Dec. 22, 2009

Recap | Box Score | Notes

Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey

On the effort tonight…
“Defensively we held them to 24 percent shooting in the first half. We also were able to get people involved early. Our offensive efficiency tonight was off the charts. It was also a big win for us tonight because when we come back the real season (BIG EAST) starts.”

On Tory Jackson’s and Luke Harangody’s milestones tonight…
Luke Harangody tonight ties the record for most doubles-doubles and Tory Jackson joins the 1,000-point club. Anytime a guy gets 1,000 points in a career is great. They are the voices and engines on this basketball team.”

On Tory Jackson becoming the fourth player with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds…
“He is in amazing territory and he should also get the all-time games played record, breaking Matt Carroll’s mark. He is the guy that makes us go and he is one of our leaders. I told them after tonight you have only 19 guaranteed games left in your career. Eighteen left in the regular season and one in the tournament.”

On Ben Hansbrough’s health tonight…
“I’m shocked he played tonight. When he bobbled the ball out of bounds I thought he’s too sick let’s get him out. We put him back in and he didn’t miss a shot for about six minutes.”

On the three freshmen against Bucknell…
“They all played some minutes tonight, which I thought was great. They haven’t been able to play much, but they play hard and go hard. They did a very good in practice. It’s frustrating when they only get practice time and don’t get to play in a game, but that’s how our rotation is right now.”

On his 199th victory at Notre Dame and on the crowd…
“That’s just being old. Our crowd was great tonight even with our student’s home for the holidays.”

Notre Dame Player Quotes

Luke Harangody, Senior, Forward

On playing a great game offensively as a team…
“I think it was just one of those nights when everything was clicking. Whether it was Tory [Jackson], [Tim] Abromaitis, or Ben Hansbrough in the first half, it just seemed easy.”

On Tory Jackson joining the 1,000-point club…
“It’s a huge honor. I mean, you think about all the guys who have gotten there before him. It’s kind of a big deal too because he’s a point guard. And he’s one of the only players to get 1000 points and 500 assists. That’s a great honor and something nice for him going into Christmas break.”

Tory Jackson, Senior, Guard

On heading into the BIG EAST season…
“We’re really a team in progress. We’re going to get better. The BIG EAST is a tough conference, and we’ll take our bumps and bruises, but I think we’ve got a lot of guys that are going to fight. I think we’ll be good as long as we stick together and work on the defensive end.”

Ben Hansbrough, Senior, Guard

On coming back to play the team’s first conference game against Providence…
“We need to come back, stay focused, and be ready to play. Coach (Brey) has been talking about taking strides and then another stride, so hopefully over break we can continue to take another stride.”

On playing his first conference game in two years next week…
“I’m ready to play. I don’t think there’s any rust in me. I’ve played 13 games and we’ve played some good teams. I’m ready to go.”

Bucknell Head Coach Dave Paulsen

On the game…
“I give a lot of credit to Notre Dame as they are an incredibly efficient offensive team. It was hard to decide on how to defend to them. You can decide to double down on (Luke) Harangody while hoping they don’t hit the outside shot. But in today’s case they shot the ball exceptionally well throughout the game. Particularly with them having 28 assists against their 37 baskets shows they move the ball very well. I felt like we had some pretty good looks early on especially in the first half but they didn’t fall. Then we became unglued and it was a train wreck after that.”