own around the backboard. Obviously, Nik goes into the lineup with Matt out; you know both of those guys can make shots so that would help us a little bit.
"My theme to our guys is that we need to continue to defend and rebound, we can’t let up on that end because that is putting us in position, we have not been able to score enough especially on the road. We have scored in the fifties on the road, we have been a little bit better here, and we have been getting some pretty good looks, you have to make a couple of those in order get over the hump to get a win. Again seven guys, with Torres and EB coming off the bench and I even mentioned to Matt Gregory and Liam (Nelligan) that they need to be ready if we have to go that far especially here in the short term.”
On the injury plague:
“I don’t think we have ever had it like this, but I told my staff about a week ago that we can’t even be made because we have been pretty darn lucky on the injury front and have done a good job avoiding some stuff. It is a cycle; as long as I have been in it, it cycles into you and then it’s can you handle it. It has been hard for us to handle it. The group of guys that are healthy, continue to scratch and fight, and they will continue to do that because it is who they are.”
Challenge of losing a guy like Farrell again:
“We were really hoping he was making progress, but you know the Louisville game and the Clemson game, he’s not there and was really dragging that leg. My thought was that we can’t keep massaging it and have him play at eighty percent the rest of the way. We just cannot bring him back until he is healthy and if that means four or five games then that is the way it is going to be because it is just not fair to him and kind of not fair to us because we are kind of watching him, but he is not full speed. We just have to get him healthy.”
How much Farrell practiced since Saturday:
“He did nothing Sunday, Monday and then Tuesday morning we did some five on zero stuff, nothing live, but I wanted him to get running with the team, and he wasn’t moving well. I thought he would be better it was sort of frustrating to see and I think he was frustrated to see as well, so we took a look at it. He just needs time.
“He is almost shaking his head. I give credit he is handling it pretty darn well, and I know he knows he can help us, but he can’t help us if he is dragging that thing around. He is realistic, so we sat him down yesterday, and we told him we were shutting him down for awhile and can’t get you back until you’re moving before the injury.”
Farrell’s reaction to being shut down:
“I think he knew he was faking it. We would ice it, and then we don’t practice, and then we play him. I think he knew he had to shut it down and get right.”
How the team will manage with the injury:
“We will battle, we will compete. I mean it is who we have been since Georgia Tech, and we are putting ourselves in position, and I have every reason to believe we will put ourselves in position Saturday night again playing a team that has some momentum with their win over UNC. Then can we make a few more plays down the stretch on the offensive end to help us?
"Our offensive rebounding is imperative because we are not as good of a first shot making group right now. We had eleven offensive rebounds against Clemson, we need more. Our goal should be fifteen a game, and we have hit that a couple of times and it has helped us, so getting second shots is really a key for us.”
On changing game plans:
“I don’t totally want to reinvent stuff, I think throwing it to the post helps us more and letting some guys score and even letting Johnny Mooney posting up some because he has some footwork down there, we also want to throw it down to Marty down there too and post him.
"Our initial movement has been pretty good, one of the things I try to talk to is not ball screening too early because that kind of stalls us if we don’t move it for awhile before we are ball screen, but ball screening for Rex and TJ is going to be important because those guys need that stuff and we like to distort on defense and then make a play off of it."
On the difference in schedule coming up:
“It is a quick turnaround, our flight is at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, and our practice is at 6. It is going to be a glorified shoot-a-round, we aren’t going to do much, we are going to shoot around a little bit and stretch, but we have three of them coming, three Saturday, Monday’s coming.”
On what he says to the team before a tough stretch of games:
“I don’t think there is any of that, I want to be very positive with them and keep helping them, especially the guys new to the party, they’re doing some good things, in the midst of not winning I don’t want them to feel like they’re letting us down. I want to highlight what Johnny Mooney is doing, what Nik’s doing or what Elijah is doing coming off the bench and giving us some good things against Clemson.
