Nov. 17, 2015

Recap | Box Score | Notes | USATSI Photo Gallery

Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey
On the game …
“I’m very pleased with this win because I think Milwaukee is very good. I think they’re going to challenge Valparaiso for the league championship. They’re hard to deal with. Usually when the other team hits 14 threes you lose. Fortunately, our offensive efficiency was better and we had to score to escape. It was interesting because we were down in the first half, which was new territory for a new team. I’m pleased with how our starters reacted and played throughout the game.”

On the starting five…
“They had to win one tonight. They had to communicate on the defensive end, play together offensively, and talk through tough stuff. Tonight was good for them. I thought V.J. Beachem was fabulous and continues to grow, rebounding the basketball and stepping up to make big shots when we need it. I thought Bonzie Colson really bounced back also. We did go with the smaller lineup at times because it was hard to chase those shooters around with two big guys. That helped us defensively at the end of the first half, and it also really helped us offensively to open the floor up for Demetrius.”

On the offense…
“I thought it was great for us tonight to have 20 assists, five turnovers, and shoot 57 percent from the floor. When our two big men were on the floor together, we ran the right stuff to take advantage of that. When one big was in, the floor was spread out and that was a Demetrius Jackson field day. We had shooters and a ball screen big guy in Zach Auguste rolling down the middle. I thought we showed some real growth today offensively. We figured out when was best to ride the two big guys, and when it was better to spread it out. I think we made some right choices on offense with our substitutions. Matt Farrell and Matt Ryan gave us good minutes. Matt was in there with the veterans when there was game pressure on us which was great experience.”

On V.J. Beachem’s performance…
“He had a really complete performance today, and it’s been coming. He has practiced so well recently. He didn’t miss a shot yesterday during practice. Sometimes I stop practice when a guy is shooting so well because I want to save some of those shots for the next day, but he had it again today. His teammates really found him. I thought his rebounding, his post defense, and his shot blocks were great today. I’m excited with what he can be. He’s just getting confident, and I’m excited with where he can be January 1st.”

On Steve Vasturia’s play…
“Steve never made a defensive mistake today. On all the threes we gave up, Steve was never involved with a defensive breakdown. He’s amazing defensively, and always makes the extra pass. He is driving the ball more for us. He missed a couple and forced a couple, but we are going to have to live with that. Under this new rule, we are going to get some fouls with that. We want him to drive it, and he was absolutely rock-solid today.

Notre Dame Player Quotes

Bonzie Colson – Forward – So.
On what he brought to the team today…
“I just tried doing what the team wants me to do, whether it’s diving for loose balls, just doing the little things, trying to bring energy any way, and I just helped the team doing that.”

On contributing to every point of the 16-2 run near the end of the first half…
“We respect them. We know they’re a good team. They can really shoot the ball, so we had to respect that. But we knew it was going to be a hard game and we embraced it. And when the opportunity came, we tried opening the lead, and they hit us with a couple punches, but we came back strong and got the win.”

On how Wisconsin-Milwaukee limited Notre Dame’s offense at the beginning of the game…
“We knew they were a great team. They’re a really good team that can shoot the ball well, and we knew that coming in. They’re a good team, a good offensive ball screen team, so we had to adjust to that. But we just respected their 3-pointers, and they’re a good team. They came out strong and we fought through that.”

Steve Vasturia – Guard – Jr.
On what his role on the team is after two games…
“I think doing whatever it takes to help this team win, getting to the basket, scoring, playing good defense. I think that’s what I love most about playing for this team is that everybody just wants to win and they’re going to do whatever it takes to do that.”

On what parts of his game he is continuing to work on…
“I think just doing what I’ve been doing. I think I’ve done a good job of getting to the whole. I’ve gotten a lot of open looks. I’ve missed a couple easy ones here and there, but I think just doing what I’ve been doing and getting other people open and being a leader on both ends of the floor.”

