Dec. 6, 2009
Notre Dame Men’s Basketball
Notre Dame vs. UCF
December 6, 2009
Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center | Notre Dame, Ind.
Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey
On the team’s second half success…
“Second half stuff has been really good in this building, that’s the one thing I’ve talked to them about. We’ve started second halves really efficiently, offensively and then defensively. We had to do that tonight. They were hard to guard in the first half, making some tough shots on us, but I thought our poise to start the second half was really good, and we had a little bit of everything happen tonight. (Luke) Harangody had foul trouble, so we had to play for a while without him on the floor. I thought we did that very well. Ty Nash was our low post and we still scored to end the half. (Tory) Jackson goes down with an injury and we don’t get him back and (Jonathan) Peoples has to handle the ball. There were some good things for us to have to deal with here, and to evaluate our team given some of the things that happened. Certainly (Tim) Abromaitis was fabulous, but he’s been really good and he’s been coming on. We thought it was time to get him in there and start him and have another really offensive guy on the floor because they (opponents) double (Luke) Harangody early sometimes, and it also made us a little bit bigger. Certainly, [Abromaitis] keeps answering every bell and we are very proud of his development. Carleton Scott and (Ty) Nash gave us good minutes in the four-man spot; they kind of split it, and they gave us good minutes there.”
On Tim Abromaitis’ demeanor and attitude…
“We say this in our staff meetings, he’s the same every day. He comes out as the same even-keeled guy everyday no matter what the situation and I think it has really helped him handle what we’ve thrown at him. You’ve heard me say this before, (Tory) Jackson and (Luke) Harangody have been really good about making him confident. They knew about how much we needed him this summer, and they did a heck of a job telling him on a daily basis “Don’t turn down shots, be aggressive. We need you. You’ll be in there a lot.” And certainly, we’ve continued, I’ve continued to do that with him, that’s why I started him and I hope it gives him even more confidence. I think you are seeing a heck of a guy. It’s fun to watch and I just expect it with demeanors like that everyday.”
On playing in front of Michael Jordan…
“Was he here? (laughter) I didn’t see him. I know we had him sequestered. But that was, I know, interesting, and there was a lot of Midwest kids there. Yeah, I would have asked him his thoughts on our team and what we can do. I certainly know his son and those Chicago kids very well because they all played with Jack Cooley in the summer. I’m glad he wasn’t closer to the court so he couldn’t work the officials. (laugther)”
On Tory Jackson’s injury in the second half…
“I’m thinking, well, we’ll have him for UCLA (December 19th) and I’m saying, where can I light a candle to make sure that comes true. I think it scared him more than anything. He’s not had an ankle injury, he’s not had many injuries, he’s been the ironman. He’s going to be a little sore, and we’d have to say questionable for Wednesday (against IUPUI). If we are betting men on Tory Jackson, that guy is going to take a couple of Motrin and he will be out there. That was good though for us. Jon (Peoples) had to handle it, and we had to play without him and (Luke) Harangody for periods of time. That was interesting for me to see our group react to that and that will be something I talk to them about tomorrow as we watch film.”
On the team’s free throw shooting…
“I’ve been a little disappointed up to this point with our free throw shooting. I think we are better than being a 68% free throw shooting team. Hopefully today starts a trend of us ringing it up into the 70’s.”
On Tim Abromaitis’ affect on Luke Harangody within the game…
“When we have (Tim Abromaitis) out on the floor with Ben (Hansbrough), you have two threats out there were you have to be really careful about how you double, and (Luke) Harangody has become such a capable passer and he finds people. My feeling was that it was smart to start the game this way, because a lot of times people will try to jam it in on (Luke) Harangody early, scouting reports saying “Make him give it up, double him”. Well if he is kicking it out, we want to make sure he is kicking it out to guys who can deliver it when its there and also can drive it a little bit too. Tim (Abromaitis) also gets to the foul line a lot because he is a cutter, he cuts hard and he is athletic as heck. When’s the last time we’ve had someone take more shots than (Luke) Harangody? I mean, they (the team) may all take out Tim (Abromaitis) tonight for a sandwich: “Man, you took more shots than Harangody”. (laughter)”
Notre Dame Player Quotes
Luke Harangody o Senior o Forward
On what makes Tim Abromaitis a good fit…
“I think just the way we move the ball, with myself on the inside and with the way Tory (Jackson) and (Ben) Hansbrough have been handling the outside, he just finds a way to get to the basket and a way to find the open corners.”
On coming out in the second half…
“We’ve done that this season, and when every time we’re at home we get a second half surge. I don’t know what it is but we just come out there and pick up the defensive intensity. This is a great team tonight, and this is a big win for us and winning by 18 or 20 points or whatever it was, but it’s huge.”
On playing more dialed in during the second half…
“I don’t know what it is really, but I think we need to learn and the guys need to learn that we need to come out and start a game like that and kind of put them away early, because at halftime we’re down a few points or tied and they think they are still in it.”
