March 3, 2010

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Notre Dame Men’s Basketball
Notre Dame vs. Connecticut
March 3, 2010
Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center | Notre Dame, Ind.

Notre Dame Player Quotes

Tory Jackson | Senior | Guard

On whether this was his best game…
“It could have been. I have never seen a half like that with the way we played as a team. It was huge. You play forty minutes like that and knock down big shots, and I am just thankful.”

On what changed in the second half…
“Nothing really. Did you see the scores? 17-20 at the half. It was more emotional and I did not want to go out that way. My teammates really, really helped me. Carlton (Scott) had fourteen huge rebounds. Ben (Hasbrough) did not but he knocked down big free throws. (Tim) Abromaitis didn’t score like he usually scores, but he did other things. We defended well, and I think we did a great job.”

On a mental turning point during the game…
“It was definitely at half-time. The score was 17-20 (Connecticut winning). I knew we were in a great position. It’s crazy; you’d never think that. To hold a team like that to 20 points with maybe two or three transition buckets is great for us. I knew our tempo would take hold.”

On offensive issues during the first half…
“We had trouble knocking down shots. We were going super fast. Once we slowed down and ran the offense like we have been lately, we got open lanes and their big bodies started to wear down.”

Ben Hansbrough | Senior | Guard

On defeating Connecticut…
“It’s great for us. We’re going on a great run at the end of the year. We’ll just keep on playing like we have been. We still have Marquette (left on the schedule). We’re going to cherish this win for a little bit and then focus on Marquette.”

On Notre Dame’s defensive performance…
“When’s the last time we had 58 points? I’d like to know that. Tory (Jackson) stepped up and played great. Tim (Abromaitis) and I didn’t have the best shooting nights, but we won in a different way. That’s one thing that we’ve been trying to do. We’ve been trying to not focus as much on offense and win (games) on defense.”

On changes in the team’s performance without Luke Harangody…
“We spread the ball a little more. It’s a different style of play. Each possession, we make people guard us. We have to take our time more, because we don’t have an All-American that can score almost at-will.”

Tim Abromaitis | Junior | Forward

On the necessity of this game’s win…
“Yeah, definitely, we all knew this was a big game coming into it and I think we guarded the way we really needed to, to win the game. I think the long possessions and the way we were able to get the key stops down at the end made the difference tonight.”

The difference after half-time…
“Coach said our shots were getting poor, and we were missing some easy looks in the first half. That is why we came out right away and finally hit them with a bang, which put us ahead and we were able to carry that for the rest of the half. “

Carleton Scott | Junior | Forward

On the plan that allowed ND to out-rebound this team…
“We wanted to get everything off of the board, offense and defense, we just tried to haul in everything and get everything that came off of the backboard.”

On his personal improvement over the past three game…
“Our coaches are great. I have been working with Coach more on this, and getting extra shots in after practice and before practice. Our coaches helped me, and working with them, especially knowing that I am going to be more on the court now, has gotten me ready for those shots when they come up.”

Connecticut Head Coach Jim Calhoun

On how he felt the game went overall…
“First of all, congratulations to Notre Dame and the kind of job Mike Brey has been able to do without Luke Harangody. Mike has done a terrific job. They got us into a half-court game tonight, which we were fairly comfortable with early on, then we lost every fundamental known to mankind. I really do not know how to explain how we played, particularly in the second half. They played their game and were successful at it and we turned the ball over once again far too many times. We did not rebound offensively and went asleep a few times on defense. Fundamentally they were very good, fundamentally we were not very good, and thus they got their twentieth win. Notre Dame who partially had their backs to the wall, in my opinion, took themselves off the wall and we put ourselves squarely against a big wall. We will have to do something special to try to get to post season play.”

