Jan. 21, 2013
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Notre Dame vs. Georgetown
January 21, 2013
Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center • Notre Dame, Ind.
Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey
Opening comments...
"That was a thorough beating. They really guarded us well. They flustered us with their
defense. Anytime we tried to make a little run, they made a big shot. We have to make free
throws. I thought we got some pretty good looks from the three-point line. We are just going
to have to make a few of those. I give them a lot of credit because I think they physically
outmanned us. That is what was kind of disappointing."
On what has been going wrong since Cincinnati...
"I don't know what is wrong. I am disappointed, and it is something that we are going to
have to address in the next couple of days. This is a hard league. We are fortunate that they
only counted us for one loss with the way that thing went. But all we know is that we are
going to come back in tomorrow morning and get to work. We may have to make some
changes in our lineup. We have been here before. We are just searching a little bit."
On the game plan coming into the game...
"We tried to get Jack [Cooley] started inside. We were getting post feeds. He is not finishing
some plays. I think their length got to him a little. We kept going in there hoping he would
get fouled. When Jack wasn't scoring inside we started setting some more ball screens. They
really defended our ball screens well. We had to hit a few of our threes. Some of those shots
were shots that could have really changed the climate of the game. We didn't get any of
them."
On Scott Martin...
"The knee is bothering him. That is something we are going to have to address. I feel for
him. He is trying to give us stuff, but that knee has been an issue. I think that it is affecting all
of his phases. It is nice that he has a couple of days off. I don't know how much he is going to
be able to practice the rest of the year. It is nothing major. It is just a lot of wear and tear on
a knee that has had two surgeries."
On Cam Biedscheid...
"My message to him is to keep shooting. The first one was tough tonight. Maybe I shouldn't
have yelled at him that much, but it just came at such a key part of the game. He has got to
be a catch and shoot guy for us. We need him to make shots because we haven't gotten that
consistently from anyone else really. I think he is our best pure shooter. I don't want him
looking over his shoulder. He needs to keep taking shots."
On being down by so much at home...
"It was an eerie feeling to be out of it for the last ten minutes of the game in our home
building. It was creepy. It was eerie. It was not pleasant. It was very foreign territory for all
of us, fans included. Unless we can get our gears going it could happen again in this league.
Last I checked, we have a pretty meaty February schedule with who is yet to come through
here."
On responding after Notre Dame cut the lead to three...
"I think we just settled back in is probably the best way to put it. That's a terrific team,
a terrific offensive team, and a terrific team overall. We kind of expected them to make
a run. They have too many good players. Their guards don't make mistakes. Leading up
to this game, we watched tape after tape, and between Eric [Atkins] and [Jerian] Grant,
they don't make mistakes. And so they got a few shots but we did a good job in the first
half, looking at the stat sheet, they only took five three's. I thought we did a really good
job chasing them off the three-point line. In the second half they got off 11, and so I
think we were just able to settle in and we hit a couple shots."
On holding Notre Dame to low point totals the last two meetings...
"I think this league is crazy. If we can find a way to settle in to some consistency, I think
we'll be okay. But I think our defensive effort was really good today. We were on the
same page and we made things difficult for them. And that's just hard work. There's no
magic formula here - our guys just sucked it up and played hard today."
On critical offensive rebounds...
"They were huge. If nothing else hopefully we learned the lesson from our previous
game that every possession is huge. Markel Starks had a very big defensive rebound
at one point down at the other end. Moses Ayegba was a presence on the boards and I
thought he did a good job on [Jack] Cooley, who's one of the better post players in our
conference. It was a collective unit today, possession by possession."
On summing up his team...
"Tired. I don't think this is a time to start summing up the team. We have to continue
to get better. How would I sum us up? We weren't good the other night; we were good
tonight. Hopefully we'll be good the next night."
Georgetown Player Quotes
D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera • Freshman • Guard
On playing in front of family...