On having three fouls at halftime…
“I’ve been in that situation before, and coach didn’t need to say anything to me. I know what I need to do, and to just hold my man to take a jump shot and things like that, and don’t do anything stupid. I think when you’re in a situation like that, you just concentrate more and you don’t want to pick up a stupid fourth foul. You just have to play smart, and coach knew I would.”
On younger guys looking up to you make adjustments…
“Yeah, I think so. I don’t think a lot of people have been in a situation like that before, and in a physical game like this, you get those two quick early ones and then you have to watch what you’re doing in the first half. Then, I picked up a third stupid foul, and that was on me, but then in the second half you just have to readjust.”
On what it is like to have another scorer…
“Well, it’s good for me too, because it takes a lot of pressure off me and for this team, Tim’s (Abromaitis) done huge for us, and 31 on 17 shot attempts today is a really good night for the kid. His confidence is going to be sky high and you know hopefully just continue.”
On (Tim) Abromattis’ future…
“Well, this is just the beginning for him. He’s one of the hardest working players I know.”
Tyrone Nash o Junior o Forward
On (Tim) Abromattis…
“You mean Mr. Jordan over here. I think he was graced with a little Jordan-ess today. He played well, he played great. He always plays great, and it’s a good atmosphere and a good team, a good win.”
On what it does to the team to know these guys can come off the bench… “Well, I mean we can’t always rely on one person, and everyone can contribute some how and in some way. It’s good for everyone to see that, and everyone is saying that we are a one-man team, but today we showed that we can have contribution from multiple people.”
Tory Jackson o Senior o Guard
On his injured ankle…
“It’s just sore. I didn’t even see the guy under me when I went up for a shot and just came down on his foot. I think I’ll be fine, though. It’s probably just a sprain, nothing with the bone or that. It felt worse than it is. I was scared when it happened though. Especially senior year, you don’t want that to happen to anybody. I’m very, very thankful that it’s not a big deal.”
The second half of the game…
“In the second half we executed on offense and defense. In the first half, we did well on offense but just couldn’t put together our defensive stop. We’ve got to figure out who we are. We’ve got new guys in the line-up and that, but we’ll figure things out.”
Having Michael Jordan at the game watching both teams…
“It’s an honor. He’s my favorite athlete of all time, and he probably saw a little bit of himself in Tim Abromaitis. I’m thankful to have a guy like that come down to the game. It was a great performance and a great game.”
Ben Hansbrough o Senior o Guard
On Tory Jackson getting injured…
“First thing, you hate to see Tory (Jackson) go down, a great player, but after that we had to step up and move on. Coach said that you need to come in and play. You’ve been here for four years, you’ve done a great job. We made a great spurt, but I was without a point guard in there. Hopefully he’ll keep ice on it and get better. Hopefully he’ll come back in a couple days.”
On Tim Abromaitis…
“He’s a heck of a basketball player. He can shoot it, 6’8″, from the inside and the outside. Every aspect of his game, he’s a heck of a player and can score from just about anywhere.”
On the toughness of UCF physically…
“They’re a quality team, and it does test our toughness. When it’s a tough game like this, it takes a tough team to pull out and win offensively and defensively. You’ve got to make good plays both offensively and defensively.”
Tim Abromaitis o Junior o Forward
On Scoring 31 points…
“I think it’s really my teammates who set me up for those 31 points. I got a lot of easy shots out there, just off of good penetration and getting good cuts. It’s a lot of the teamwork that went into it.”
On starting the game…
“He (Coach Mike Brey) told me the middle of the week. He just kind of mentioned it me kind of casually.”
On the performance of the team in the game…
“I just think it’s intensity, especially on the defensive end. The first half we could have rebounded a little better because they were just making some easy drives, and we just tried to clamp down on that. We tried to run a little bit more too.”
On Tory Jackson’s injury…
“It’s such a big deal for us. We kind of had to gather together, and he runs the show really. Ben (Hansbrough) and JP (Jonathan Peoples) had to handle the ball a bit more, but they are both very capable of that. I think we did a good job finishing the game like that.”
UCF Head Coach Kirk Speraw
On their disappointing second half performance…
“[Notre Dame] was very poised, and had a very good tempo on offense, it was impressive. It was something that we tried to talk to our guys about going into this game about how they [Notre Dame] play with good poise and good patience on offense, and when the opportunity arises to score they obviously take advantage of that. But that certainly comes from a mature team, and they played very well.”
On the career performance by Notre Dame player Tim Abromaitis…
“Yeah I certainly did [expect that kind of performance from him], he worried me a lot. I’ve been very impressed with him and the way he’s been playing all year long. He’s not just a shooter, which might be the first impression that you get of him, but as you watch him he’s well-rounded… and he does a lot of things well, I thought tonight he played very good defense as well as. He just had a great game, he’s going to be huge for this team as they progress towards the end of this season.”