Dec. 22, 2008
Notre Dame vs. Savannah State
*Joyce Center* Notre Dame, Ind.
Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey
On the play of Notre Dame…
“Only 11 turnovers against that chaos was pretty good. I thought we did a great job on the offensive boards, especially (Luke) Harangody, to help establish the lead in the first half. I thought our transition defense was excellent in the first half as well. I am proud of how we handled our business. We talked about our Saturday-Monday (games) and we will be in four of them after break so it was important for us to handle our business in this one heading into the break.”
On going through the grind-it-out type of games…
“I think we are older a little better about going through these games. This was one that we had to grind it out and perform solid at the free throw line but I think because of us being a little older we were better about handling it.”
On the play of Notre Dame junior Luke Harangody…
“It doesn’t matter if it’s 6’5″ guys or 7’0″ guys, he seems to beat everyone to the ball off the rim. I think he has learned he can go to the offensive boards when people are doubling him and being physical with him and trying to change the style of play so we can’t establish him like we normally do to get his. Tonight was a good example, too, of when you go to the offensive boards, you get fouled. I think he understands that when people take things away from him he needs to crash the boards.”
On the start of the season to this point…
“We are in the position we need to be in. We have so much power in our upcoming schedule in the league and that will make or break us as far as getting into the (NCAA) tournament and this group has been in this position before. I like that we have some time before we get into the practices for league play but we are right where we need to be heading into the break and league play when we come back.”
Notre Dame Player Quotes
Luke Harangody, Jr., F
On the offensive shooting woes…
“It’s just one of those nights where you aren’t making it from the field and you know it’s going to happen. You just have to keep shooting and I was able to get to the (free throw) line. Nights like that are going to happen, I’m just glad to get it out of the way.”
On getting back from break and starting conference play…
“We’re really excited to get back after Christmas break and go to DePaul and we know that it’s going to be a battle just like every BIG EAST game is, without doubt.”
On other players stepping up on the offensive end…
“We had Ty (Nash) stepping up, that’s huge going into the BIG EAST. That’s going to give him a lot of confidence and allow him to play even more minutes.”
Tory Jackson, Jr., G
On the team’s progress this season…
“We know we can get better. The way things have been going, we’ve been getting better day-by-day. Free throws for example, got better today. We are working on a lot in practice and this was a good game for us heading into the BIG EAST. It let us know where we are and what we need to work on.”
On starting the BIG EAST schedule after break…
“It’s good for us actually, that’s what we want. We don’t want to look ahead, but sometimes we do. It’s the BIG EAST and we have to be ready. We feel like we are ready so we want to come and just be ready to play.”