On how he thought his more experienced players played tonight…
“We needed a total team effort, quite frankly, we got a total team effort it just was not very good. I do not think anybody did not play hard. I think they became frustrated as Notre Dame kept grinding the shot clock down. We did not rebound or get second shots, and we got moved out of the way in the paint by people smaller than us. That is why I could not play the big guys tonight upfront, because quite frankly they were a detriment to us. Bottom line is we just did not do the job. For a team with its back to the wall like that, I am not used to games turning out that way. But give Mike (Brey) credit, I think sometimes given what he has done here at Notre Dame, I do not think he is given the type of credit he should. He has good kids and they play very hard. He has done a tremendous job. Most people could not afford to lose (Luke) Harangody, yet in some ways they are playing better basketball. When they get Harangody back they should be a terrific NCAA tournament team because I think the other kids have grown up in his absence. They had plenty of people who stepped up tonight. We did not had that situation and that is more than disappointing.”

On if he was surprised by the way his team played tonight…
“With this team, I can be very honest with you, I have not been surprised by anything. I have not been surprised by anything. Brilliance has not surprised me. I have seen some guys with a lot of talent. Mediocrity has not surprised me. The turnovers have shocked me by how loose we are with the basketball, given the fact that we just lost a game due to that reason to Louisville. I fully take responsibility that we were just as loose with the ball tonight as we were against Louisville.”

Connecticut Player quotes

Stanley Robinson – Senior – Forward

On the game overall…
“I wasn’t worried about scoring my points. I was worried about the win. Notre Dame got the shots they wanted. [Tim] Abromaitis did a great job; they just all did a great job.”

On Notre Dame running down the shot clock…
“It wasn’t frustrating. We were just ready to get back on offense and get our job done, but we couldn’t get it done tonight. They stayed in their offense and did what they had to do to get the job done.”

On going forward…
“Even though we lost again, we have a shot. We need to stay focused on the next game and win it. We need to go into the BIG EAST Tournament and win games there. We’re looking to win in; we just have to stay focused.”

On the poor play by the seniors…
“As of tonight, I don’t think everyone was on their A-game. We just came out flat-footed and didn’t play well together. We ran the offense, but it took us awhile to execute our plays. We just need to start up again in practice.”

On turning the ball over…
“In big games like this we do turn the ball over a lot, and we need to cut down on that.”

Kemba Walker – Sophomore – Guard

On Connecticut’s poor offensive performance…
“Unfortunately tonight some of the shots just didn’t drop like we wanted. They collapsed on us. I guess that was their game plan. It worked too.”

On coming out with low energy…
“They outplayed us. We came out low energy. Then we used up the energy we did have, and they came back. They made shots, had great execution, and just outworked us.”

On having to play defense for the entire shot clock…
“It’s pretty hard, but we had to do it. At times, we got some stops. The big issue tonight was turnovers, and they scored off many of the turnovers.”

On the team’s recent high number of turnovers in games…
“Sometimes, we just get a little careless with the basketball. A lot of the passes were careless; you just have to take care of the ball. It’s been an issue the entire season, but we keep doing it.”

On the team’s outlook for the rest of the season…
“We need to try our best, stay positive, and come into practice ready to work and improve.”

Gavin Edwards – Senior – Forward

On the cause of the team’s poor performance…
“I don’t even know to be honest. Sometimes we go out there to beat teams on the road, and other times we just go out there. It definitely bothers us because we know we have to win these games. It’s not like they came out and played so great and hit every shot. We just couldn’t play. We know we have to get these wins, but we still come out dead and without energy. Turnovers hurt us again. Rebounding did too. It was just a lack of effort. We were just going through everything half speed, and it’s easy for teams to play defense when we’re moving half speed.”

On playing defense for the entire shot clock…
“It’s definitely difficult because after 20-25 seconds you get lulled to sleep. That’s when they start to attack the most; that’s what’s most tough. It’s also not that hard to play against, but you know they’re going to do it every time. They’ll get the ball across half court and then you don’t have to play defense for ten seconds.”

On the team’s lack of energy…
“No matter how much Coach yells at us, there are games when we just don’t have the energy. Coach tries everything in the bag to try to get us to play hard, but we still come out with poor energy.”