Feb. 4, 2015

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Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey

Opening statement…
“I’m thrilled with how we bounced back. We talked about that for two days–bouncing back. We had two good days of practice. I thought, the first two minutes, that what we were doing offensively was off the charts, and we combined it with really solid defense to give us a big cushion that we eventually needed. I though we had great shots in the second half–we just didn’t make them. And they got going a little bit, and [Olivier] Hanlan is really talented–I was glad there wasn’t more time on the clock as he got into a rhythm. We tried a lot of different things against him. But that’s a great win for us. We were very focused and got off to a great start.”

On the team’s performance…
“I think it was our offensive efficiency. We were in a heck of rhythm. It was beautiful basketball with the way we were moving and scoring and different guys doing it. When you’re in that good of rhythm offensively, it does help your defense because it demoralizes the other team a little bit. It kind of messes with them on the offensive end.”

On the team poise…
“Yeah, I thought we were really poised with it. This is a group that has been able to stay calm. I think Pat [Connaughton] and Jerian [Grant] do a great job of setting the tone with that. Steve [Vasturia] is the ultimate cool customer. But any time there was any hint of trouble, we made a shot or hit a couple free throws. We made plays to hold them off.”

On Demetrius Jackson’s game tonight…
“Well I thought he was really good today. It was a workout chasing [Olivier] Hanlan around, and he did a great job. He’s taking a lot of pride in wanting to know throughout the game how many rebounds he has, which we’ve talked about. And then I look at the stat sheet and he gets 10 tonight. That’s a weapon we need. It’s clear that we’re not the best defensive rebounding team, but we have a guard that can go get the ball like that. That really helps us.”

On defensive improvement from Pitt…
“With our big guys, I thought Zach Auguste was fabulous tonight on getting out and showing on ball screens especially with [Olivier] Hanlan, and hanging around with him until we could get Demetrius back, and sometimes switching. That is where his quickness of foot really helped us. Steve Vasturia did a really good job on him for a while too. You know what, we had more energy defensively. We had more energy overall. I won’t take anything away from Pitt–they played really well. They beat us. Our energy level wasn’t at the greatest level after the week we had. But we were able to get Sunday off and get two good days of practice and get some reps in, and I thought it really showed tonight.”

On the game plan for February…
“On Monday, we came in and our whole theme was `February improvement for March success.’ This is a month where we need to get better. I need them to understand that we can still get better, because I really believe we can. So I had them list some things out, and they posted them in their lockers. Certainly number one was the defensive end of the floor, especially after Saturday. I thought we really digested that and wanted to do that. That’s going to be our theme–February improvement. There’s so much talk out there with Bracketology that everyone gets ahead of themselves. We’re just trying to stay in the moment right now.”

Notre Dame Player Quotes

Jerian Grant – Senior – Guard

On the team’s overall performance…
“We started off really well offensively and defensively, and then down the stretch one of their players got hot. It was good that we got a lead early, but we expect to be in tight games when we play ACC teams.”

On tonight’s game plan…
“We wanted to play defense better. We struggled defensively against Pitt, so our main focus was getting stops and their offense only had seven points for a while. Our offense is always going to keep going, so if we can focus on getting defensive stops I think it would go a long way.”

On the team’s second half performance…
“We missed some good looks, but defensively they switched it up a little bit and we got out of our rhythm. One of their players got really hot and kept them in the game but overall things went really well tonight.”

On letting up more points in the second half…
“I think we got a little out of our rhythm, forcing some shots instead of moving the ball like we usually do, but I like the way we were playing right now.”

Steve Vasturia – Sophomore – Guard

On playing at Duke this upcoming weekend…
“It’s going to be a great environment and great challenge for us. They’re a great team and we have to build on what we did tonight defensively. Especially on the defensive boards–I think we did a really good job on the glass tonight.”

On his performance in the second half…
“There were some opportunities when we were swinging the ball and I was able to get some shots. The way we play, everyone gets open looks and I was able to knock some down tonight.”

On letting up more points in the second half…
“They were able to knock down some shots that they weren’t able to make in the first half. That’s part of the game, they went on a little run but we weathered the storm and finished off strong. We felt in control and we’re always confident that we will be able to pull through.”

Zach Auguste – Junior – Forward

On the team’s composure down the stretch…
“Usually we just come together and talk it out–we agreed that we could not let this one slip away obviously, but at the same time we just needed to keep doing what we were doing in the first half, be a little more aggressive on defense, and we would be good.”

