Feb. 6, 2002
Coach Mike Brey
On tonight’s performance:
“We feel pretty good about tonight, considering how we’ve played the last three games and getting back in front of the home crowd. Obviously, we’ve kicked it into gear offensively at the right time. I thought defensively, we put in a good effort – especially on their three-point shooters. We got a great team effort tonight. We got everyone involved. We had nice depth and great unselfishness. We had twenty-four assists in the basketball game, which is pretty good.”
On Chris Thomas’ career-high 32 points:
“I can’t tell you I’m surprised. He’s the best (point guard) – we’ve seen that from day one. I told the young guys yesterday in practice, ‘you’re not really freshmen and sophomores anymore. We’ve played a lot of basketball, we’ve gone on the road, and you need to play like men.’ To our seniors, they have to be men. I think our maturity and our focus in February is very important. What helps Chris is that he has a lot of veterans around him.”
Notre Dame Player Quotes
Notre Dame senior forward Harold Swanagan:
On the play of Chris Thomas…
“I wasn’t surprised how well he shot the ball tonight. He is a confident guy. He knows how to run this team and he does a good job at it. I think we got used to him playing this way in the summer, but we didn’t quite know how he would play once the season started. He is the same old Chris all the time.”
On the upcoming game at Georgetown…
“Anytime we play a physical team, our team needs me in the game to be a physical presence. Georgetown is a very physical team. The last time we played them I didn’t like having to watch them from the bench making us look like little kids. I am definitely looking forward to playing against them on Saturday.”
Notre Dame freshman guard Chris Thomas:
On the game…
“Our main goal of the night was to come out and play with a sense of urgency. I definitely felt I broke out of my slump tonight. I think we are real confident playing at home and we have been playing well here recently. We just came out and made shots.”
On the play of David Graves…
“We were real lucky to have David (Graves). We really did not think he was going to be able to play tonight. Fortunately, he was able to come out tonight and play great for us.”
Notre Dame senior forward David Graves:
On his ability to play tonight…
“Our team doctor did a wonderful job getting me ready throughout the day. I was in the worst pain of my life. This morning, I had no hope that I was going to be able to play. It really was an all-around effort between the doctors and the trainers. I was happy to be able to go out and help the team tonight.”
Rutgers Head Coach Gary Waters
Thoughts on the game…
“Notre Dame played very well tonight. They shot the ball extremely well and you can’t shoot any better or screen any better than they did. We made them work hard for their shots and did some good things tonight, but they were just hitting everything. When they shoot like that, no one in the BIG EAST is going to stop them.”
On Notre Dame guard Chris Thomas’ three-point shooting success…
“We were very surprised to see him do that well from outside. That just doesn’t happen for him, but he was knocking them down tonight.”
On how this game will affect his team…
“Everyone is going to lose badly. Pittsburgh came in here and got beaten badly. When they’re playing well, they’re really hard to play in this gym. When they’re on, they shoot the ball as well as anyone in this league. We didn’t take the outside shot away from them tonight, and they beat us to death with it.”
“We’ll go back to the drawing board and correct our mistakes. And, believe me, we will get them corrected. They’re coming back to our place and you’ll see a different game in a week.”
“Sometimes these games can help you, whether you win or lose. We will use this as a learning experience and get better from it. That was an experienced team we played tonight, and these are things you learn from. But, my hat’s off to Notre Dame. They’ve got to be flying high right now.”
Rutgers Player Quotes
Senior forward Rashod Kent
On impression of game…
“It was a huge loss. We could have really eliminated some other teams from the race. It’s a win we needed to get on the road. Now that we’ve lost, other teams around the league will notice we are having a tough time on the road. We need to come out on the road, play intelligent basketball, do the exact same things we do on the road and get better results.”
On Notre Dame shooting 60.9 percent from behind the arc…
“It just eats away at what you’re trying to do and what you’re trying to accomplish. Every time we cut into the lead, they build it back up by hitting some big three’s. Chris Thomas penetrating and kicking out for three’s made it real simple for them. They were knocking their shots down.”
On Notre Dame’s 46-32 rebounding edge…
“I can’t say it was just Swanagan and Humphrey, but it was probably their whole team gang-rebounding. They just had a double team effort on the boards. They were sending everybody to the board and getting a lot of loose balls that turned into three-point plays. There weren’t a lot of chances for offensive rebounds tonight because we were one shot and out.”
On reaching 1,000-point mark with 8th point in contest…
“I’m proud of the fact I reached the 1000-point mark, but it’s not as significant as it would have been with a win.”
Junior guard Jerome Coleman:
On play of Notre Dame guard Chris Thomas…
“Thomas was just having one of those nights. The majority of shots were contested, but he just got into a zone. He had a ‘birthday game’.”