Jan. 5, 2009

Recap | Box Score | AP Photo Gallery

2008-09 Notre Dame Men’s Basketball
Notre Dame vs. Georgetown
Joyce Center – Notre Dame, Ind.

Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey

On the play of Notre Dame in this three-game stretch…
“Big bounce back win tonight. It is all about how you recover after a few tough games in this league. Whoever does that best will get the NCAA bids and the byes in New York City (for the BIG EAST tournament). I thought we bounced back tonight. I thought our defense played well and was patient. We were smart defensively and we got the loose balls in the paint which is something we didn’t do Saturday. We were smart offensively, getting the ball to the right people at the right times. It’s great to be 2-1 in the league and it will be nice to get some rest before this weekend.”

On winning a big game on the national stage…
“It’s nice but this nucleus has done it on the big stage a couple of times and obviously they are comfortable in this building. It is almost therapy in this building and they really believe in this building and that will be fine with me if they keep using it like that.”

On the play of Notre Dame junior Luke Harangody…
“He has played a lot of basketball and when I took him out with the foul trouble I told him to be smart. Luke Zeller was great tonight with his presence and his intelligence with Luke (Harangody) in foul trouble. In the first half we could protect him a little bit with a bigger lineup and playing zone but in the second half we just told him to play smart and he really came through.”

On motivating the team after the loss to St. John’s…
“St. John’s played harder then us and out competed us and that is what bothered us the most. I told the captains that we can’t relax in this league because if we do we could drop two or three before we bounce back and this game is important to the next string of games in conference play.”

Notre Dame Player Quotes

Luke Harangody, Jr., F

On playing with four fouls in the second half…
“It’s me being a veteran player now and being able to realize there’s some things that I cannot do when I’m in foul trouble. I wish the play would have been more under control. The decision on my fourth foul probably wasn’t the best. Luckily I didn’t get in more foul trouble from there on out.”

On continuing to stay aggressive with foul trouble…
“You can pick your spots where you aren’t taking that big of a threat and put yourself in a position to take a foul. I was just able to pick my spots.”

On the fun of the game…
“I had a great time tonight. This is what BIG EAST basketball is all about. Playing with the guys on this team, this is why we are in the weight room at six o’clock in the morning. We had a great time out there tonight.”

On continuing the home court win streak…
“It’s crazy. It’s going to be like this all year with our backs against the wall, so we better get used to this now.”

Zach Hillesland, Sr., F

On bouncing back after the St. John’s loss…
“In this league you really can’t afford to lose back-to-back games. Coming off a tough one against St. John’s we really had to strap it down. Georgetown was coming off a tough one against Pittsburgh as well so you had two teams coming in at 1-1 in the BIG EAST. It’s not something where you want things to snowball in the wrong direction and that can be a very easy thing to happen if you aren’t ready to play. Fortunately we showed up and had guys step up and were able to close things up at the end.”

On taking things one game at a time in the BIG EAST…
“It’s so cliché but you have to take every game one at a time. We learned that lesson already against St. John’s. You have to bring your best effort every night or else you’re going to end up with losses and those can accumulate in this league. You have to come with an extra level of focus and treat each team with the utmost respect and really give your best effort every game.”

Tory Jackson, Jr., G

On the game against Georgetown …
“You come in with a team like that, in the top-10, strong, and they’ve had our number the last couple of years, so that’s a lot going against us. We did a good job of just being ourselves. We got an edge on them. We’ve got to come out and play like that every game.”

On maintaining that edge …
“Practice. Before this game, we had just one of those practices where we knew things were clicking. We have to practice like that all the time; talking to each other on defense, outrebounding the other team. We did a better job of rebounding in practice yesterday and that carried over to today. We’ve got to play like that, with heart, every time.”

Ryan Ayers, Sr., G

On the team’s response after Luke Harangody’s early foul trouble …
“Everybody just calmed down. We’re such a mature team that we all know how to play and feed off each other, so when Luke went out, we were able to calm ourselves down, go out and do some positive things.”

On not having a second BIG EAST loss …
“It’s very important. There’s going to be some tough times and some ups and downs in this league. The teams that respond the best will be the last ones standing.”

On extending the home court win streak against Seton Hall on Saturday …
“We’re going to get on that tomorrow. We can’t settle. We can’t coast into it.”

Luke Zeller, Sr., F/C

On the team playing with a chip on their shoulder …
“What people think and what we think is different. I think we were definitely carrying a chip on our shoulder and we needed to bounce back. We can’t lose two in a row. We’re playing tough and going for it, just trying to do the best we can. The team that can bounce back after a loss is the team that will be on top in the end. I think we did a good job of that tonight.”

On playing 25 minutes against Georgetown …
“I’m ready to do that every night. Whatever they need me to do I’m ready to do it.”

Georgetown quotes

Head Coach John Thompson III

On having nights when shots are not falling…
“We’re going to have those nights [when shots don’t fall] in this league and we have to be better at everything else when we’re having those nights. From foul shots on down, the ball just didn’t go in the basket tonight so we have to get stops and we have to get rebounds and we have to make things more difficult for them.”

On Notre Dame’s defense…
“They did a good job of guarding us and of contesting shots, I don’t want to put it as if we got all the shots and missed, they did a very good job of closing out and making a lot of our shots misses.”

On Luke Harangody…
“He’s good, he played well. He’s the MVP of our league, he makes good decisions, he can score at different places on the court and they surround him with guys who can make shots. So if you double him or do other things, they make you pay; its almost you pick your poison. He played extremely well tonight and it seemed like whenever we were trying to gain any momentum he would make a play.”

On playing in the BIG EAST…
“Every team is potent offensively and we are going to face runs [of points against] and we just have to weather that, stay composed and make runs of our own. This is an unforgiving league so we have to do it every night in every aspect of the game. Then, when we aren’t making shots … we still have to figure out how to win.”

On playing Connecticut, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame in three consecutive games…
“Clearly this stretch was difficult, but every stretch in this league is going to be difficult, there are no easy games, there are no easy teams, you can’t look at a team and say ‘that is going to be a cakewalk.’ Every night you are going to be in a position where you can win every game and if everything isn’t in order, you can lose every game. Yes it was a difficult stretch with two road games and a quick turnaround here, but so what? It’s the BIG EAST.”

Greg Monroe, Fr., F

On guarding Luke Harangody…
“He’s good, he’s really good with the ball and he’s quick. He’s got experience and he knows how to move and make plays under the basket. “