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MAUI JIM MAUI INVITATIONAL

November 22, 2017

Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii

Notre Dame - 67, Wichita State - 66

THE MODERATOR: We now welcome your 2017 Maui Jim Maui Invitational champion, Notre Dame. Coach Mike Brey, Bonzie Colson, and Matt Farrell. Congratulations. Your thoughts on tonight's game.

MIKE BREY: What a great college game for November. I thought two really good teams. They are really good. We couldn't guard them man-to-man. Thank God our zone got us back into things. But I'm really proud of our group. You could tell we have some guys that have played in big games and have won together. For us to make a bunch of plays in the last 20 seconds to steal a win, you know, I can't say I'm surprised, because it's a group that's won a lot together. We said we wanted to have our name up on this wall. We felt our program was one of those programs now that deserved to be on the wall on the Maui wall here. I'm thrilled that it will be there, and we'll be back in four years, Dave, to check it out when it's up on the wall. Maybe there will be a picture of me with a T-shirt on up there.

Q. So many plays that were big. What is the one that stands out for you guys? A ton of them, but which one stands out the most for you guys?
BONZIE COLSON: I think those free throws by Marti. Marti's been grinding throughout this whole year. It's great to see him come down and show his heart and pride and make those two free throws for our program. That was huge for us. We battled throughout the whole game. We knew it was going to come down to game situations. There have been a lot of those throughout the year. Our first practice we welcomed game situations. Came down to our principles, and it was a great win for us.

MATT FARRELL: We've got guys that are fearless. Confident guys. I don't know if you can say it was one play. Whoever was in the game was playing hard. Just trying to make the right play. Marti was battling all game, rebounding. Rex was down there rebounding. Everybody just played really hard, and we played for each other. There is something special about this group. We have a lot of fun with each other. It's just a great vibe.

Q. Matt, on that inbounds play at the end, why is that play so effective? They have to guard you off that double screen and then the second guy comes. Why is that play so good for you guys?
MATT FARRELL: If I'm making shots, you've got to chase me off those daggers. That was a great play. Coach drew it up right away and we executed. Rex waited for it, but we've got veteran guys. Bonzie just said we've been in game situations before. We were confident when it got down to the last 20 seconds. It's just about making winning plays and trusting in each other. But Rex made a great read and we just played Notre Dame basketball.

Q. They led for nearly 38 minutes. You guys led for 22 seconds. What does that say about this team?
BONZIE COLSON: Yeah, we fight. We fight, and we give it all every game. We give a lot of credit to Wichita State. They came out hitting shots, but we stayed composed. Our talk in the locker room was phenomenal. Everybody coming together saying, hey, we've got to pick things up. We did that. We just came out fighting. It was going to come down to game situations. We stuck to our principles on both sides of the floor, and we were hungry for this. We wanted another trophy in our locker room, and it's great for our program.

Q. Matt and Bonzie, you played with so much confidence. During that entire time, 30 minutes, where you didn't have the lead, most of us never saw any doubt that you infused so much confidence in your teammates. What is it about your up bringing or what is it in your playing experience that's prepared you for a day like this?
MATT FARRELL: I think it helps that both our dads were coaches. We've been around. We know we're not going to get these games back. You've got to give it a hundred percent when you're on the floor every game, every play. That's what we're going to try to do. That's what we're doing as leaders all year. That's what we want the guys to do, to play hard every play and just keep communicating. That's just how we play. You've got to play that way.

BONZIE COLSON: Yeah, just go out there and try to have fun. Try to lead by example, being captains. Coach puts us in great situations so we can be successful on both sides of the floor. We just fight. We fight and play with everything we've got. We play like every game's our last. We just have confidence within our group.

Q. Matt, did you expect Shamat to get that last -- after the free throws were made with two seconds to go, did you expect Shamat to get that ball? And what was going through your mind defensively?
MATT FARRELL: Yeah, that's something we work on in practice almost every day. Whether it's three seconds or five seconds, we wanted to make sure they called it going the other way so they didn't have any momentum, but we needed to communicate. I think it came across, and me and C.J. communicated the switch. We were up there, and whoever was going to get it, we just had to make sure we catch them the other way, and we made a winning play. That's all it takes.

Q. Speaking of a winning play, 14 seconds left to come up with that giant steal. Can you just talk about what was going through your head? Right before that, when the crowd is going crazy, thinking the Wichita State side, thinking they might have snuck out with one?
MATT FARRELL: Yeah, I just spoke with Coach Brey about that, we had a flashback to Wisconsin where Demitrius had that steal, same thing, we were diamond press, he got a steal and laid it in and helped us win that game. And just to never give up. I saw him cutting and I just read it, tried to come from the back side and just tip it. Bonzie was right there, and it just worked out. You just never give up and you've got to play hard until the horn sounds.