"Torres will be Torres in his role, but I have to continue with those three guys to make feel like, be aggressive, take your shot and why did you turn that shot down. Then you really lean on Rex, TJ, and Marty and then again those guys did a real good job at Syracuse that time. We have really been here before, I mean we did have DJ last time, but we kind of been here before and I really love how Rex and TJ took over stuff.”
On Nik Djogo being hesitant Saturday with his shot:
“He needs to take it, he probably didn’t get as many, but he needs to take it his shot, but he needs to drive too because he needs to get fouled and he is very good without it. We like how he cuts, and we get him it, but certainly, if he has open looks he has to take it, he and Johnny cannot turn down anything that is a good look, and I have tried to really emphasize that with them this week.”
On DJ Harvey:
“He is better, he is on the bike getting the range of motion, and we won’t have him for these two. Is there a chance you have him back for NC State? Possibly, I think if he can get his full range of motion and ride the bike hard is a good first step, so we are hopeful we have him back next Saturday."
On Bonzie Colson:
“The Bonze’s timetable is they will probably x-ray this thing in early February to see how it is calcifying, It won’t be any earlier than eight weeks. What is realistic, does he play a little bit against Virginia? In early March do we get him in some practices and play him against Virginia and then have him ready for the tournament that is probably best case.”
On the importance of a win:
“We could use some good news in there when we come off the court at 10 o’clock on Saturday no question because then again you get one and then you can turn things. We have been in this situation before, maybe not with this amount of bodies, but one win, the one game win streak theory, a one-game win streak can really change a team’s mentality.
"If we get to 4-4 in this league Saturday considering what has happened, that would feel like 7-1 quite frankly, and you’re still hanging around. Can we keep this thing around .500 or a little under that is as good as it gets? I am very realistic and if we can’t, we are not part of March Madness to put it real simple. Our guys know the reality of it.”
On the impact of Austin Torres:
“He has been a great energy and dirty work guy for us, and he has had to be even a bigger voice with Bonzie and Matt down, and I am very pleased with what he is doing. He said some things in the locker room Saturday, and I think he said some good stuff about our group and moving forward, some really mature stuff, like a guy who has been here four, five years. He is not going to be the offensive answer, we know that, but he can rebound and defend, post feeds, he passes and gives us energy. He is very important for us especially now since we have two seniors not on the floor.”
On Martinas Geben playing overseas and the positive impact:
“I am very proud that he has taken it upon himself to do more. I think that he is a most improved player candidate, maybe the top candidate in our league, but there is no question that the stuff with the world university games made him more confident. He is also very good with the ball, we like Marty getting touches all over the floor; he is a big guy who is really easy to play with.
"He is a good passer, he is a good screener, and lately, he is scoring for us. When we throw it to the post he has understood now that you have to look to score, but the biggest thing for him is he was able to get some rest early in the week, we are riding that guy hard, and he was tired a little bit Saturday, I think the emotion of Carolina, Louisville, so him getting rested and he is fresh and ready to go, but I couldn’t be prouder. One thing I told the guys in the locker room Saturday, and we are thoroughly exhausted, is to keep emptying the tank, that is all I can ask, and I think it will turn for us and they have been doing that.”
On the importance of the home crowd:
“Oh yeah and I think our crowd knows that which is kind of cool. I run into people in the community, and they are like hang in there. Now more than ever do we need our group, the crowd we had against Louisville in our student section was awesome, and I think they kind of know, oh they need us a little more, and we do.”
On Juwan Durham’s improvements:
“He got a little stronger once we got him into some strength training, but he has lost a little of that because he couldn’t lift any weights, but just understanding how to keep it simple and how to play and play closer to the bucket and not be a jump shooter. I think he wanted to be a jump shooter and a face-up guy and I think he understood that he needs to be around the basket. I am always on him to block shots, I say I don’t even care if he goal-tends because I think that is something he can give us.
"He just got back to practice this week, and of course, the timing is good because we have ten again. It is good to have him around again, and he was good yesterday, we scrimmaged a little bit, and he was good. It will be good for him to get his strength back now that he can lift again.”