Nov. 29, 2015

Recap | Box Score | Notes

AdvoCare Invitational 2015 Sunday, November 29

Game 12: Alabama 74, Notre Dame 73

Alabama head coach Avery Johnson

“Unbelievable victory for us, playing against a terrific Notre Dame team, well coached. I’m proud of our guys. They fought through to the very end. We put together, basically, a complete game, and if this was football, not only would the entire team get a game ball, but ââ’¬¦ Retin Obasohan, he was unbelievable. Game-winning shot, we drew up the play for him, and he came through for us. Michael Kessens, Shannon Hale, Arthur Edwards got us off to a great start. Our guys just persevered and just as much as I was proud of them when we lost to Xavier, I’m just as proud of them tonight.”

On the AdvoCare Invitational

“First class all the way Hotel. Facilities. All of the staff that’s behind the scenes that do a heck of a job. All the little things, all the details. And I would’ve said that if we lost. I’m looking forward to our next opportunity to participate in this tournament. It was good for our families, good binding for us. It was just great.”

G Retin Obasahan, on the game-winning shot

“It’s actually pretty funny. I think Coach Johnson has a crystal ball or something like that, because every time he draws up a play, it’s amazing how he can predict where everybody’s going to be. So I’ve got to give all credit to Coach Johnson and his staff, my teammates for being able to execute the play and get me the ball in the situation where I could make the play that was available. It’s just crazy how Coach Johnson just always makes it happen.”

Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey

“Growing pains. We did a lot of good things, I think, against a good team. I’m disappointed we couldn’t get a stop to win the game, and that’s an area where we’re going to have to be better or we’re going to have many disappointments like this. It’s interesting because we tried to go man on Thursday night to try to get a stop and we fouled, and we went zone, and zone helped us a little bit to get the lead from about the eight- or six-minute mark. I said, ‘I’m going to see if we can get a stop in zone, because we work on it in practice. But we haven’t been able to. I thought our free throws hurt us again, too.”

“I want to remember coming out of here some guys got more confident here. I think I learned a lot about our team. I understand the big picture, and we’ve got a lot to work on, and we’re going to have time to work on it.”

On Zach Auguste and moving forward

“I thought he gave us such a great second half, to put us in position. We’ve just got to teach. You’re really in teaching mode with this group, and I think we’re going to be for a long, long time. Maybe we can really develop off the radar.”

On the AdvoCare Invitational

“It’s a great event. We love this place. We only won one game down here, but it’s such a classy event. Anytime you do anything associated with Disney it’s first class, and it was here. It’s something we’ll come back to; this was our second visit. In a couple years, we’d love to come back if they invite us.”