"I definitely wanted to perform well in front of my family. I had a lot of people come
down, cousins, aunties, my parents. It was just very exciting to see them and just to
play in front of them again. It's been a couple years since I've gotten to come back to
the city and actually play, so it's been a good experience."
Otto Porter Jr. • Sophomore • Forward
On getting out to a quick lead...
"It was key to come out from the tip, get that quick start and jump right on. And
that's kind of what our game plan was, and we just went from there."
On keeping calm when Notre Dame cut the lead to three...
"Like coach said, we knew they were going to make their run, and we just tried to
stay composed. Just continue to play. We don't want to get rattled or anything like
that, and I think we did a very good job at that."
Notre Dame Player Quotes
Jack Cooley • Senior • Forward
On Georgetown's hot shooting...
"We would guard them well for stretches, and then they would hit a tough shot.
And we didn't brush it off and keep going like we've done in the past in other games
where other teams battled back. And that didn't allow us to get anything going. Once
we got [the deficit] to three and they got that offensive rebound and we kind of got
deflated by that and they hit a three, that was just big."
On Georgetown's hot start...
"They started off really hot, and when a team shoots like that--when they're a
team that plays defense like they do and shoots like that--you've got to match their
defensive intensity. And we didn't do that tonight."
On playing after getting the deficit to three...
"Once you get it to three, that offensive rebound that came up that resulted in
another three and brought it to six, I mean that was really the turning point of
the game. If we would have gotten that rebound, who knows what would have
happened."
Jerian Grant • Junior • Guard
On putting the loss behind them...
"You have to. You just got to play the next game. It's a long season in the BIG EAST.
We're still battling, so we just got to bounce back."
On trying to mount a comeback...
"We couldn't get the basket or the stop that we needed. We're just leaving those
plays out there. It was one of those games where we couldn't do what we needed to
do. We climbed back in, but we couldn't get that rebound or that defensive stop that
we really needed."
On Georgetown forward Otto Porter...
"Tonight clearly he was the best player on the court. He can definitely do it all. He
was hitting his threes. And then we had to get out on him, and he would drive past
us. And he was posting the smaller guys, so he was doing it all tonight. Hopefully
we'll be able to see him again and have a better game plan."
Eric Atkins • Junior • Guard
On what they do defensively that is so difficult...
"They are a good half-court defensive team. They are a really long defensive team,
with a lot of guys that are 6'4" and above. I think we had a few looks from three, but
really couldn't hit anything tonight."
On approaching tomorrow as a captain of the team...
"We get in here tomorrow morning. I think we need to turn up our defensive
intensity. They really bullied us, and did whatever they wanted. If we are going to
play like that, then we are going to come in last in the league. We need to get tougher
defensively."
On feel for why things turned after Cincinnati...
"I don't think I could put my finger on it at all, on what's changed. If anything, we
all got a little cocky after starting in the BIG EAST 2-0. We need to all come back to
earth and say to ourselves that we aren't that good right now. We need to get in the
gym tomorrow morning and get after it."
On poor shooting being a wake-up call against St. John's...
"It should have been. The reason I say is that we are cocky is because we didn't come
out defensively without any type of toughness. That's my sense of us thinking we are
all high and mighty. I just think we need to get back to the basics."
Pat Connaughton • Sophomore • Guard/Forward
On sense of what's happened since Cincinnati...
"I'm not really sure. We just need to buckle down and defend. I think that is what's
hurt us and has been the reality of the last four games. That's something we need to
rely on when our shots aren't falling."
On coming out cocky...
"I don't really know what it is. I think it is something that we have to look over film
and stuff like that. The last couple of games that we lost, we haven't been able to get
the stops when we've needed to. Tonight, we got into the single digits many times,
but we couldn't get that push. Whether it isn't that we aren't making shots or what
it is, I think it is just a matter of working on the defensive end. You have to give it to
them because they hit big shots at big times and we didn't."
On getting shots falling from mechanics or mental...
"It might be more mental. I mean everyone's mechanics are good at this level. We
got here for a reason. We can't think too much about but need to keep shooting and
keep working to get better shots."
