Mike Brey Notebook | Georgia Tech Win

Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey spoke following the win against Georgia Tech on Sunday evening. 

On the win:
“It was about the eight-minute timeout in the first half. I told our guys we were going to win the ugliest college basketball game in history, but it’s going to be a league win and let’s keep playing. We got into a better rhythm in the second half. I thought we defended and rebounded well enough. 

“It was a nice night for TJ Gibbs, who could use a nice night to jumpstart himself.” 

On scoring 45 points in the second half:
“What was NC State’s record the other day? I thought we were going to break that. We were getting pretty good looks again and I was like ‘You have to be kidding me.’ 

“In the second half, we really passed, moved and cut. We got to the boards. Our two guards were good with the ball up top all night. You have to be against that. They are hard to score on them. Everyone has struggled against them. 

“DJ Harvey had a different edge about him. He’s learning to compete and to go after people. I thought he did that tonight.” 

On not having a letdown and fighting through a slow start:
“Rex was really good in our timeouts. Rex was stepping in and keeping guys hanging in there. His voice was really good. Even though I was panicking inside, I tried not to show it.” 

On freshman Nate Laszewski:
“He had 19 in Atlanta. I put him in the corner against that zone and he gets looks. We didn’t get as much as I wanted to get out of him in the second half. We were dying to get something in the first half and he gave us something.” 

On trusting Laszewski with three fouls in the first half:
“I left him in. I knew he scored against them in Atlanta. I knew if we could find him – I know he only made one, but every one he had was clean. He had a nice cut. He gave us a little bit of life support offensively.” 

On good from practice that hasn’t shown up in a game:
“We shoot it better than we do in games, but we aren’t scorching it. I’m not going to lie to you. We are who we are. We take care of the ball. Tonight, we got to the foul line again. We got to the offensive boards. 

“We’ve been a little better offensively in practice than we’ve been in games. You’re waiting for it to translate a little more moving forward.” 

On freshman Dane Goodwin:
“He’s dealing with a little bit of a hip flexor. We’re nursing it a little bit. He’s been limited in practice. It’s been a long season for those young guys. I’m very aware. They’ve been in it since the foreign tour. The nice thing about not playing until Saturday is I think we can get him to 100% by Thursday. We need him to be aggressive.” 

On getting an ACC win:
“Any league win is great for any team in this league. For us, as we’ve had a January to remember, I told them we’re 2-1 in February. We knew we had a shot in February with our schedule to do some things. I like the fact we don’t play until Saturday. These guys can enjoy it a day or two and we’ll get back to work.” 

On four guys in double-figures:
“Boston College, we had four scorers and tonight. We’ve been in search of a third scorer sometimes. I hope we got TJ going. Prentiss (Hubb) has been playing pretty well since that little gap where he wasn’t shooting well. He’s playing really well for a young guard in this league. 

“DJ Harvey should get 17 or 18. He should get to the backboard and get fouled. A Laszewski and Goodwin always have that there and I’ve been frustrated with myself that I haven’t been able to get more scoring out of those two guys. “