Dec. 13, 2008

Recap | Box Score

Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey

On the play of Notre Dame…
“I told them at half time, we are going to have 20 BIG EAST games like this. I thought we defended really wisely in the second half. We did a better job packing it in. We scored 47 points and got the ball to the right people.”

“One of the reasons we won tonight was our sixth man. We needed the juice. We believed because our crowd had our backs in the second half.”

“We didn’t have a great offensive rhythm in the first half. When you give up 33 points and 3 threes, you did a good job defensively. Second shots hurt us a little bit; long rebounds because they shoot so many threes. We did better on that in the second half. In the second half, we also did a better job of getting the ball down low.”

On the play of Notre Dame junior Luke Harangody
“I thought he was fabulous in the second half. He did a good job of kicking it out to guys. He was our play maker in the second half on the low blocks.”

Notre Dame Player Quotes

Luke Harangody, Jr., F

On Notre Dame’s rebounding struggle…
“With a team like Boston that shoots a lot of three’s, it’s hard to get those long rebounds. It’s a different kind of game than we’re used to, with lots of loose balls. I’m excited, this is a big win for us. This is a great team, and to be in a situation like that and get free throws up at the end of the game, it’s great.” On Notre Dame’s slow start in the first half…
“We really couldn’t get into a rhythm out there, our offense really wasn’t going. They hit some big-time shots out there. We’re definitely going to see that in the BIG EAST season. I wanted to come out in the second half and set the tone out there. We knew this would be a battle. With the high rebounding margin at halftime in favor of Boston, it got me motivated to go out there and beat them.”

On the impact of the large crowd…
“The crowd meant a lot to us tonight. It’s finals week, and the students were all here. It gave us an extra boost out there.”

Tory Jackson, Jr., G

On taking a tough final exam versus playing Boston University again…
“I would rather take a tough final. You know what’s coming in a final, but this is college basketball. You never know what’s going to happen. After that kind of win, you breathe a sigh of relief.”

On Notre Dame’s expectations coming into the Boston University game…
“They’re a tough team. This is just one of those days where they had everything going, and we made some early mistakes. We kept it together. We stayed poised. They came out early hitting big shots. We knew it was going to be tough. We did a good job sticking to our game plan.”

Ryan Ayers, Sr., G

On the impact of Notre Dame’s win on the team’s mentality…
“Even though things didn’t go our way for most of the game, we stayed poised. Now we have a lot of confidence that even when we’re down, we can come back and win games.”

Kyle McAlarney, Sr., G

On Boston University’s strengths…
“They were shooting a lot of threes, so the long rebounds were important. They were a tough team to play against.”

On halftime adjustments…
“I told Luke (Harangody) in the second half, ‘That’s your paint, you control the paint.’ I told everybody, ‘We need to hustle, we need to box out we need to chase down loose balls.’ We only have two games left before the BIG EAST season, we need to get better at that.”

On being down for most of the game…
“Against a team like that, you do get worried in the back of your mind. But we’ve got guys that are going to make big plays, going to give us a chance. You can get worried a little bit, but at home, we have the crowd behind us, it just gives us that little push. And we have the streak in the back of our minds.”

Zach Hillesland, Sr., F

On the team’s struggles on offense…
“I think we just weren’t moving the ball well, we weren’t setting screens, and I think that’s just a little bit of the frustration with the rebounding carrying over onto the offensive end.”

On winning a close game…
“We made enough plays to win. We had guys that made big shots. A win’s a win. We’ll take it, we’re happy with it.”

On what the win did for the team’s morale…
“It was huge. It’s a big thing coming out and winning after a loss. Obviously, after the loss to Ohio State, the whole week we were chomping at the bit to get out there and play against a team that can shoot the ball real well. It was good for us to come out there and make big plays and come out with a win.”

Boston University Player Quotes

John Holland, So., F/G

On the defense guarding him strongly…
“I definitely felt a little more attention, that kind of bothered me a little bit, but it is what it is.”

Corey Lowe, Jr., G

On finding ways to get open…
“Both halves they kind of came out paying a lot of attention to me and I just didn’t hit the shots in the first half, but then I came out in the second half and hit them. I just tried to stay focused and wait for my shot to fall.”

On the turnovers the team committed…
Our turnovers are untimely, they came at bad times in the game. The ball just didn’t bounce our way.”

Tyler Morris, Jr., G

On being a native of Indiana and playing in Indiana…
“It’s just like any other game, any other team from the BIG EAST. The way I approach the game is just like I would approach any other game.”

On recovering from injuries…
“You know I’m just doing the best I can every day. I know the ball is going to bounce my ways some days and I know some days its not. I just have to do the best I can to help my team.”