March 7, 2015

Box Score | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery

University of Notre Dame Men’s Basketball
Notre Dame vs. Clemson
March 7, 2015
Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center – Notre Dame, Ind.


Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey

Opening Statement…
“I don’t know if we could have scripted a senior day any better. I thought we really played well and I thought we started the second half really well to kind of give us distance. Defensively we were better in the second half. Offensively I thought we were really good the whole game. I’m really thrilled with how we’re playing offensively as we head to Greensboro (for the ACC Tournament). I think we’re at a really high level there. I was anxious today, not about if we could beat Clemson. I just wanted it to be a good day for our seniors, because, my gosh, they deserve it. So we couldn’t have scripted it any better with how those guys finished for us.”

On Steve Vasturia’s defense…
“[Jaron Blossomgame] was crushing us. He was really rolling. In hindsight we should have started Steve [Vasturia] on him and we debated that, but Steve to the rescue again. He’s just so reliable defensively, so solid. I thought he did a really good job.”

On heading into postseason play…
“I thought the second half of the Louisville game we were really moving and flowing and then this game. I think offensively I feel really good about where we’re at heading down there. We’re healthy, our frame of mind is good and we’re confident. We couldn’t being going into the postseason in a better mode so I’m thrilled where we’re at as we head to Greensboro.”

On Jerian Grant’s influence in tough conference games…
“Number 22 is the difference maker. We’ve won a lot of close games. We’ve stolen wins. When you have Jerian in crunch time and at end of game situations, that’s where I think we are all very confident. Last year, we couldn’t finish games. We were in a lot of close game situations, but we didn’t have the closer. Now, we’ve got the closer who can score it or make a play, and I think all the other guys are really confident when he has it in his hands. They get their hands ready, and they’re ready to attack.”

On his desire for Jerian Grant to win ACC Player of the Year…
“I think he’s very deserving. I don’t get overly emotional or anxious about it. You’ve got two polls: the coaches poll and the media poll. Most of the coaches I’ve listened to and talked to are Jerian Grant guys. It’s such a great story, too. I’d be disappointed if he didn’t get one of [the major conference awards], and I’m semi-confident he’s going to get one of those. He’s been amazing to watch.”

On what makes his team dangerous heading into the conference tournament…
“They believe it’s their time now in the postseason. They’ve certainly prepared themselves with how they’ve handled the regular season. They have every reason to believe. I don’t think I have to work on that. I don’t want to over-coach it as we head into the postseason. I want to let Jerian (Grant) and Pat (Connaughton) continue to set the tone for us.”


Notre Dame Player Quotes Pat Connaughton – Senior – Guard/Forward

On his final home game…
“It has just been a great experience. It’s obviously something you only have one time and to share it with Jerian [Grant] is something you couldn’t write a better script for, especially being your last game in the gym that you have lived in the last four years. It was great to play well and something I just wanted to help my team win. I could have made a few more shots but it is not something I am worried about. The most important thing we played well as a collective group heading into March.”

On determination heading into postseason play…
“We are very determined. To be honest, coach started small by telling us to focus on Italy and once that passed, focus on the ACC regular season and so on. I think this team as a group has always had their eyes set on the biggest of goals and obviously we had to take things one at a time and we really did. Now it is just as important to take things one game at a time. Our goals are very lofty, but if you focus one game at a time, one possession at a time, I think we have the ability to accomplish some things.”


Jerian Grant – Senior – Guard

On his final home game…
“This is what I wanted to happen. This was a dream. At first I wasn’t sure, but this is the best I could have imagined it and it has turned out the right way.”

On determination heading into postseason play…
“We are 100 percent focused on getting wins in the postseason. We know we can do it too. We are stressing to the team to play our game. We are a top-10 team in the country so if we play our game, we will be there in the end.”

On getting Zach Auguste involved early in the game…
“Once I saw him come out with his own post move I knew he was ready to play. Previous games, when he got in the post, I felt like he was looking to pass, but when he is aggressive like he was today, it gives us another weapon which makes us that much harder to stop.”

On Steve Vasturia’s defense…
“Steve takes his matchups personally. We he gets out there, he doesn’t like people scoring on him. He won’t necessarily say much, but he will lock you up and that is what we need and something we have on this team that is really important heading into March.”

On his emotions…
“Obviously early on I was thinking this is my last home game. I was thinking this was it for me, but to see the fans support and my family’s support it goes a long way and it helped me out.”


Steve Vasturia – Sophomore – Guard

On his success on the defensive end of the floor…
“I think I was just trying to be physical with them. I just tried to frustrate him a little bit. I think as a team we did a good job of help defense and rotating when necessary.”

On how far he has come this year…
“I think as the season has gone on I have gotten more confident in myself. It helps having teammates who are so talented and get you easy shots. I think each game we are getting better and just trying to work harder.”

On 26 wins thus far…
“It’s great. I think we have had a very good regular season. We worked hard and I think it’s paid off. This team wants a lot more than a good regular season. We want to go into the ACC Tournament and make some noise and see what we can do in March.”


Clemson Head Coach Brad Brownell

Opening statement…
“Congratulations to Notre Dame. They played great tonight. Their guys were sharing the basketball as they always do. For whatever reason I just didn’t feel our team was locked in defensively as we normally are. They pass the ball so well that they make you pay for every mistake you make. They were able to build a little bit of a lead and play very confidently and comfortably throughout the game. When you let a team like this be comfortable, especially offensively, you’re in for a long game. “

On what it was defensively that he didn’t like today…
“Well we gave up a bunch of layups. Our rotation behind on some ball screen defense was very poor and we go our heads turned around, which lead to some back cuts by them a few times. We just weren’t as locked in in terms of how competitive and disciplined we had to be. I think we enjoyed the fact that we aren’t a team that scores very well and yet we scored pretty well early in the game, and we were comfortable about scoring well early in the game. Instead of building on that to strengthen our defense we got comfortable and want to play a pickup game against Notre Dame. If we want to do that this is going to be the outcome because they are just too talented offensively. “

On Jaron Blossomgame scoring being affected by Steve Vasturia’s defense…
“I think that’s just the way basketball goes. I mean maybe they did a better job. We probably didn’t get him the ball as much. (Landry) Nnoko got going down their and was scoring down low. We came into the game knowing we wanted to go inside to both those kids, moving them up and down the lane, posting them and taking advantage of interior play. We don’t think Notre Dame is as big as some of the other teams we play in our league and we wanted to put them in difficult situations guarding the basket. With that you also have to make some 3s, and we don’t make enough 3s to help our team. Offensively we played reasonably well, not great in the second half, but reasonably well overall. “


Clemson Player Quotes

Gabe DeVoe – Freshman – Guard

On the game plan coming into the game…
“We had a really good game plan. In the first half we scored the ball well but just couldn’t get stops. We allowed them to make a lot of easy layups, that was the main thing.”

On losing momentum early…
“It was more our fault. We kept getting lost in transition and couldn’t get stops. They weren’t knocking down shots, just a lot of easy layups.”

On Jerian Grant and Pat Connaughton
“We know Jerian Grant is a great passer, so we wanted to make it hard for him to pass. With Connaughton, we wanted to limit his three-point opportunities.”

On the team’s performance…
“It was a tough performance. We have to bounce back, learn from it, and get ready for the (ACC) tournament. “