Mike Brey Notebook: Pittsburgh
Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey spoke following the 73-56 win over Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.
On the win:
“You couldn’t have scripted a better Senior Night with the pregame ceremonies. You had the Lithuanian National Anthem, Bonzie sister’s singing. He goes and gives a huge. He’s back playing well. What a night.
“I keep having to do a double-take that we are 8-9 in the league. We were 3-7 at one time. I’m really proud of our group. We have an unbelievable opportunity on Saturday against a great team.”
On bottling positive vibes for the next 10 days:
“Having Bonzie back adds so much confidence and energy. Those guys missed him. They missed his edge, his confidence and he gets calls. We haven’t had a guy that gets any calls for a while. Refs are coming over and talking to him when he’s sitting on the bench.
“We missed him a lot.”
On Colson’s performance:
“When I saw him practice on Monday, we just did the half-court. He was moving fine. Tuesday, we went transition, and he was even better. He’s unique.
“The one thing you never lose with that guy is his nose for the ball. He made some of those plays I haven’t seen in two months. We missed that – a big offensive rebound in traffic and put back for a three-point play and the deflections with his length in the back of the zone.
“It’s something to build on. We’ll get him higher in minutes on Saturday, I’ll guarantee you that.”
Colson continued:
“Competing is an addiction to him. He hasn’t been able to compete for two months. I worried about that for him. There was nobody he could make a shot on and pound his chest or all the stuff he does. That’s hard.
“Just seeing in practice the last two days and tonight – his talking in the locker room before the game, he gets to go after people. He was born to compete.”
On NCAA Tournament:
“We have work to do, but having Bonzie back will help. The bad news is you can lose seven in a row in the ACC. The good news is when you need a quality win, there is one on the schedule.
“We have a bunch of them in Brooklyn too. That’s the benefit of playing in this league. You’ve got a chance to get some scalps to get you back in the discussion.”
On 51 rebounds against Pitt:
“Martinas has been banging the boards hard, and now you put Bonzie in there too. We’ve got enough size on the front line that we should be able to get really up on the backboard.
“Marty and Bonzie do a great job rebounding. Maybe we can run a little bit more as rebound and outlet with those guys.”
On Martinas Geben:
“I told him to not watch Bonzie or do things to get Bonzie involved. I told him he needs to be aggressive and attack because he’s been fabulous. It doesn’t mean he backs up and he doesn’t look to score.
“They still have to play together some more offensively.”
On Rex Pflueger:
“He’s not back yet from his banged-up body. He had four assists tonight passing off ball screens and he defended. He didn’t hunt his shot. He fit in and guarded. That’s what we need him to do.
“I think by Saturday his back should be close to being healed up. The knee is going to linger, and he’s going to need a couple of weeks after the season, but he’ll play with it.”
On 400th win:
“That’s amazing. I’m honored. It took a lot longer to get to 400 than I thought. That January set me back. It’s unbelievable to be here that long. We’ve had good runs and good players.
“I’m sure when Digger retired he probably said many times ‘No one will get 394.’ You know I bet this spring when I’m around town having a cocktail, I’m going to say ‘No one will get over 400.’
“Someone always gets it.”