Q. Matt, MVP, man. How does that come over you? I know it's a team thing, but only one guy can be MVP?
MATT FARRELL: Yeah, I know for a fact that I wouldn't have been able to do it without my team. Obviously, Coach Brey has been putting me in really good positions since I've been here. It's really easy for me when I'm playing with guys like Bonzie and other guys on the floor. This guy makes me so much better. It's surreal. It's a lot of fun having family here and some friends, and watching this growing up and coming out here ask winning it, it's a lot of fun. We're going to enjoy it.

Q. Bonzie, what do you think about Matt winning MVP?
BONZIE COLSON: Yeah, man, it's my brother, man. He deserves it. He played his heart out. It's great for him. He works hard every day, and he came out strong, just doing his thing. We need him to continue to do that, and he will. With our offense and how we play, it's easy for him when he can do his thing and create for others.

Q. Coach, how much does this victory, this title, this championship carry you guys forward? What can it do for you guys in these next few months as you get to March?
MIKE BREY: I think it's a big confidence builder when you can win an in-season tournament. We won the Legends Classic last year. But this is the premier tournament. To win the Maui Classic, this is the tournament. Everybody watches this one. And I bet a lot of people were watching with cocktails in their hands back east tonight. So it's a great confidence builder. When you have two guys like that, they make me a better coach. You talked about them being calm. They're flat out assassins, and you saw it tonight. They're killers. They're amazingly competitive. They've got that edge. I call it that I-95 edge. Guys that grow up on that I-95 corridor, a Jersey guy or Boston guy, there's something about those guys that have a little edge to them.

Q. Take me through that inbounds set. Three seconds left, and you knew they're expecting it to go to Farrell or Bonzie.
MIKE BREY: Yes. We never ran that look out of it. We never have run that. When you have smart guys and high basketball IQ guys, which this group is, Matty came off it first. He takes a lot of traffic. Then Bonzie came off it. The great thing I kept telling them, even though they were fired up was like don't rush to it. Let it develop. Marti did a great job diving hard. Rex is great taking the ball out of bounds, and you know what? I would have been shocked if Marti missed. He's playing too well. He's had a little bit of an up and down career. Of course, he won the gold medal with his country in August, in the world university games. He played so well for us, that he deserved a moment like that.

But we executed it, and Rex did a good job finding it and being patient. How about Rex tying the guy up. Having the presence of mind getting back in there and we've got the arrow? Between the steal, the tie up and the execution in what was that, a 20-second window. That's a lot going on right there. You've got to have smart guys, and we've got high basketball IQ guys.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
MIKE BREY: Divine intervention a little bit. Maybe the Lady on the Dome helped us with that one. I'll say this. When we took a left to come up the road before you come in the back, I saw a darn rainbow. I'm thinking that could be a little bit of the Luck of the Irish. You look for anything on game day, right, Coach Odom? You look for any sign possibility that maybe it's going to be a good day.

Q. Speaking of signs, you referenced the shirt and shorts and seeing how well it worked out for you here. Is there any chance you'd rock that going forward?
MIKE BREY: I tell you what, we play a lot south of the Mason-Dixon Line. I'm wondering if I should rock this on Tobacco Road.

No, I think I'll keep this look for Maui. I'm wondering if next year Maui will put in a dress code for coaches, or if more coaches will go with the practice look. I'm very interested to see. I also want to know how many of these shirts we sold in our book store the last three days, because they got a lot of pub, I hear.

Q. What is it about the zone that that Wichita State had problems with the first two days too? What was it that makes it bog down for them?
MIKE BREY: They run their stuff. Their man stuff is so downhill at you. It's coming down on you hard. And obviously the first 20 minutes and early in the second half, we couldn't deal with it, and we're a pretty good defensive team, I think. We just couldn't deal with it. They've got some men, old guys, physical guys, and we haven't played a lot of two-three zone this season.

So I said we've got to change their rhythm. A lot of times a team changes their rhythm when they're running their zone offense. Maybe they get a little bashful when they're shooting the jumpshot. We did a great job of rebounding out of it. But it was a key that we played pretty much our starters the whole second half. They know how to play together, and they really played that well off of each other and covered. It saved us, because we could not guard them man-to-man.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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