Nov. 19, 2014

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Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey Quotes

Opening statement
“I just the love the fact that we got off to a really good start. We were really ready to play and tonight allowed us to play some guys off the bench longer minutes and hopefully get them even more confident. We talked about three games here to get some momentum before we head to Connecticut for a big challenge (vs. Massachusetts and Providence).”

On what the team has to do better this season than last season…
“Well, guard. I think this is so great for us this weekend because it’s going to be a really hard challenge for us. Can we defend away from here? We’ve done it in the friendly confines of Purcell, but can we do it away from here? Can we do it if our offense isn’t going well even on the road? We’re going to be really playing road games. Two New England teams are going to have, I expect, good crowds. Can we stay in character offensively? Can we handle pressure? Both games, teams press us – can we defensive rebound? Both games, obviously one is a Big East team – the other one is Big East-like. They’re not really shooting a lot, but they are driving at your lane and chasing down missed shots. So I think it’s a great test for our toughness in the paint.”

On gaining confidence on the road…
“I think this team, this unit is so separate from last year now. They’ve had so many experiences together. And, you know what, 22 (Jerian Grant) makes you pretty confident. He really does make you pretty confident away from your building and always has. And I would add Pat (Connaughton) to that. So I told them, `We need something really hard, and this is going to be really hard this weekend.’ So, great test for us, but can we guard, can we rebound, can we be efficient offensively and score that thing – away from our building? All those things, I think, are factors for us to be successful this weekend.”

On playing 120 minutes of quality basketball the past two games…
“I would say a lot of that is this group and the leadership. I give a lot to that and Pat and Jerian and Burg (Austin Burgett) setting the tone, and even Demetrius (Jackson). I think that’s something that they’ve talked about amongst themselves. And what has been nice is you bring guys off the bench, and you’re able to stay moving and engaged and there’s not a drop-off. And again, now you’ve got to do it away from your building. I’m interested to see guys coming off the bench on the road. I think it was a big night for V.J. Beachem tonight, obviously, and he’s been practicing that way. For him to get confident, he’s such a key guy for us. So he goes up there with a very good frame of mind. I feel very good about Martin Geben. He knows his role. He plays it every game, doesn’t try to do anything he can’t do. And I thought it was important for Bonzie (Colson) tonight to have some success again. He had struggled a little bit, maybe didn’t have a great week of practice last week. But for him to have success in a game with the lights on, I think can help him as we head out of here.”

On V.J. Beachem’s role as a sixth man…
“We really started grooming him in that with the Italy tour. He was the first guy coming off the bench. And the best team we played over there, in Pesaro, he kind of won the game for us. He came off the bench. It was very even early, and he made a couple threes, blocked a shot, just kind of like how he’s playing now. So you felt, `That’s a great lift.’ We want him shooting the ball with confidence. It’s nice when you’re playing with a bunch of guys who can really find you and we’ve got some drive-and-dish guys who can get it to you. But I love that he’s taking shots and he’s even taking some semi-bad shots because he can shoot over the top of you with his length. Love to get him rebounding more, squeezing that ball when it comes off because we can use that length on the backboard this weekend.”


Notre Dame Player Quotes

Pat Connaughton – Senior – Guard

On the team’s performance…
“I was very happy with our performance, especially coming off Navy’s near-victory against Michigan State. They played Michigan State really tough and we’re going to play Michigan State later in the season. We knew they were amped up to come out and play against us, and we needed to bring the same level of intensity. We may not have been flowing on offense in the first half, but we were able to hang our hat on the defense, and to be honest with you, that is a good thing. To have that happen early in the season when we have been focusing on defense all summer and in the off-season, to be able to rely on the defense in the first half when our offense is not clicking is really key for us.”

On which teammates excite him…
“Every single of one of them. Our whole locker room is very competitive and something that we may not have had in past years is that competitiveness throughout the entire bench. In the past, we have had years where we only played six or seven guys only. This year we have guys battling for minutes who are nine and ten deep. That’s huge. It makes each day of practice very competitive and keeps the intensity high in each game.”

Jerian Grant – Senior – Guard

On V.J. Beachem’s game…
“We’re going to need him. He’s the sixth man off the bench. He’s a guy that can score, obviously. He can rebound. He’s 6-8. He’s athletic and we can use his length, so him being confident is going to help us a lot throughout the season.”

On V.J. Beachem’s development…
“I think what has changed is his confidence and aggressiveness. He isn’t turning down any shots and that is what we want from him. The coaches have preached to him that he needs to be aggressive and when he gets a look to take it. He’s one of the best shooters on the team. I know one game last year, he hit a big three, so he has it in him and we’re going to need it.”

On team execution during the game…
“It was great. We got into a good rhythm. We got some guys in there that we’re going to need in Connecticut and for the rest of the season, Martin and V.J. off the bench in particular.”

