Nov. 27, 2011

Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery

Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey

On today’s performance after last weeks events….
“Well it’s a good win, because we won. We have had an interesting week. We lost two games in Kansas City, lost (Tim) Abromaitis. Glad we could just get back on the floor and go into the locker room and feel good about winning a game. I’m very impressed with how we shared the ball. We did a great job there. The way that they [Bryant] were going to make it hard for us was knocking down threes. I thought we were really good other than that one stretch when I called timeout in the second half. Eric Atkins is healthy. We need him and it was good to see him back in the flow. For us we certainly needed to feel good about ourselves, because we have a heck of a challenge on Wednesday night.”

On the offensive movement of the team today…
“(We had) no offensive rhythm in Kansas City. It was good to see us shoot it good, feel good, pass it and play how we play. We didn’t get really much resemblance of that; a little bit more in the Georgia game, but not much. I think that is going to help us. The way our team is starting to come together especially without Abromaitis. Eric [Atkins] and Jerian [Grant] are good off the dribble so they are going to dribble more this year and we are going to ball screen more. If that is the one thing over the last three days that I have realized we have to do, we have to get those guys in areas where they can go make a play for us, because they are different than the guards we have had.”

On the team’s feeling after Friday…
“We had a good practice in the afternoon. I talked to them. We met in the locker room at 4 o’clock on Friday. He [Abromaitis] got hurt in the morning. I asked them a little bit, give me your thoughts. Class discussion and Garrick Sherman stepped right up and said ‘Well we can’t feel sorry for ourselves.’ Of course not surprising, he is a pretty mature guy. He has been around and other guys have talked about that. I said ‘Look, no one is going to give us a shot at doing anything this year and so that is a great position to be in.’ For us, I am not renegotiating expectations. We want to try and steal the bid from our league. It is just going to be more grand theft larceny now if we get it.”

Notre Dame Player Quotes

Scott Martin – Senior – Guard

On having a small lineup today…
“With Jack [Cooley] under the weather, not having him play as many minutes, we had to go small. I got to play a little in the 5 position, which I haven’t done in a couple of years.

On the last time you jumped center…
“In high school. Technically I didn’t win it, but I felt that I had. I got a little more of it than I thought I was going to.”

On sharing the ball…
“I think our defense led to our offense. We came out early with three out of four stops, and I think that led to good things for us. When you get confident on the defensive end, then the offense kind of seems to flow easier. I think that is how it worked for us.”

On helping Tim (Abromaitis) out…
“Just being there. That’s all you can really do, just be a friend. I’ve been driving him around and helping him around the apartment. It’s a terrible situation, but thankfully he is a tough kid and will get through this.”

Jerian Grant – Sophomore – Guard

On everything after Friday…
“We just knew everyone was going to have to step up, because (Tim) Abromaitis is a stat-sheet stuffer. He gets rebounds, scores, and gets assists. All of those things were going to have to go to someone else, so someone needed to step up and do it.”

On getting out to a good start…
“We just knew that we would have to step up. Now people were more comfortable taking shots that they knew they would have to take throughout the season without Abromaitis there. Guys were just ready to step up with more confidence.”

On Bryant’s run in the second half…
“We just calmed down a little bit. Eric (Atkins) and I talked and knew we had to step it up. We were ready to come out of the timeout and play.”

Eric Atkins – Sophomore – Guard

On Friday after Tim [Abromaitis] went down…
“You’re not use to seeing that type of thing, someone go down like that. I would say Friday and a little bit of Saturday, it was still like ‘oh my gosh, Tim is down.’ Coach (Brey) got us in here for a team meeting and said that we can’t feel sorry for ourselves now that Tim is down, but we still have to play. While everyone may count us out, we just need to keep playing and give it our best shot.”

On mindset of sharing the ball…
“Not really a different mindset. It is something that we try to do. We try to get in the lane and just find people. I think today we did a great job doing that, but we need to keep that up for Wednesday, because it will be a tough test for us.”

On thoughts coming into the game…
“We just really wanted to play how we always play. We had four games without [Tim] Abromaitis at the beginning of the season. We just tried to stick to that same game plan, even with less Jack [Cooley] since he was sick. We just tried to send everyone to the boards, Jerian [Grant] did a great job with 11 rebounds. When we do go small, the focus is everyone to the boards.”

Bryant Head Coach Tim O’Shea

Initial thoughts on the game…
“I think that for Bryant to be able to come out here and play a game at Notre Dame, because of what it stands for in intercollegiate athletics, I don’t know how much you know, but we’re in our last year of a transition to Division I, so next year we’ll be fully Division I and we play a full Division I schedule-to be able to share the court with an iconic name like Notre Dame is a real honor for our team and a privilege for our program to expand the name of Bryant. Obviously we’re not at the talent level of a Notre Dame at this point, but we certainly enjoyed the opportunity to come out here and play.”

On playing six road games in a row…
“That’s the reality of this level, of a transition like this. You end up playing–partially for financial reasons–you play some of these games, and you end up playing on the road quite a bit in the early part of the season. So it’s just something you have to learn to deal with. It’s just the reality of low-major, Division I basketball. You look around the country and you look at our conference. In conferences like the NEC, you see teams play that kind of schedule a lot. “

On what Notre Dame did to give his team problems early on…
“Well, really we missed a lot of shots inside. The kid (Alex) Francis is a good player for us, and he was able to get to the rim-most teams double down on him. When you play a game like this, you’ve got to be hitting on all cylinders. We weren’t able to get a lot of those early shots to drop, which allowed them to get comfortable and get a nice lead going. And they’re obviously a very efficient offensive team. Mike (Brey) always has very skilled offensive players, so when they get shots they knock them down. They execute very well from a fundamentals standpoint. So given the fact that we’re not going to be bigger, stronger and more athletic than a team from the BIG EAST, we can’t afford to miss easy shots. We did that early, got in a hole and it’s almost impossible to come back on the road from that kind of deficit. We cut it to 12 at one point, but it’s hard to make it all the way back.”