Feb. 25, 2012
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey
On today’s game…
Well, a lot of credit to St. John’s. I thought their defense really bothered us- it sped us up. We had some great looks, but we didn’t make enough of them. You’re going to have to make some more jump shots over the top of that zone to escape here today. They were getting more 50/50 balls so we were digging out of a hole on the road. We’ve done that a couple times and stolen wins, but I almost felt like the law of averages today said, “You can’t have this one.” I’m proud of our group to come back and have a chance right there to put it into overtime, but, again St. John’s made more big plays at key times.
On his team’s offense…
We actually did get it inside a little bit more to make a comeback. But eventually for us to win today, we were going to have to make some 3-point shots. I really felt we were maybe going to steal another one because we were getting some clean looks- (Jerian) Grant’s look on the side, out of bounds (he’s made so many big ones in the last three or four minutes) even (Alex) Dragicevich’s look to put it into overtime was clean. But, the law of averages catches up with you a little bit. We have stolen some wins, banking down threes on the road, and we really couldn’t today. I give them (St. John’s) a lot of credit. Nobody’s a first year player anymore. The great thing about the St. John’s dynamic is that these freshmen are playing because there are only six guys- they are playing 35 minutes a game. It’s a little bit like (Pat) Connaughton and Grant- first year guys who are playing 30 games of 30 minutes. You’re going to get better, St. John’s has gotten better.
Jack Cooley on the last offensive play…
I saw that ( Amir) Garrett broke through the primary defense and got into the middle of the lane and I was a little out of position. I should’ve contested a little more and he made a good shot at the end of the game.
Losing Tim Abromaitis and season rankings…
I think we were surprised but not overly surprised (about early season high ranking). We always believe in ourselves and believe in our group. We knew the talent we had and I think that’s a credit to Coach- to cement that in our heads, to keep encouraging us, and to keep teaching us.
I would agree with Scott. Our program has played with adversity like that before. Coach knows how to coach us when we’re a man down. We know how to play like that.