Nov. 16, 2014

Recap | Box Score | Notes | USA Today

Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey Quotes

Opening statement
“I’m really pleased with what we saw today. [Navy] is really tough to defend the way they run their plays and I’m really proud of our group defensively. To force 20 turnovers and really chase the [Navy] players around is a real workout. We weren’t in much of a rhythm on offense in the first half, but–and I’m hoping this is where we’ve grown and matured–it didn’t carry over to us defensively. That’s an area we really needed to grow in from last year, and showed some really good signs of that. You saw the explosiveness of this team offensively. We passed unselfishly and I think that we really got better in a 48-hour period.”

On the defensive performance…
“One of the things we talk about is “kills.” A “kill” consists of three stops in a row. Friday night we had seven against Binghamton, and today we had 10 kills. It has been something we’ve been focusing on since the beginning of the season when we knew we had to get better defensively, so we give them the updates on “kills” all the time and that was the stat they were most pleased about when we told them at the end of the game. We cover for each other, we moved our feet, and we got some over-played steals. It was also good to see how we were going to play when our point guard (Demetrius Jackson) got in foul trouble. We downshifted in the first half because we weren’t getting anything out of our low post, so we changed to [Austin] Burgett and started to get some momentum that way.”

[Downshifting] opened the floor up. Burgett has been so solid–he’s so easy to play with on both ends–and he’s the perfect guy when we downshift to be our biggest man. In that case we go five out and ball screen, looking for Demetrius [Jackson] or Jerian [Grant], and the floor was open for some rolls and some drives. In the second half, we played the same way with Martin [Geben] and Zach [Auguste], and that’s the way we should play sometimes.”

On the performance of the players…
“I was really happy to see [V.J.] Beacham score for us, because he needs to. Martin Geben is just solid as a rock. He’s a good defender, he’s easy to play with, he gets people open, he makes an impact on the game in his short time and he’s good to play back-and-forth with Zach [Auguste].”

“I think for Zach [Auguste] I love that he’s scoring for us. I think he’s still a work-in-progress in his post defense and I think that’s an area we’re going to be after him about. He’s come a long way and is very good at showing the ball screen and being athletic that way.”

“Demetrius (Jackson) has been really good. Today, he was a little loose with the ball. At the end of the game he came up to me and said, `I’ll be better with the ball.’ Also, he got in a little foul trouble, which I think is great because we had to do some things with our other perimeter guys because he wasn’t in his rhythm. But I like where the players are at mentally and we just have to keep them confident.”

On developing patience during play…
“You play defense on Navy, who’s almost burning. And then, you run down and take a quick shot, but then you’re going down on defense for another 25 seconds. I think our players understood that we needed to be more patient on offense. In the end of the first half, we slowed down the clock and were able to get some breathing room.”

“This was a game where you had to methodically build and you can’t let up defensively, because [Navy is] just too attention to detail and they’re going to hang around.”

On the difference from last year’s team…
“I hope we’ve got some maturity now. I think one of the points I’ve made early is that we’ve got some talented guys. We love to get into our rhythm offensively. But I think that at times when we weren’t doing well on offense, it affected our defensive flow. I thought we’ve made great progress in that area where we can rely on guarding even when we’re not doing well on the other end and I need to stay on that all year because that’s really important.”

“[Tonight] was an example of slowly imposing your will and getting into a rhythm during the second half. We need confidence, we must have trust in each other, we need to not panic, and we need to play possession by possession, and not give up on the defensive end. We’ll have our screws turned on us this weekend, and we will see how we react to pressure.”

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 his takeaways from the Michigan State-Navy game…
“We knew we couldn’t take them lightly at all. Michigan State is a good team and they played them tough, so we knew that we were going to have to bring a lot of energy and that’s what we did.”

On what has changed offensively since last year…
“We’re just moving the ball. Nobody cares about who is getting the points, who is getting the assists or who is getting the rebounds. We’re just all spreading it out and that is a fun way to play. We’re running a lot more, we’re getting the ball in the post and it is coming out so everyone is getting the chance to have the ball in their hands.”

Zach Auguste – Junior – Forward

On the team’s defensive performance…
“We played great. Coach emphasizes getting kills or three stops in a row. We just remind each other and communicate through that. I think our defense is great and I think our help side defense was particularly good.”

On converting turnovers into points…
“I think that it is something we haven’t seen here at Notre Dame in a long time. I think we are definitely way more athletic and faster, and it’s just fun. We want to get out and run and we want to score.”

V.J. Beachem – Sophomore – Forward

On how he has grown stronger since last year…
“I’m a lot stronger. It’s really been like a freshman fifteen for me. It has been great. I feel it in my game each and every day, and I feel like a completely different player than last year.

On where he has improved…
“I think I’ve improved in everything. I think being better with the ball and looking to drive more too instead of just taking an open jump shot has been key for me.”

Navy Head Coach Ed DeChellis Quotes

On the turn around after playing Michigan State…
“It was challenging. We lost our starting four-man in the game. So, that’s challenging for us when you have a senior you’re counting on playing and he hurt his knee in the game. So, now you’re playing freshmen again. Freshmen playing on the road for the first time at this level is just not a good thing for our freshmen to have to do. We didn’t get out of there until about 12:30 on Friday night. We practiced for an hour Saturday morning from 10:30 to 11:30. Race to the airport, fly to Midway, bus here, bus breaks down on the highway, sit there for an hour-and-a-half and get in at 10:30 last night. You know there are no excuses–don’t get me wrong–but it was a hard turn around. We’re a young team, and it was a hard turn around for the young team. They just don’t get it. We didn’t play a great first half. We’re down eight and we turn the ball over a bunch of times. I thought we would make a little run in the second half. They got excited, Notre Dame did. And the basket started getting a little wider for them and we had no defensive presence whatsoever.”

On the turnovers…
“We just couldn’t pass or catch the ball. We’ve got a bunch of young kids out there and we couldn’t pass or catch the ball. They pressure a little bit. They’re athletic, they’re long and they’re quick. I think Mike has a very, very good team. They’re a good team. I like the way they play. They’ve got a good patience to them. Our kids were just excited offensively. We turned the ball over foolishly and unforced. Everything we did right Friday we did wrong here today. We played like a very young team. We played a lot of freshmen. We played like a young basketball team tonight. It is what it is. We’ve got to learn and grow from it.”

On the pace of the first half…
“I thought it was a pretty good pace for us, even though we turned the ball over. We had seven turnovers in the first six minutes of the game. That’s not what we normally do. We try not to do that. We try to take care of the ball and get a good shot. I thought the pace was ok for us. Both teams were kind of not playing as well as they can play. Notre Dame, I knew they would start playing better. They missed open shots in the first half, which left us in it as well.”

Navy Player Quotes

Brandon Venturini – Senior – Guard

On Notre Dame compared to other opponents…
“I would say that they were fishing us out. We were not getting strong with the ball or talking, and we were not back-cutting enough. Everyone was being a little timid with the ball and throwing it away.”

On the short turnaround from Friday’s game against Michigan State…
“It is what it is. It is college basketball. We travel a lot and play a lot of quick games, so that is not an excuse for us. We came in and had a good shoot-around this morning. We played okay in the first half minus the turnovers. I do not really know what happened in the second half.”