Jan. 22, 2000
Notre Dame Head Coach Matt Doherty Quotes
On Notre Dame’s offensive performance:
I think after the Syracuse game we didn’t execute our zone offense very well, and I think we improved that today. We worked hard on that in practice and it showed with more open looks.
On Pittsburgh:
Pitt is a very good team. They scared the heck out of me on film, but we were able to play well against them today.
On Pittsburgh guard Jarrett Lockhart’s performance behind the arc:
He’s a capable three-point shooter and he just didn’t hit them today.
On the difference between the last two games and today:
It’s good to be home. I asked the players after the Syracuse loss, ‘Should I have yelled and screamed more?’ It was just a tough road trip. But we had two days of very physical practice and that showed up today.
Player Quotes
Sophomore forward Harold Swanagan:
On the game today:
“They are a good team and have had a lot of bad breaks lately. We came out with a lot of intensity and got the win.”
On rebounding from the Rutgers loss:
“It was tough to get in the flow at Rutgers because Troy (Murphy) wasn’t getting his shots, the whole team wasn’t getting their shots. Today everyone was hitting and doing well and the game flowed a lot better.”
Freshman forward Jere Macura:
On his adjustment to the college game:
“It has been a big adjustment. This is my first time in the United States for a long period of time. It is a totally different way of playing here than in Europe. The game is faster and more athletes are on the floor here, there is also a lot more shooting.”
On his play today vs. Pittsburgh:
“I felt very good off the bench and in warm-ups. I thought this was going to be my day. Defensively, it is hard to tell. I felt in the flow and provided a lot of energy.”
Pittsburgh Head Coach Ben Howland Quotes
On Notre Dame: “I have a lot of respect for Notre Dame. They are a great team and shot the ball extremely well.”
“They are bigger than us at every position on the floor.”
On the three pointers they allowed: “That’s 38 (three pointers allowed) in the last three games. With our lack of depth it is really hard for us to play man to man.”
On their BIG EAST opponents thus far: “All five BIG EAST teams we have played are NCAA teams. I’d be really surprised if they weren’t al invited to the tournament.”
On Troy Murphy: “Murphy was a big concern. We didn’t have a great matchup with him. Nobody does.”
On Notre Dame’s bench play: “Macura impressed me. He has great form as a shooter. Ingelsby we knew was a great shooter. We were late getting to him (on his shots).”
On the technical foul: “The technical foul on Kellii was a crucial point of the game. He lost his cool and it really hurt us. I wasn’t watching the play and didn’t see it.”
PITTSBURGH GUARD JARRETT LOCKHART
On Pittsburgh’s zone defense in recent games : “We’ve been playing a lot of zone so teams have been coming out and shooting the ball. The last few teams have just shot real well against us. We’ve been trying to use the zone to keep people fresh too, but unfortunately they’ve been shooting real well.”
On Pittsburgh’s winless Big East record: “We’re trying to stay positive in the locker room, trying to keep our heads up and just look forward to the next game on Wednesday. You’ve gotta just keep playing hard, even when the shots aren’t going down”
On Pitt’s strategy versus Troy Murphy: “He’s one of the top guys in the conference and we knew he was going to get his point. We wanted to try and keep the other guys from beating us but they all shot real well.”
PITTSBURGH FORWARD RICARDO GREER
On Pitt’s recent struggles against three pointers: “Every team has been having a field day with us lately. Today they were red hot and it killed us. It’s been a combination of us not being in position and them coming in real strong.”
On the zone versus Notre Dame: “We tried to go to the zone to prevent Troy Murphy from scoring. We knew Graves and Carroll could shoot but were more worried about Murphy. The others that shot well all year just shot well today too.”