Mike Brey Notebook | Jacksonville Win
Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey was pleased with the 100-74 win over Jacksonville on Thursday night.
On the win:
“I’ll take an offensive flow like that as we are searching again for an identity. Hopefully, that’s something to build on. I like how we started big and had 16 points with that starting lineup at the first media timeout.
“Juwan (Durham) deserved to start with everything he’s given us. To share the ball and move the ball - I think we’re a good passing team and tonight we did it for 40 minutes. Maybe we find some offensive flow out of tonight.
On what he liked better: Assists or bench points:
“Assist number. We had 20 assists in Indy and we had 23 tonight without the guy who had 10. I feel good about Dane Goodwin being better with the ball. We know Prentiss (Hubb) and TJ (Gibbs) are good with the ball.
“DJ Harvey has three assists and one turnover. Goodwin was good with the ball. Those guys have to be guards. The bench points weren’t bad either.”
On freshman guard Dane Goodwin not starting:
“He’s steady. The one thing that does happen when you get down to seven or eight guys is now they all know they are playing. You have some really clear heads. You can really grow.”
On Goodwin’s improvement:
“He is one gifted basketball player. He plays the game older and see’s it older than a freshman reminiscent of (Steve) Vasturia. He has the feel and the fundamentals. He probably turned down three shots, but he shot a little more tonight and was aggressive.
“He’s a physical kid and he can rebound.”
On junior guard TJ Gibbs:
“He took some tough ones. He’s a unique talent. He wasn’t as good as he wanted to be the other night, but he was very good in practice yesterday. I told him he bounced back great and I’m glad he’s going into the break feeling pretty good about himself.”
On what he’s learned about the team:
“For a younger group, they can really focus on lock-in. I’ve been very impressed. I figured we would have more space out moments or young moments mentally. Our freshmen class, four of them had a 3.0 GPA. They’re locked in and sharp dudes.
“The preparation has been great. I told them this game in the NBA before the All-Star Game is called ‘the getaway game.’ Half the teams don’t want to play and are thinking about their trip. Can we be good all day today? We really were. I wasn’t quite sure with younger guys and Christmas. The ability to prepare and focus has been better than I thought. I think it gives us a chance moving forward.”
On injured guard Rex Pflueger:
“Rex got home. Surgery is on January 11th back here. We’re going to let him stay home for a while. He’ll come back right before the Syracuse game. He’ll spend some time with family out there.”