Mike Brey Notebook | UVA Loss
Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey spoke following the blowout loss to Virginia.
On the loss:
“That’s was flat out men versus boys. We were very impressed with Virginia and they took our spirit. We couldn’t get into an offensive rhythm and it affected us defensively and our fight, which was disappointing. We played discouraged. We were hoping we could be competitive.
“We don’t have much time to dwell on it with what’s happening on Monday. We’re going to try to be more competitive on Monday.”
On Virginia:
“I can’t say enough about how impressed I am with them. They can win the National Championship. They are men who have won together and are polished. We are the exact opposite right now. We were searching and trying to build it.”
On starting slow:
“It was really disappointing. You have some youngers who have never experienced this before. It’s demoralizing. We have to compete in practice a little bit more tomorrow and fight a little bit in practice.”
On practice habits:
“Your practice habits carry over. This group has been really focused and competes. We haven’t gone very long because of where we are with numbers. It’s great to go compete tomorrow because after something like this, guys want to get it out of their system. I don’t want John Mooney competing or flying around tomorrow. He’ll sit on the sideline when the other guys go.
“This group has been practicing since June. Friday was practice No. 68. They’ve been in the gym a lot. We need to get some reps competing tomorrow because we couldn’t get to that today.”
On second half run to cut the lead to 12:
“I liked it. That was great. I thought we gave up some drives. Tony (Bennett) called a timeout when we cut it to 12 and then we gave up three drives. I told them we came in and put game pressure on them. We finally gave our crowd something to cheer about but then we gave up some drives.
“Now the dudes driving, one will be the No. 13 pick in the draft and he’s a man. I look out there and Ty Jerome is taking Dane Goodwin to the hole. I go ‘That’s a tough matchup right now.’
“Our young guys have to go through it and experience it. We have to grow from it. We have to try to help them.”
On playing zone in the second half:
“We were trying to hold the fort. We were bleeding bad. They were taking us off the dribble. When you guard their stuff, it grinds you up and wears you out. It was new for some of our young guys. My feeling was about giving up a jump shot and they missed a couple.
“The zone helped us and we’ve played zone this year. They are really poised and they’ve seen every situation.”
On approaching Monday’s game against Duke:
“I’m trying to approach 8:00 a.m. practice tomorrow. We need to have some juices flowing and some competition tomorrow. We will then talk about those other guys coming to town. If you’re not ready to compete, you’re going to take another big punch.
“What would help us, especially a group that’s fragile at times, would be to see the ball go in the basket early in the game. We couldn’t do that today and it builds on you. I give Virginia credit for doing that and we weren’t surprised.
“A good offensive start makes you believe a little.”
On concern of team not being able to bounce back:
“I think we’ll bounce back good. We have high character guys. I know we all felt bad walking out of there today. I think they’ll bounce back really well. I have a feeling we’ll practice well.”