On his takeaways from the game…
“It was a great day for us to get out in the gym and play up and down–it was a great way for us to come back after that loss we had at Pitt. We just wanted to get out there and play our game, flip the script on BC and come out and blow them out a little bit, even though they came back, but other than that we just came out to play.”

On coming out ready to play in a “trap game”…
“I think we were just able to come out of the gate ready to play–something we have struggled with sometimes in the past. We definitely emphasized coming out of the gate strong in practice all week.”

On his eagerness to play at Duke…
“We have to continue to do what we did last time, which was come out and play strong, and I think we will be fine. I do not think any of us have had the chance to play there yet, even though we have all seen the environment there on TV, so we are definitely looking forward to it.”

Bonzie Colson – Freshman – Forward

On how the team is preparing to play at Duke next week…
“We really just need to keep grinding out possessions and start out like we did today, we feel like we have a good chance. If we stay together like we always do we should be fine.”

On his approach to guarding Jahlil Okafor…
“I am not really paying attention to his emotions or anything like that, I just go out there and do what I do to help us win the game, whether that means bumping him before he gets to the block or being more aggressive with him. Those are my keys to helping us win the game.”

On playing on the road in the ACC…
“There is nothing like this really–it is college basketball and playing these away games with the fans going wild, the adrenaline pumping, it just gets you excited to go out there and play with the team. As a team I feel like it motivates us to work harder and go out there and play.”

Boston College Head Coach Jim Christian

On their second half run to get back into the game…
“We couldn’t have started the game any worse. They’re an excellent basketball team; it really had a lot to do with them. This was one of those games where you have to take your one-on-one guarding assignment very personal because they’re so good at moving without the basketball. They put you in so many tough spots, so that if you let penetration happen they make you pay. So that’s what we came into the game trying to do, and we did an awful job of it in the first half, and they did a great job of taking advantage of it. Then we just battled back, we made some plays. We missed a ton of opportunities during that time, and we could have made it a little more interesting. It’s hard to spot a team of Notre Dame’s character that type of a lead. We had an incredible effort to try to get back into the game, but we can’t be happy with how we played.”

On their adjustments in the second half…
“We made shots. That’s what Olivier [Hanlan] does. He’s a patient guy, he’s an enforcer out there, and he tries to get everyone involved. He did in the first half too, and those guys just didn’t make plays. We had a good rhythm to our offense, and they missed some free throws and some shots they usually make.”

On his team’s effort level…
“It was a little disappointing in the beginning. I was really disappointed for 40 minutes at Clemson, because I don’t think we competed. We have to have everybody on our team come to play, and we had some key guys not play hard or well tonight. Overall, we had some guys play better, but it doesn’t mean anything unless we win the game.”

On Dennis Clifford’s performance…
“He’s not healthy at all. He gets tired within like two minutes. It’s good to see him be a little more aggressive offensively, and he had six defensive rebounds in the second half, but he made a lot of mistakes defensively in the first half which really hurt us.”

On his defensive approach…
“We just had to do a better job guarding the ball. I think if you don’t guard the ball, you get in big trouble with them. What makes them so good is the way they play after the initial play. They have a bunch of guys who understand what the next play is, they make the next play without hesitation, and they convert plays. They have a lot of weapons.”

On the similarities between Olivier Hanlan and Jerian Grant “They’re different. I mean, Jerian Grant has so many different proven players at this level than we have. They’re both phenomenal players, they’re both key to what their teams do, and they’re both going to be very good players in this game for a long time.”

Boston College Player Quotes

Aaron Brown – Graduate Student – Senior

On coming back in the second half…
“I think we need to have a different approach coming into the game; at half we were down by 16. If we had played [in the beginning] the way we played the last five minutes I think we would’ve been right where we needed to be at the end of the game. We got down early and that affected the play of some of the guys. Playing like we did in the last five minutes would have definitely helped us.”

On Notre Dame’s early run…
“You have to credit them. They’re a great basketball team but at the same time we messed up. We were not doing what we were supposed to do. With simple plays where it is a hard hedge or a block out, they got too many offensive rebounds. Hustle plays would have a made a difference early on.”

On what’s next…
“We have North Carolina at home so we just have to get back in the gym. We have to get our confidence back. Confidence is a big thing for our guys. We have to play them tough at home.”

On the run at the end of game…
“Olivier [Hanlan] went on a run of threes–he was hot. We have a play for him when he’s hot, and until they stopped it we kept running it. We know that defensively they are not one of the better teams, so we were just tying to make them switch and get Olivier the open shot.”