Mike Brey Notebook | Louisville Loss
Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey spoke following the 75-61 loss at Louisville on Sunday afternoon.
On the loss:
“They’re an NCAA Tournament team. I thought their physicality in the lane and being a little older than us in some spots won out. We were so bad from the foul line in the second half. If you’re going to make it interesting, you’re going to have to make free throws.”
On Louisville dominating the glass:
“It’s been a bit of a weakness of ours. Being able to keep people off the offensive boards is one of the fears I’ve had since the beginning of league play. A lot of it is they have really good athletic ability and quick jumpers.
“It’s a little bit of our youth and some young guys. We couldn’t squeeze any loose balls out from under our basket. If you’re going to have a chance in this atmosphere, you have to get those. It’s been a weakness and a trait of a younger group all year.”
On holding Louisville to 2-for-22 from three-point range:
“You would think if you handle the arc like that it’d be a better game. We knew they liked to shoot the three and they’ve made a bunch of threes. We got out to shooters. Now, you give up stuff around the bucket, but those count too. They can’t blow you out. You can hang around, but for us in the second half, we had it down to five to seven points and we can’t get a defensive rebound or make enough free throws to get it to one possession.”
On not hitting the 70 point mark again:
“We can’t find a third and fourth scorer. We score 61 points all the time and even in practice every day. We can never get that sucker to 70. It’s unbelievable.”
On message to the team:
“We kept battling. It’s a great group of kids. They have taken some big punches in this league and that’s what happens in this league. Luckily, we’ve come in every day and they’ll come back tomorrow and work. We have a chance at an NCAA Tournament team on Wednesday and we haven’t beaten anyone in the upper division. We need to get one of those teams before this thing ends.
“They’re back on their heels a little bit. It’s a league of men.”
On TJ Gibbs:
“The guards they put on him really got after him and took him away. That’s been the case a little bit. He got loose a little bit in the second half, but for the most part, TJ Gibbs has been first in the scouting report and they really have taken him away.
“He’s a key for us. When he can get going, it helps us.”