March 2, 2016
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POSTGAME QUOTES
#7 Miami 68 (24-5, 13-4 ACC), Notre Dame 50 (19-10, 10-7 ACC)
March 2, 2016
Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center Notre Dame, Ind.
Mike Brey, Notre Dame Head Coach
Opening Statement…
“They may win the National Championship. They are really good; and they are really old. Their men were playing against our boys for most of the night. We can’t get off to a start like that and try to dig out of a hole against a team like that. We are struggling right now on offense. Defensively – even though they got some layups and they got some putÂbacks – we did enough, that is, if we are in any kind of semblance of our offensive rhythm. We are in search mode and we have to figure out how to find it.”
On digging out of a hole and the team moving forward…
“We gave ourselves chances. It would have been interesting to see how the second half would have ended if we didn’t turn the ball over three times in the last three minutes just when we were getting a little bit of momentum. The zone bought us some time, but we have been scoring in the 50s for a while, and when you are scoring in the 50s, you lose a lot. We have to try and find a rhythm. When you get into the dog days of the season, it gets interesting sometimes. We haven’t been in a good rhythm since the bye week. I said, ‘we will figure it out,’ because that is what we usually do around here, we usually figure it out. The focus is on Saturday and on our seniors. We would love to send Zach [Auguste] and Burg [Austin Burgett] out of here with a win. Those guys deserve it. I thought Zach Auguste was just a warrior out there. He has been flat out fabulous. When your guards can’t get going like that and I love my guards; our guards have been a key we won’t beat many teams. I give a lot of credit to Miami, that’s the most impressive group that has come in here. I thought that any time we showed a little toughness, their men said ‘not today.'”
On overcoming a slump…
“I think you have to play your way back into it, through practice and games.”
On Bonzie Colson…
“I thought bringing Bonzie [Colson] off the bench would help, maybe we would get him back into junkyard dog mode. Last time we brought him off the bench he got on a great run. I want to still do that because I think we got on a nice run with him doing that.”
On being offensively efficient…
“One of the things I think we really have to be better at is this: when we have been a really good drive and kick team, I don’t think our guards have drove and found that guy and made clean passes. VJ [Beachem] gets a lot of those, Matt Ryan gets those. I almost want to watch some film of the last couple of games and see what decision D [Demetrius Jackson] and Steve [Vasturia] made every time they put the ball down on the floor. I think we have some kicks for some shots – clean shots, rhythm shots and I don’t think we have made some great decisions there. Let’s coach it, let’s drill it, and see if we can find a rhythm there. I think we can get some cleaner shots that way. I think some of those shots were really challenged. We took some hard shots in these last few games.”
Notre Dame Players
Zach Auguste, Senior Forward
On the slow start…
“I think they had a lot of confidence, especially coming off of last game. They were a little bit drooling to come play us. They came out and came out strong.”
On Notre Dame’s recent slump…
“We’re missing that edge. I think we kind of lost it. We’ve got to get back to it. But I’m confident. On to the next game, it’s in the past. Now we’ve just got to work to get a win over NC State.”
On how the offense can improve…
“We can continue to be aggressive, just focus more on our defense. Our offense is going to come. We’ve always been good offensively, we’ve just got to continue to lock down and get those critical stops.”
Demetrius Jackson, Junior Guard
On the game…
“They’re a great team. We got ourselves in a hole and usually we’re able to fight out of that. But a lot of that is because our offensive efficiency is really good and we’re getting consecutive stops. We just didn’t make enough shots and get enough stops.”
On manufacturing confidence…
“You have to have a togetherness. You’ve got to be tight. Your circle has to be tight with these guys. Our leaders, including myself, we’ve got to lead better. We’ve just got to find ways to win games.”
Steve Vasturia, Junior Guard
On the slow start…
“Definitely the slow start, we just have to get back to playing the way we play on both ends of the floor. But like you said, you get a 12Â0 start on the game, it’s kind of hard to bounce back from that, so that’s an area we have to improve on as a team.”
On bouncing back from the game…
“Everybody just wants to play again. We want Saturday to come as soon as possible, but there are definitely things that we need to get back to work on at practice, so it’s good to have those two days and still time to get back to where we need to be.”
On finding confidence in little time…
“We’ve done it before. We’ve won a lot of games this season. We’ve won a lot of big games this year, and we know we can do it. It just comes down to getting back to what we do and doing it.”
On Coach Brey at halftime…
“At halftime, it was only a 13 point game, so we were in the game. We’ve come back from 13 points before, and the message was to go out there, we haven’t really played that well and we’re still in this game.” Difference between being able to come back and Miami pulling away…
“Pretty much the whole game, they were really efficient offensively. We didn’t’ make many shots on the offensive end, and you’re not going to win the game if you can’t score the ball. Give them credit, they’re a very good team, they can defend, they can score, you’ve got to give them credit.”
Jim Larranaga, Miami Head Coach
Opening Statement…
“We just played very well from start to finish. We executed our game plan. I thought Notre Dame got off to a slow start and that really helped us. We were making baskets and they were missing shots. That combination gave us a doubleÂdigit lead right from the start and we held off a couple of runs, but it never got to 4 or 3. Our guys were just very determined; they know where we are in the standings, they know how close we are to finishing the regular season on a really high note.”
On perimeter defense…
“You have to go way back to November when we were doing some things not very well and we lost a game because of it, to Northeastern. But by losing that game, it put into our players’ minds what the coaches had been telling them was a weakness in our defensive execution. From that day forward, we’ve worked very hard to correct that, and over the course of 25 games, we’ve gotten consistently good. And today was a very good day of defending.”
On Zach Auguste…
“It was clear from the very beginning that they were going to go inside with us and try to draw fouls. I was very concerned about that, because we did get a couple of fouls on our key guys and that changes a lot of things. Fortunately, we were able to rotate Tonye Jekiri, Ivan Uceda, Anthony Lawrence and Kamari Murphy all on Zach (Auguste) and they all picked up like one foul. So we didn’t end up with any one guy on the bench in foul trouble. But he played a very good game, he was very aggressive and they found him a lot.”
Miami Players
Angel Rodriguez, Senior Guard
On the fast start…
“The KU/Texas game motivated us to come out hungry. We saw how they went on the road and they got off to a great start. We really wanted to do the same thing. I thought our team was very focused and very energetic. We were really hungry to get this win on the road.”
On perimeter defense…
“We know that they are a great offensive team but we know we are a great defensive team. It was a personal challenge for every single one of us. We played great players at their house. They always play with much more energy at home. We accepted the challenge and executed the game plan.”
On a great February…
“No, I just really want to win an ACC Championship and we are in a position to do that. Plus, it is my last year so I have to give it my all.”
On the game’s physicality…
“I thought we were more physical than them. I thought we wanted it more. Also, I thought we did a great job of not letting the crowd get into the game. When you play at home, the crowd is a big factor. Once they start cheering you feel energetic. But once they stop, you do not feel the same energy. I thought we did a great job with that.”