Nov. 15, 2011

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2011 Progressive CBE Classic
Notre Dame vs. University of Detroit
November 14, 2011
Notre Dame Coach Quotes

Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey

On Notre Dame’s defensive play…
“We did it with defense. And I was so interested to see-because I knew this was going to be a tough challenge. It’s a great win for our group. I don’t know if I’ve been prouder of a group given who they are, trying to find themselves to beat a very good basketball team. We really had to defend and we had to get through tough stuff throughout the game when things didn’t look good. We really responded. I thought our crowd really helped up tonight and gave us some energy. But (this game was) certainly something to build on defensively.”

On battling back…
“It takes a lot of mental toughness. I didn’t know if we were mature enough to do that yet. That’s one of the things I’m really impressed with. Early in practice-the first week or two-if our offense wasn’t going well we could hang our head a little bit. But tonight, I thought that’s a heck of a thing to build on to defend when they [are up by so much]. We were laboring to score, but we kept going back and defending. In November, to see that tonight, I really think that’s something to build on. I’m very proud of our group.”

On Pat Connaughton’s play…
“Pat just-certainly you saw what he does on the backboard. He’s fearless. He’s been practicing that way. He’s been on our mind and in our rotation. First of all, the play that he almost made to end the half-that’s an unbelievable play. There aren’t a lot of guys who can make a play like that. He has some special qualities. He guarded tonight and he rebounded tonight. He gave us some toughness that we needed even though he’s a freshman.”

On Joey Brooks and Scott Martin
“Joey is playing so well. I couldn’t be more thrilled for a guy who has battled to find his niche in our program. He’s guarding (Ray) McCallum, he’s rebounding the ball, he’s screening, he’s being the rock out there and being the voice. I thought he and Scott Martin were such good voices out there. Scott Martin wasn’t scoring, but man was he anchoring us defensively. He’s just a great position defender out there. It’s just hard to take him out of the game, and then he hit a really big one for us when he had to.”

On the development of Jerian Grant
“Big shots. That’s something to grow. When he hit that one in front of our bench…when we recruited him I envisioned him doing that, but he did it tonight.”

Player Quotes

Eric Atkins – Sophomore – Guard

On overcoming a tough test…
“I think we did a great job responding to adversity in the first half. They came in very excited; they had a swagger about them. We had to overcome all that and play hard on defense. I think that was the biggest part of the game right there.

On the team’s rebounding effort…
“[How players respond to rebounding] is going to be key along the way. There has to be five people rebounding ever single time. Jack [Cooley] is a great player when he’s in there getting rebounds, but when he is out Scott Martin does a great job. Pat [Connaughton] also does a good job. It’s a group effort, especially when Jack [Cooley] goes out.”

On Joey Brooks play tonight…
“He was hitting three’s early and Joey [Brooks] is a way bigger body than me. I think he really helped slow them down. I think Joey [Brooks] did a great job playing defense on them.”

On gaining momentum…
“Pat Con (Connaughton) definitely sparked it by grabbing rebounds and defending. It definitely got everyone else juiced up. We started knocking down shots. Once we start knocking down shots and defending, I think we’ll be one of the best teams in the country.”

On Pat stepping up…
“I definitely knew someone was going to have to step up for us. We were defending really well. I knew someone was going to have to knock down a big shot. We were just waiting for it. “

On facing adversity…
“I was ready for it. I had been on the bench coming in and out. I knew I was going to get my opportunity eventually and I was ready for it. It doesn’t really affect my shooting. Coach Brey keeps us focused. We know to stay ready.”

On working on defense…
“We lost a lot of rebounding from the players who graduated. We’re definitely going to need a lot of rebounding. Jack’s going to get double figures every game. Now we have Pat who’s also definitely going to help us.”

Jack Cooley – Junior – Forward

On Patrick Connaughton’s play…
“At one point, he decided that he was going to take over. I haven’t seen anyone play like that in a long time, especially from a freshman. We saw signs right from the start. He’s a great player.”

Joey Brooks o Junior o Guard

On the team’s defensive effort…
“My teammates did a really good job with help defense. A couple of times I got beat, but there were guys there to take charges or to “D” guys up. Overall, it was a great defensive effort.”

On what the player’s learned from being down by so much in the second half…
“I feel like our confidence came up. I was really proud of Pat [Connaughton]. He did a great job giving us energy plays, sneaking around and getting the easy buckets and rebounding. I’m really proud of him. We just want to keep taking baby steps and keep getting better and better.”

On his own confidence…
“There will be games likes this, and there will be games where I won’t play so well. The key will be in remaining consistent in your effort. Sometimes the shots won’t fall and sometimes you won’t get the calls. If you’re consistently giving effort, there is really nothing else everyone can ask of you. Every time I’m on the court, I try to do everything I can to help my team win. Tonight, everyone did a great job of helping each other out.”

