Feb. 1, 2014

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Notre Dame Men’s Basketball
Notre Dame vs. Boston College
February 1, 2014
Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center – Notre Dame, Ind.

Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey

Opening statement…
“I’m exhausted. It’s a heck of a win for us, man. Much needed. We had a little bit of everything over the last two hours in there. And when you’re down nine or 10, whatever it was, early in the second half, I think you’re at a crossroads a little bit. But I thought what helped us offensively was we went smaller like we did in the Duke game and just started ball screening for Eric [Atkins] and let him make plays for us. We had to score some to win the game. We defended enough to get out of there, had some key stops, but Eric just taking over like we’ve seen him do before with ball screening stuff and guys spread out. Big night for V.J. Beachem. We’ve been waiting on this. It was only a matter of time, only a matter of time for V.J. I think he’s kind of joined the club now, but huge minutes for him and he made big shots for us.”

On Eric Atkins’ game-winning play…
“Just make a play. I didn’t even say a word to him – he talked it out. We were having our big flat ball screen. We had our bigs out just to go small, just so we could open the floor up a little bit more, maybe for a drive. I think Pat was maybe up there trying to ball screen for him, but it was just do it. Go ahead and make a play. He said to me when we were doing the alma mater, he was next to me and said, `Man, I owed you that one after missing the free throw.’ But happy for him because he has really had to lead under tough situations and his style of play has changed a lot since losing his backcourt mate and I was happy that he could deliver for us, and he certainly did.”

On V.J. Beachem’s game…
“It was just a matter of time. The kid’s a heck of a player, and he’s really shot it well in practice, and he’s practiced well. He’s had some good games for us, but in league play – and he hasn’t gotten great opportunities – but I think he’s played a little bit nervous – too nervous. And I talked to him about that last week. I said, `If you miss a shot, I’m not taking you out. Just play. You’re going to play, we need you.’ So I’m very excited. Here it is February 1st and we win a game we really needed, and we maybe have another guy trending up. And so we’re trying to figure out who we are for the ACC tournament, and now we have three freshmen getting more confident, and they’re going to get better. They’re all part of it. That’s exciting for me right now as we go through the month of February.”

Notre Dame Player Quotes

Zach Auguste – Sophomore – Forward

On challenge of ending a significant losing streak…
“It’s tough. We’ve been struggling as a collective unit and working on that in practice the past couple days. We focused on coming together as one team. That was our motto, together, and we played like that today.”

On the difficulty of working hard while not achieving recent success…
“If you work hard and nothing shows, you’ve just got to keep fighting through it. That’s what we did today.”

On leading the team to an offensive rebounding advantage…
“I just wanted to be aggressive and to help the team. We talked about it a lot that we need to rebound more, since we haven’t been rebounding well as a unit the past couple games. I just tried to help the team as much as I could.”

Pat Connaughton – Junior – Guard/Forward

On difficulty of breaking losing streak…
“A great saying that Coach [Brey] said to us this week was, `Those that work hard make their own luck.’ We finally worked hard enough to push through some bad breaks, and it was fitting to get that win when we’ve had so many games like that this season.”

On missing multiple chances to take the lead in the second half…
“Luckily, we’ve had practice at that throughout the year, where we haven’t been able to take the lead. We know better than any team that you’ve just got to keep playing and keep going as hard as you can. We were able to pull away with it in overtime.”

On physical challenge of playing all 45 minutes…
“It’s all about taking care of your body, and that’s something that you’ve got to do on your own. Playing Division I college sports, it’s a job that you’ve got to be focused on day in and day out. It’s just a matter of taking care of my body, getting the rest I need, and I’ll be out here ready to play every game. “

Head Coach Steve Donahue Quotes

On his team’s effort …
“I thought we played really good basketball, but Notre Dame played a great game. There was big shot after big shot by both teams, and we competed, but Notre Dame played really well and there is nothing we can do about that, but I am really proud of the way we played. And I think we are becoming excellent and we are playing very good basketball–not enough to win at times, but it is close. The effort is terrific, the toughness and the poise are really good. I give a lot of credit to Notre Dame–they played very well, especially to Patrick [Connaughton] and Eric [Atkins], they made big shots when they needed them.”

On the game as a building experience…
“This is our eighth game in this league, and I just think we played two bad halves, the first half against Georgia Tech and the first half against Clemson, we played very badly and it cost us. Besides that we’ve played very well, enough to in, but not yet. It’s close. I think the guys understand that. We did a great job getting to the offensive glass. For the most part we played very well, and I just think we need to take one more little step and we will start winning these games. We were right there.”

On crucial mistakes…
“We got a couple stops and all the buckets were second shots, that’s probably where the game was lost. It’s not a problem if you continue to play well, but we struggled.”

On the coaches’ pins…
“The coaches are wearing pins for autism awareness. A lot of us have been affected, I have a brother who is autistic, and I think it is great that we are trying to make awareness of this disorder, we need funding for our research.

Boston College Player Quotes

Alex Dragicevich – Junior – Guard

On losing a tight game…
“It’s tough because you’re up four with a minute left and you’re playing them really tough and were up the whole game. Getting a win on the road is tough.”

On the end of regulation…
“The ending was a little odd. But we’re playing better and this is something to capitalize on. We just have to stick to this plan here. We have our identity now. We’re swinging the ball more and making tough plays and just being a tough team. That’s important to us. Tough teams win in this league, and we’re a team that can shoot it and we share the ball and we’re tough on the defensive end. That’s what we’re aiming for. “

On returning to Notre Dame for the first time since he transferred…
“I don’t think it was circled on my calendar, but it was nice to see my family here. It was not too much of an emotional experience for me.”

Ryan Anderson – Junior – Forward

On giving up the lead…
“It’s been a rollercoaster ride for us this year. Today was just another ride on the rollercoaster. There were a lot of ups and downs going on in the game, but we really fought hard today and made some positive steps in the right direction, especially on the defensive end. I think we can continue to build, and the great thing about this conference is that we play again soon, so we are just going to keep building on it.”

Establishing a plan for success…
“We’ve been preaching for the last couple of weeks that it’s attitude and effort. As long as we’re coming out here and playing the BC way, acting like we’re down by 15 from the tipoff and playing that hard, we’re going to be in good shape.”

On Notre Dame’s last possession in overtime…
“That’s the first thing I said when I walked into the locker room. That’s a senior play. The kid is a senior and has been here a long time and that’s just a shot that seems to go in for guys who put in the work, and he’s a hard worker. It just sucks to be on the short end of that.”