Mike Brey Notebook | Clemson Loss
Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey spoke following Notre Dame’s 64-62 loss to Clemson on Wednesday night.
On the loss:
“That’s kind of been us. I feel for our guys because we put ourselves in position and we defended well enough. I made a comment after the Louisville game, ‘we always score 61.’ We went up a point, but it still wasn’t enough.
“I feel for Nate. It’s tough. He made the tough one. The first one is the tough one, but he’s going to be a heck of a player for us.”
On John Mooney:
“John Mooney is unbelievable. He needs three months off. I’ve never seen anything like what he’s doing. It’s just too bad we’re not winning to highlight him more.”
On not being able to close out…again:
“It’s hard for us to really get someone to really want to make the play or take the shot. We’re just not very confident there. A one possession game, even a tie game with the ball, it’s a big hurdle with this group right now.
“Could we get one before this thing ends? I’d love that, but it’s who we’ve been.”
On how close losses with pay off in the long run:
“We’ve talked a little bit about that in the last month. I’ve told them about teams I’ve had in the past that have gone through this. They came back the next year and learned from it. They got a little tougher.”
On playing well but still not getting rewarded with a win:
“That’s about as good as we had tonight. Our young guys really were contributing that’s what we have right now with this group. It’s heartbreaking you can’t let them enjoy a win.”
On Dj Harvey injury:
“I don’t think we’ll have DJ back on Saturday. This is who we got moving forward.
“He got a steal and breakaway dunk. He pulled up. It was about 10 minutes in. You just don’t see many hamstrings in basketball. There’s a lot of wear and tear on his body. Probably some fatigue there.”
On Juwan Durham:
“I thought Juwan was back in a rhythm we saw earlier in the year. I hope we can get him some more productive minutes, so he ends it well. He was part of it tonight.”
On practice:
“We’re not practicing long right now. We ended up going 4-on-4. I don’t know if we can practice live the rest of the season. We can’t go live tomorrow or Friday. I can’t afford it. We’ll go 5-on-0, shoot and we’ll run. Just compete like you did today on Saturday and see what we’ve got.”
On Nate Laszewski:
“That was a tough one. He’s had a tough year shooting the basketball. I think we’ll sit in here in the near future when he drains about five threes and he’s 6-for-8 from the foul line and go ‘Remember that Clemson game?’
“He’s come a long way. Strength training will be big for him this summer. I think he’s going to be really good for us someday.”
On ACC being a rollercoaster of emotions:
“We’re a little exhausted. It’s been draining. For some of our first-year players, they’ve never been in something this long and this intense or had their hearts taken from them. It’s a little bit mentally and physically draining. You’re trying to keep them excited.
On Saturday’s game against Pitt:
“It’s going to be hard with who we have. I know they are searching too. We would really celebrate that. Two teams in similar situations, it’d be awesome to feel a win going to Charlotte to help you a little bit. It’s going to be a dog fight. We’re both dying and need one.”
On senior walk-on Liam Nelligan starting:
“I thought he deserved it. I made the decision in the locker room after the game at Louisville, but I didn’t know I’d have to start Liam.
"One of the reasons I liked he came back was we have so many young guys, I wanted another man around. He’s a grad student and what he talks about – I wanted him around all these younger guys. He’s been a great role model for them.”