On guarding Ray McCallum…
“Coach told me at the beginning of the season that I wanted every team’s best player. I knew coming in that Ray [McCallum] was a great guard, and that’s a good challenge for me. I know that there are going to be plenty of BIG EAST guards that will come in here and try to do everything he did. I really relied on sliding my feet to guard him. When he got a shot off, I wanted to be there. I didn’t want him to get his feet set to shoot. I just wanted to have a body on him at all times.”

Pat Connaughton – Freshman – Guard

On not being able to contribute in the first half…
“The first half I came in and I was a little too jacked up. I got two fouls and that really prevented me from going in for the rest of the first half.”

On the second half defense…
“It’s the reason why we won the game. Eric [Atkins] told me that they were 10-for-38 in the second half. That was all based off of our defensive intensity. That’s based on us knowing to win the game we have to rely on defense.”

On what was learned from the game…
“We learned that we have a lot of guys that can contribute and that we’re a good team.”

On not being rattled…
“I attribute it to my teammates, Eric (Atkins), Jack (Cooley), Jerian (Grant), Abro (Tim Abromaitis), Garrick (Sherman). They all keep me up and ready to play. They keep me on my game. “

On taking control of the game…
“It was really us starting defensively, which would spark our offense. For the most part, it was us playing our game and having every one play their role on the offensive end. “

On rebounding…
“We knew that if we kept them to one and done or as close to one and done as we could, we would win. These guys tell me to play my game and part of my game is rebounding. I tried to attack the glass and help out any way I could. “

Detroit Head Coach Ray McCallum

On being in control until the scoreless point in the second half…
“That’s something that happened to us last year. We had droughts where we had control of games, not that we had control (of this game) but were in good position. It was a combination of Notre Dame’s defense and our inability to get the shots that we wanted. When you take quick, bad shots, and have a stretch there where we had no break from the three, your opponent will eventually capitalize, and that happened to be extended out. It was game (that was) won (by Notre Dame, not given away by us); their bench was better than ours. Their bench came in and really contributed to close out the game.”

On Ray [McCallum’s] three three-pointers to start out the game…
“I think he was excited about opening up here tonight; it was on the road, and he knows the coaching staff having been recruited here. He’s back in Indiana where we spend a lot of time, so he was excited and ready to play. That got us off to a good start.”

On keys to the game…
“We thought our quickness and athletic ability could have been a factor. I thought they were really able to control the tempo, where we wanted to get up and down [the court]. On the other hand, we held them to only 60 points, and they’re a high scoring team, especially in this building. So, I’ve got to be pleased with our defense. Our inability to make shots (hurt us). We missed a lot of layups. We were in position and missed a lot of easy baskets, but that’s what happens when you’re playing against a good team that is stronger than us.”

On the takeaway from this game moving forward…
“I think that going toe-to-toe with a Big East opponent, our defensive effort holding them under 60 points we have to be pleased with that. At one time I thought we had a good margin on the glass, and really went after the offensive boards. Those are things that I’m going to be pleased about. Things we have to get better at are having more balance to our offense. We had some guys that didn’t play well that have been playing well for us, so that took away from us tonight. But, you have to give Notre Dame credit.”

Detroit Player Quotes

Chase Simon – Senior – Guard

On Notre Dame’s second half defense…
“Their intensity really stepped up and they were able to contest a lot more of our shots. We didn’t get a lot of second chance points, and that really hurt us on our attack offensively.”

On what the team will take away from this game moving forward…
“I thought we had great effort despite not knocking down a lot shots, but we kept playing and had a chance to win. I thought the game could have gone either way.”

On Detroit’s defense and rebounding…
“We really wanted to get after Notre Dame and limit their second chance points. I think in the first half they only had three offensive rebounds, and we did a good job of eliminating those second chance opportunities. In the second half we had a few breakdowns and they were able to make a run.”

Ray McCallum – Sophomore – Guard

On Notre Dame’s defensive strategy against him…
“They got more up in me, and I still had some great looks from three, but we came up a little short. I wish I could have some of them back. But they did a good job on the defensive end, and they tried to get more physical against us. I wanted to start the game off with a good pace, and then really try to get my teammates involved. We had it going in the first half, and then most of our shots wouldn’t fall. I think at one point in the second half we might have been 0-for-8 from three. We had good looks, and we didn’t force shots, so we just have to go back to work and keep getting better.”

On Notre Dame switching between zone and man defenses…
“I thought they did a good job of switching up the defenses. I think sometimes it might have affected us, but once we got under control, we got the looks we wanted. I wish we would have gotten to the hole a bit more, finished better, and gotten to the free throw line more. It was a good test for us playing a talented Notre Dame team, and playing them will make us better this year.”

On building confidence for the remainder of the season…
“Just knowing that we came in here and held them under 60 points is really big for us. Coach (McCallum) really stresses defense, and we want to become a defensive stopping team. We just need to get better each and every day and build from this game.”