Martinas Geben – Freshman – Forward

On how he can improve…
“I think that for me and the team to get better, my offensive game needs to be more consistent. Rebounding could use some improvement, but, overall, you can always get better as a player in every category.”

On how he got into a flow offensively…
“M role is simple. Rebound, defend, screen, and whenever I’m screening well, either the guy is getting opportunities or they’re doubling my guy so I’m getting free passes and free layups underneath the basket. It’s all the same stuff we have been working on in practice.”

On the team’s preparation…
“We try not to downplay anybody. We try just to ramp it up from the beginning of the game. We’re not really looking at our opponent. We’re looking at us and how we are playing. I think we are preparing really well. We have been competing at a high level and that is going to help us this weekend obviously against better teams.”

On Zach Auguste
“He’s like a role model. I try to back him up and come in the game and not be a drop-off for the team and do all the things that he does.”

Zach Auguste – Junior – Forward

On mindset entering matchup against Massachusetts…
“I’m just ready to go in there and play against a high level of competition. I’m really confident going into this game. I have great teammates and they always find ways to get me the ball.”

On the importance of jumping out to an early lead…
“I think we keep reminding ourselves and emphasizing that we want to come out of the gate with the pedal to the floor. Everybody is hungry and we’re out there determined as a team.”

On playing away from Purcell Pavilion…
“We need to stay together and communicate, especially in loud atmospheres. We’ve had practice with the speakers on and crowd noise playing in the background. It’s all about communication and playing together.”

V.J. Beachem – Sophomore – Forward

On his shooting performance…
“It felt great, especially when the guys were finding me. I was just trying to step up and take my time to knock down shots.”

On his role as the sixth man for the team…
“I’ve fully embraced it. I’m just trying to come off the bench with great energy every night and try to add something new to the team. I’ve been watching the flow of the game, especially what the other team is doing defensively. I’m just trying to come in and make an impact, either offensively or defensively.”

On team’s improvements from last season…
“I think defensively, we’ve really improved a lot. When you can get a lot of easy points in transition, the offense in the half court is much easier.”


Coppin State Head Coach Michael Grant Quotes

On the way the game played out…
“I thought the ballgame started off slow for us. Notre Dame really did a good job of knocking down their open shots, and we just had a slow start with making shots and defending. This has been a tough road trip for us, with playing at Oregon, Illinois, and now Notre Dame and then Denver coming up. I’ll just be glad to get off the road and to be able to play on our level. We were just out-manned tonight. Size-wise they are big. They’re a very balanced team. They really did a good job of taking care of the basketball and knocking down their open shots. They have a lot of good shooters. It’s very tough to win basketball games when you go 1-of-18 from three in the first half. It knocks down our confidence a little bit, but I thought that the second half was probably our best half that we’ve played in six halves in these three games, so that was encouraging. Hopefully we can continue to build on that and get better, but Notre Dame is going to be a very, very good team if they continue to shoot the ball the way that they’ve been shooting.”

On getting players to buy in defensively…
“That’s been one of my biggest things right now. I think that since we’ve been on this road trip, we haven’t had a whole lot of shots to teach them how to play defense and teaching them how to play it the right way. I’ve only been here six months now, so we have to get a lot of things in place that haven’t been in place. We have to change the culture, we have to change the way that we play and the only way that we do that is by sitting guys down and having a lot of teaching moments. We’ve had a lot of teaching moments in our timeouts, we’ve had a lot of teaching moments in our practices and we had a lot of teaching moments after the game. I’m trying to play a lot of people right now and trying to figure out what combination is going to be best for us. We just really have to keep working at it.”

On the message at halftime…
“We have to keep playing. It was encouraging just to be able to tell these guys that we had a lot of good open looks. We went 1-of-18 from three and we didn’t shoot the ball well, so we have to continue to move it, and when that ball leaves your hand you have to feel good that you’re going to make the shot. We have to get these guys confident, and it has been tough. Playing three high major teams in a row at our level is very tough. I don’t even think that across the country anybody has played three high major teams in a row this early, so it’s been tough right now.”


Coppin State Player Quotes

Arnold Fripp – Senior – Forward

On his performance…
“I think I played well. I should have hit more shots that were wide open, and I should have got more rebounds for my team, but overall I think I played ok. There’s always room for improvement, though.”

On Notre Dame’s play…
“Notre Dame is really good. I think they’re really balanced and they’re really disciplined. They play their roles and they don’t go outside of what they do.”

On the positives the team can take from the game…
“I think the second half we played better as a team. We calmed down, we got more stops and rebounds and we played the game how we wanted to play. The first half, we got out to a slow start and I think they got out to a 20-point lead, which hurt us in the beginning.”

On the quick second half start…
“Coach told us to pick it up defensively, get stops, relax and go out and play.”