Dec. 9, 2015
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POSTGAME Quotes
University of Notre Dame Men’s Basketball
Notre Dame 86, Stony Brook 61
Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey
Opening Statement…
“A great night for us. It’s been a great last week for this team as we’re trying to figure ourselves out. To win in Illinois and come back and methodically beat a good team, a championship team and possibly an NCAA Tournament team was big. I thought our defense was fabulous on their big guy. I thought what Zach Auguste gave us was fantastic, guarding their big guy and what he did on the offensive end. Demetrius Jackson looks like he’s running the building like Jerian Grant used to run the building. It’s a good night for us because they’re really good. It’s a nice step forward, and we’d like to win three in a row and then head into exams.”
On how Auguste’s experience helped prepare himââ’¬¦
“I thought Zach was really looking forward to the matchup the past few days. There’s a buzz about Stony Brook’s big man (Jameel Warney), and Zach said wait a minute, I’ve played against some good big guys. In the first half he never really let him get comfortable. Our guards did a great job crowding him. We also did a great on the glass, keeping it to one and done.
On the starting fiveââ’¬¦
“There’s no question they have to be out there. Demetrius Jackson has to be on the floor to run the building. I think he’s really developing in that way. Our key guys are really playing well together. I like how they played defensively together tonight, because we needed to improve defensively man-to-man. We couldn’t rely on our man-to-man in Champaign, but we did do a heck of a job in zone. And again tonight, for about 7 possessions, the zone gave us good stuff. It’s just a good week for us to get two wins in a row against two good teams.”
On Steve Vasturiaââ’¬¦
“I thought they did a good job taking away his drive, but overall he was really steady. Again he was rock-solid for us defensively. Steve adds what he needs to add and never really forces anything.”
On Demetrius Jackson’s development as a leaderââ’¬¦
“It reminds me of Ryan Humphery telling me at the end of his senior year telling me how exhausting leading was. For Demetrius, we talked about it in the summer, but I’m glad he was honest and said it was hard. He’s thinking about a lot of stuff. I think one of the great growth nights for him was in Champaign. At halftime he had not played well, we were down, and a younger Demetrius would’ve been thinking how he wasn’t playing well. He wouldn’t have been able to lead and talk and set a tone. He’s really made progress there. The guys respect him, and he’s learned when to be a diplomat and when to get on his teammates. He wants it so bad for his team. He’s really pure, and just wants it for his team.
Notre Dame Player Quotes
Demetrius Jackson ââ’¬” Junior ââ’¬” Guard
On 19 team assists
“It’s a fun way to play. That’s how we play. We take care of the ball, share it and are aggressive going downhill. If we continue to do that I believe we can be a good team.”
On ability to pull away in second halfââ’¬¦
“We did a really good job of playing attention to detail. We had a lot of energy and enthusiasm. It has been a long week in practice so we were excited to go out and play against another team. ” We really needed that. We put some kills together. Although we had a slow start to the second half we paid really good attention to detail, was sharp, stepped on them and broke the lead open. “
On confidence running the offenseââ’¬¦
“Learning as a guard and watching film. Better understanding of decisions off ball screens and continuing to be aggressive. When we have great spacing it is fun to play because I can attack and hit guys and also go to the rim.”
On Austin Torres dunkââ’¬¦
“That’s AAU Austin Torres. It was really nice to see; it reminded me of the old days. I was really happy for him to be flying around and getting an alley oop.”
VJ Beachem ââ’¬” Junior ââ’¬” Forward
On process for him moving forwardââ’¬¦
“Definitely just knowing how important my voice is, especially to the younger guys. Having a great voice and coming to work everyday and being locked in even when we are not having a really hard practice. Being locked into film and things like that go a long way. “
On starting five’s spacing and cohesivenessââ’¬¦
“Especially in the second half where we blew that game open, I think offensively we found our rhythm. We were able to play inside out. Zach Auguste made some great decisions on the block. When he’s doing that, it really makes the game easy for us all.”
On consecutive threesââ’¬¦
“That’s something that coach talks to me about all the time, making consecutive threes. It felt good. I think that’s how the game flowed. My teammates did a great job of finding me, especially Demetrius and Steve and even Matt Farrell. “
On cohesion and movementââ’¬¦
“Off the ball movement is something we talked about a lot. Instead of just standing and watching, everyone cutting and trying to get easy baskets. Sometimes the cut will even open up another shot.”
Zach Auguste ââ’¬” Senior ââ’¬” Center
On playing with Bonzie Colsonââ’¬¦
“We’ve had some trouble in the past in a few of our starts. Playing aggressive basketball, playing together, playing Notre Dame basketball is definitely something that helped us. Continuous spacing and rotation and understanding each other will come as we mature together. We need to understand each other’s roles and how we can play off each other. For example if I’m down in the post and he is out screening away or the opposite, he’s down in the post and I’m screening away, that is where we need to get used to our spacing and rotation.”
On Stony Brookââ’¬¦
“We really wanted to come in and play well. But we have to give them a lot of respect. They have some great players. I think we brought it tonight and when we bring it together as five as a team, its hard for teams to stop us.
On defending Jameel Warneyââ’¬¦
“I wasn’t aware of him until a few days before we played them. I looked at his stat line on ESPN and then I said ‘ok I have to respect him.” He filled it up pretty well. I went in on my and watched some film. I followed his tendencies, I know he likes to drive baseline a lot, he likes to spin off and he is aggressive. So I think me taking away that baseline is something I wanted to do it. It was a challenge I accepted and I was ready for.”
On his jumpshotââ’¬¦
“It’s something I’m confident in. I’ve been working on it over the summer and I’m currently working on it now. It has to do with the team. They believe in me and I believe in them and they trust me to make smart plays.”
Stony Brook Head Coach Steve Pikiell
On the gameââ’¬¦
“It was a tough game for us but Notre Dame was a great environment. We’re a very good rebounding team and I thought they did an unbelievable job on the glass. Our margin of rebounds is one of the best in the country and we just could not play as well. To their credit, they had a lot of days to prepare for us and they were well prepared.”
On Notre Dame’s defenseââ’¬¦
“I thought Notre Dame did a good job of bodying Jameel. Auguste had a great night for them on both sides of the floor and we were concerned about him going into the game. I was concerned with foul trouble too, but they were aggressive. I thought they did a great job of keeping us out of the lane and I thought they did a great job defending threes on us. Most importantly, we’re a rebounding team and they did a great job keeping us off the glass.”
On containing Notre Dameââ’¬¦
“They’ve got a great point guard and they’ve got a post guy that can score and they surround him with a lot of guys that can shoot and that are big. Those guys are a good size and winged players; especially playing in our league they would be giants. We gave up a lot of inches on the perimeter, but you have to pick your poison a little bit in how you’re trying to defend them. We really tried to keep them out of the lane to eliminate some of those threes but they got their post guy going and we didn’t go a good job of defending their post.”
Stony Brook Player Quotes
Jameel Warney ââ’¬” Senior – Forward
On defending Zach Augusteââ’¬¦
“He’s a good player, but I got a lot of fouls. I had to be that aggressive on guarding him, but it was me missing a lot of shots. The shots I usually make, I was missing them.”
On Notre Dame’s defenseââ’¬¦
“They were just playing me straight up. Sometimes I was double-teamed and they were keeping me on my toes, but it was just me missing shots I usually make.