On how Coach Brey feels like he’s playing thus far this season…
“Anytime you get two wins to start off a season, everybody’s going to be pretty happy, so we just want to keep working and getting ready for Saturday.”

On Milwaukee’s three-point shooting in today’s game…
“It’s a good team. They do a really good job of running their offense and getting open looks. I think we did a decent job getting a hand up and getting out there, but they’re a good team and they made some tough shots, so you have to give them credit.”

Demetrius Jackson – Guard – Junior
On the overall performance of the team…
“It was all right. We could’ve been cleaner, but I think the most important thing is the W. We did a lot of great things tonight against a great team. To go out and play the way we did and continue to get better and play against a great team was great for us going forward.”

On the defensive showing by the Irish…
“I think our defense was pretty good. They were a great team and run a great offense. I think when we’re locked in on defense that allows us to be locked in on offense too.”

On the starters coming together and finding a rhythm…
“We’re really comfortable when all five of us are attacking. Steve got going early attacking, and Bonzie was on the glass early and that allowed him to have a good game. V.J. was lighting it up. When we can all be aggressive and all stay together and be a good example for that next group that comes in, we can keep our energy up and play at a great level.”

V.J. Beachem – Forward – Junior
On what he liked about the team’s performance…
“We found our offensive rhythm pretty much from the five minute mark in the first half through the rest of the game. We really were flowing offensively, and we can clean up some things defensively. They definitely knocked down some tough shots, so they’re a great team. Offensively finding our rhythm was great for us tonight.”

On what the team can improve on…
“Defensively I think we lacked communication sometimes; on switches, we gave up some open shots. Those are small things that we can fix by talking more on defense. I think we did a really good job on the glass, and that’s something that we emphasize.”

On the efficiency of the offense…
“I think we had great movement. Once we got into Z [Zach Auguste], we were moving well off of him. He was making great decisions. I think once he slowed down, it made it easier for us too. Once we got into the second half, we used our ball screen offense with Demetrius making great decisions out there. It’s very tough for a team to stop that.”

Milwaukee Head Coach Rob Jeter

On the game…
“When Notre Dame decides to turn it up and play at the level that they’re capable of playing at, they’re very difficult to handle. It all starts with (Demetrius) Jackson. The way he finishes above the rim for his size, his strength, with the new rules it’s going to be very difficult for teams to handle him. I am really pleased with our team and how we battled back. We were down by 19, close to 20, and we cut the lead below single digits. We got back to playing our style of basketball, how we like to play physical and inside. We were discouraged early, but we got away from that. We got it back and decided that we were just going to play our style. We’ll take away a lot of positives from this, although it hurts to lose a game. Man, Notre Dame, when they turned it up, they were pretty good.”

On going five minutes without scoring in the first half…
“We got a little discouraged at that point. We didn’t touch the post. We settled for some jump shots. We had our big guy in foul trouble so we couldn’t match. At the end of the shot clock, when Jackson decided to make a go at it, it was very difficult for us to take it.”

On the performance that stands out…
“The assists. The rebounding. When I look at the stats sheet the only thing I see is that they had one more guy that scored over 20 or over 10. Our players, I was really pleased with Akeem Springs. I was really pleased with Austin Arians’ pace. He did a nice job. And Matt Tiby got back to playing like himself. Those three, in the second half, really made the biggest difference for us.”

Milwaukee Player Quotes

Akeem Springs – Guard – Jr.
On the game…
“I was proud of my team, we fought. We had a good lead and then we got hit. When you’re playing the 17th ranked team you know they’re going to make a good run, but we battled back. I’m proud of our team. We had a couple of mistakes, and you have to be perfect against a team like Notre Dame. I think if we cut out some of the mistakes we get the chance to go to the buzzer and make it a closer game.”

On moving forward…
“Our coaching staff is doing a really good job of training us. We just came from a tournament where we played three games in three days. To come here from there with one day of rest, they’re preparing us for March. This game was a really good test for us to see where we are and what we need to work on. It was a good experience, I’m thankful to our coaching staff for putting us in this position.”