March 15, 2005
Notre Dame Coach Mike Brey Quotes
On tonight’s game…
“They made plays tonight. We put pressure on them, but they deserved to win. They executed better at the end of the day.”
On playing without Chris Quinn…
“We don’t make any excuses. Chris Quinn obviously affects our team, but we’ve had a chance to play without him for a week now. I think Russell Carter is getting better and did a good job tonight. We haven’t been successful in the past few weeks, so we looked to give some other guys an opportunity. I was excited about the way Rob Kurz played tonight.”
On next year…
“We used some combinations tonight that we’ve never used before, and we kind of did it on the fly. I feel good about Russell Carter and certainly Rob Kurz, with the way he’s practiced and played tonight. Then with Chris Quinn and Colin Falls coming back next year, I think we have a really good backcourt. We have four talented young men ready to crank it up in the fall.”
Notre Dame Player Quotes
Freshman Forward Rob Kurz
On his playing time tonight…
“I was excited that I got the chance to play. It’s been tough sitting the bench, but to play and lose a game, it feels worse. I think it was a good experience for me. Coach told me that I was going to start to play more.”
On the seniors…
“I am really sorry for the seniors that we sent them out on a note like this. They have done so much for the program in terms of mentoring and helping me. I am sorry that I couldn’t do more and the rest of my teammates couldn’t do more to get this win and continue the season a little longer.”
On the Irish defense…
“We definitely gave up way too many second chance opportunities. I don’t think our defense was at the level it should have been tonight. Our rebounding was a problem.”
Junior Forward Rick Cornett
On next year…
“Tonight was really frustrating. We have to work hard. There is no substitute for hard work. Next year is going to be another season and we will have a bunch of new guys. We will have to instill in them the work ethic that Chris Thomas and Jordan [Cornette] instilled in us.”
On his off-season work…
“I am going to work on everything I can during the off-season. I am going to work on my defense and my offense – basically improve every aspect of my game. They don’t have to worry about me working in the off-season.”
On Notre Dame’s rebounding effort…
“I think that if everyone boxes their man out, we won’t have a problem rebounding. I think that’s where we struggled the last few games.”
Holy Cross Coach Ralph Willard Quotes
On the game…
I knew that we had to come in here and value the ball, we only had nine turnovers and we were plus ten in that category, that was a huge stat. And 20 offensive rebounds, we have been a good offensive rebounding team all year and I thought that we did a good job of it in terms of getting to the glass and getting some second shots. Those two things I think are the two things that stood out the most in the game in my standpoint.
On the play of Kevin Hamilton…
He has really developed as the years have gone on into a special player. He played very well tonight.
On not having a lot of time to prepare for the game…
One day preparation I am sure was difficult for Notre Dame and the way to defend them. I am very proud of our guys, we got in last night and did not watch film until this morning and then formulated a game-plan, I am very proud of our guys for being able to execute tonight.
On rebounding after the loss to Bucknell in the conference finals…
Yes, Mike and I were talking about it before the game. Both teams were obviously disappointed with the outcome and I am very proud of the way our guys responded. We had a short practice last night but it was a great practice. Our guys were able to wash away the disappointment last night and look at tonight as an opportunity for a chance at redemption and I was happy with the way they put (the loss to Bucknell) behind them.
Holy Cross Player Quotes
Junior Guard Kevin Hamilton
On preparing for the game…
“We only had one day to prepare which is unusual, but the coaches did a great job…we practiced running against their sets…we knew we had to make certain switches and certain rotations throughout the game in order to win and we did a pretty good job of doing that.”
On controlling Colin Falls towards the end of the game…
“We knew we had to contain him, because if he hit three threes in the first half we couldn’t expect to win. So basically what we did was we switched on him in awkward situations, whether he was coming off a screen or not. If there was another man defending him you just made sure to pick him up so he wouldn’t get another look.
On the attitude toward the next game…
“We feel confident, you know we weren’t supposed to win this game. We have our backs against the wall mentally. We’re trying to prove the world wrong.”
Senior Center Nate Lufkin
On the post game…
“We knew going into this game that it was going to be a very physical one. Notre Dame has a lot of big guys, and we were supposed to double them. Maybe we didn’t get down in time so they were hurting us inside a little bit early, but in the second half we came down in our 2-3 alignment and the change was really evident. They couldn’t get the ball inside. Right when they got the ball they had to give it up, and I think that was the key to our victory.
On Holy Cross’ attitude towards this game…
“We came out here as loose as can be. At home we play more tentative than we do on the road. We come out here and it’s just fun to compete. We really just wanted to leave everything on the floor. In games we are supposed to win, we play not to lose and we think about the consequences too much, but here we came in as the underdogs, so what did we have to lose?