Dec. 1, 2011

Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery

Gonzaga Head Coach Mark Few

Thoughts about the game:

“I loved our approach tonight. I thought we played great defense and we really did a nice job being disruptive and never letting them get comfortable on offense because they are a dangerous team when they are comfortable. When they can get their feet set, they can really, really shoot the ball.”

“They are a team that makes a lot of 3-pointers and they had two three’s tonight. Our guys deserve a lot of credit.”

On Mike Hart and David Stockton:

“They are playing significant minutes and they are playing important minutes. That’s how much we believe in them.”

On Elias Harris collecting rebounds:

“That’s huge. If we can continue to get him to play with that kind of energy and show his athleticism, that is going to be a big key for us this year going forward. He has a tendency to kind of analyze things and think about things a lot, trying to be perfect. A lot of times he just needs to be an athlete, just fly around, and that’s when he is at his best.”

“I thought he was really good tonight. Scott Martin is a very good player for Notre Dame. It’s hard for a power forward to guard and Elias did a magnificent job on him.”

Looking ahead to Illinois:

“It’s going to be a real big test. It’s going to really test how we stay together. It’s going to test our poise and our toughness. It’s time we get tested like this but at the same time we got two days to get them ready for that kind of environment. It’s going to be a very difficult, noisy, loud (environment), much like coming to this place except with probably three times the people.”

“They have some nice athletes around the basket. They also have some real good guards who can really stretch you and shoot the ball.”

Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey

Thoughts about the game:

“They really defended us and we could never get comfortable. I was disappointed that we got flustered on the road and a lot of that was Gonzaga’s defense. For us to have 13 turnovers in the first half you are just digging out of a hole. Defensively we were pretty good, especially on their front line but their defense made us very uncomfortable and we hurried things. “

Thoughts on cutting into the lead second half:

“We talked about getting it to single digits but they made big shots and we would break down in concentration defensively and could never get four stops in a row. A lot of that is probably youth and that is something we have to keep working on. We have a long way to go to be good enough to win a game on the road against a team like this.”

On loss of Abromaitis:

“This is our team. I don’t want any of our guys saying `well we don’t have Abromaitis so we can’t do anything.’ This is our group and we already played without him for a while but we got a lot of things to work on. “

“I think our maturity level is still something that has to come. The great thing is that we get back to practice Friday and can get better before we go on the road again to play Maryland Sunday.”

Thoughts on Road Test:

“This is a good test for our resiliency. We are going to be in some tough things and are trying to figure out who we are. We got our butts handed to us tonight.”