ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 12, 2024

Micah Shrewsberry

Braeden Shrewsberry

Tae Davis

Capital One Arena

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Postgame Press Conference

Notre Dame 84, Georgia Tech 80

MICAH SHREWSBERRY: First, I want to congratulate Georgia Tech. As I saw them in the bracket, it was a team I just didn't want to play them again. I got so much respect for Damon as a coach, his whole staff. They've played really, really well throughout this year, and he can coach, man. I knew it would be a really tough battle.

But proud of our guys, proud of their effort. When we had to dig in and come back, we made some big-time plays.

Q. Micah, what kept your guys together when Georgia Tech is making that run and you could have fallen apart but then you find the resolve to finish this off?

MICAH SHREWSBERRY: Maybe going through adversity all season. I don't think anything has come easy for us this whole season.

We've learned how to rally through it. I think we were scoring the ball pretty well, obviously when we weren't turning it over there late, but we were scoring it pretty well. And I just felt like at the end of the day -- they were scoring, as well, but I felt like at the end of the day, when it's time to get a stop, this is the group that can do it. That's what we did that last possession.

Q. Coach, I was curious what happened. Georgia Tech pressed you in the second half and created some turnovers that gave them momentum. What were you seeing during that stretch from your team?

MICAH SHREWSBERRY: They were being really aggressive with their double-teams. They were trapping some ball screens. They were running -- they're a good offensive rebounding team, and we were boxing out and maybe came up with it, but then we were getting a little casual with our rebounds, and they were stealing it from behind.

Human nature sometimes sets in. A team that is down really gets aggressive, and the team that's up sometimes takes their foot off the gas and starts to coast, and you see leads like that change. That's what happened.

So then everything starts going your way, like threes start falling. We were fouling and sending them to the free-throw line a little too much. They were getting offensive rebounds and some turnovers, and everything kind of snowballed, but we were able to kind of stymy it at the end.

Q. You kept Markus in with four fouls late. Just walk me through the thought process and what you saw from him on defense there.

MICAH SHREWSBERRY: They were doing a good job of attacking him defensively, but I thought being able to dribble the ball up the court was a good idea. So we had to roll the dice a little bit.

Q. For Braeden, you got loose a lot, three-point shots. What were you seeing that Georgia Tech was leaving you for you to spot up like that?

BRAEDEN SHREWSBERRY: I felt like just finding my spots on the court. My teammates did a good job of finding me in spots that I like, coming off and shooting, like, off staggers or in transition. I think they did a good job on me overall. I just got loose a couple times.

Q. Tae, I think you were on Naithan George last possession, you got the deflection. Describe what happened. Was that your assignment? Were you supposed to be with the 1 card? Second, how were you able to make that play?

TAE DAVIS: The coaches just made adjustments really throughout the game. I ended up on him. We was kind of working on that in practice, and it just translated late in the game.

Q. Working on what?

TAE DAVIS: Pick-and-roll defense.

Q. Talking about Damon and how he can really coach, talk about what you see in him and the work that he's done.

MICAH SHREWSBERRY: Yeah, just throughout the season -- obviously he and I both spent time in the Celtics organization, not at the same time. But even going back to his days at Pacific, what he did in the West Coast Conference, he's a good coach. They run good stuff. They play like an NBA system. He might not have all the pieces that he wants right now, but they're doing good things, and he's going to continue to add, and he's got good young freshmen.

But he puts you in a bind. He'll move people around. He'll do some different things offensively. It looks really similar. We try and do a lot of the same things. That's why I said I didn't want to play them because we're both adjusting to what -- we try and do something, he makes a counter move, and now we've got to try and counter.

That's what it becomes is a cat-and-mouse game with them. We've played three games, and every single one of them have been close because it's just two teams that -- just a lot of respect for each other and how each other plays.

It's going to be a good battle. Not always a fun battle but just a good battle here in the next few years going against those guys.

Q. Looking ahead, Wake Forest, what sort of challenge does that present to you and your players, and what excites you and what worries you?

MICAH SHREWSBERRY: Yeah. Good team. Obviously we just played them a couple of weeks ago at our place. They're a talented team. They're an explosive team.

When you have three guards that can all score it, but you have two good big guys, they kind of put you in a bind a little bit. We've got to get back and start preparing and figure out what we need to do to have success against them.

Playing a good team, I guess, is what frightens you, a talented team. But what excites me is we get a chance to play again tomorrow. That's really exciting. I would hate to be on the bus right now going home.