ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 13, 2024

Micah Shrewsberry

Tae Davis

Markus Burton

Capital One Arena

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Postgame Press Conference

Wake Forest 72, Notre Dame 59.

MICAH SHREWSBERRY: Credit to Wake Forest. Just an old veteran team that was trying to get into the NCAA Tournament, and that's what they looked like. That's how they played. I thought they started the game with a little more juice than we did and got to a quick 8-0 run, and we just played from behind the whole game.

I'm proud of our guys for their fight, for their effort, not just today but this whole season.

When I look at -- when I get on the internet and I look at Ken Pom, I see No. 361 in the country in roster continuity, we're No. 357 in the country in experience. You start three freshmen and two sophomores in the second round of the ACC Tournament game against a team that's got a few fifth-year seniors and some older guys.

Just proud of our effort, proud of our fight.

Q. Micah, you talked just before the game and you said that the guys had great energy. When the energy wasn't great early, how difficult did that make it for 40 minutes today?

MICAH SHREWSBERRY: I mean, you just can't. You've got to use all your effort to come back. I don't know if it was energy early. You talk about desperate teams, that's what -- they lose this game, they're not going to the NCAA Tournament. Everybody knows that probably for a fact. So this is a game they had to have, and it looked like a veteran team that understood that, that knew that, that knew how they had to start this game to come out on top.

Q. Second half shooting, can you shed some light on what the problems were just getting shots to fall?

MICAH SHREWSBERRY: I thought they did a good job defensively. I need to go back and maybe re-teach how we're guarding because I think the level of physicality that people have used or freedom of movement, I guess, isn't a thing anymore because Markus and Braeden don't get freedom of movement. They're not allowed to move, they're not allowed to cut, so we need to change how we guard them, and we need to not let people run and cut. I'm teaching our guys the wrong thing by thinking I'm teaching the right thing. Maybe I need to change our strategy and hold and grab and not let people cut because that's what people did to us all year.

If you take those two guys away, it's a big part of what we do, and people just got physical with them and didn't let them run off screen, didn't let them cut.

We got to the basket some, missed some, got to the free-throw line and made a good amount, but they just make it tough on you.

It's not against the rules because it's not called, right, so maybe I need to change my strategy of how we're guarding people, and maybe next year you'll see us do the same thing.

Q. Tae and Markus, what kind of a step was this season for you? To win a game here in the ACC Tournament with Micah's first year, what kind of step did this program take?

MARKUS BURTON: I think it's a big step for us knowing that we're all new, we're all new to this, and we're all young, too, so it's a bigger picture in the long run, but it was a great season. We did what we were supposed to. We fought all season long, and just know we'll be back.

TAE DAVIS: I agree with him. It's motivation. It puts a fire and a fuel in you. Honestly, I think we took great steps this year.