Mike Brey Notebook | Boston College Win

Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey spoke following the 79-73 win at Boston College on Saturday. 

On the win:
“I’m thrilled given how we were thumped at home by two great teams. For us to bounce back and win a league win - I think Boston College is really playing well. They are really gifted offensively. 

“Nik Djogo put him in the starting lineup and did he delivered for us. We needed a win and our group was wounded after last weekend. Maybe we can build on it.” 

On offensive production:
“We got off to a good offensive start. We scored tonight. We came in at halftime and we shot 50% from the floor. We have really struggled offensively. We played some really good defensive teams. We scored, moved the ball and I thought our movement was good. 

“That was a little bit of what I remember from our program. We put so much pressure on ourselves because we have been scoring in the 60’s for most of January.” 

On Djogo starting:
“A lot of it was about how well he played and competed against Duke. He played 20 minutes against Duke. I thought he really competed. I felt we needed his energy. He’s older. We have a younger and inexperienced team. We’ve played a lot of the freshmen, but he was a little bit of an older guy tonight. I thought it helped us out there. 

“I give him a lot of credit. He’s had a great attitude. He wasn’t a big part of the rotation early in the season. We had invested in the young guys. He didn’t complain and he hung in there. I’m really happy for him. Hopefully, we jump-started something.” 

On Djogo’s game:
“He’s athletic as heck. He is a big and long defender. He helped us defensively and he can rebound. He’s a big, athletic guy. We put him in the game early at North Carolina and he traveled twice in like a minute. We didn’t go back to him and I thought his confidence was hurt. My confidence in him was hurt. 

“He continues to compete. There are a lot of tools there.” 

On the battle on the boards:
“It was an Achilles heel for us. We didn’t have anyone on the backboard other than John (Mooney). We should could use another guy joining him in there. Juwan (Durham) came back tonight and I think he will start to give us some stuff on the backboard. He played eight minutes tonight, but we need his body back there.” 

On what series between Boston College and Notre Dame is like:
“We’ve had great games with them. We’ve been fortunate to be on the good side for a while now. I was on the plane thinking the law of averages might kick in because we’ve beaten them for a while. We escaped again. Any league win you can get, especially for our group, is good for us.

“We have to go to Miami and maybe get in the same rhythm there.”