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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2013Mike BreyPat ConnaughtonTom KnightNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK NOTRE DAME – 69 COACH BREY: Any postseason win is a great win, and I loved how we got off to a good start. I thought that was important, especially offensively. We were flowing pretty good. Both of these guys gave us a great punch on the offensive end, and I thought, from a defensive standpoint, our position defense was good enough to win. They put some game pressure on us, and we're thrilled to escape and play tomorrow night. Q. Mike, you're waiting for this from Pat for a while? He kind of had it in him. COACH BREY: Yeah, he's got a great stroke. We need him to be aggressive. The one thing about Pat that's been something that is a trait of his is, when the lights are the brightest and the stakes are really high, he's really, really good. He's such a gamer. I think this kind of catapults him a little bit. I told him, if he turns down a shot, I'm going to get a technical because I'm going to tackle him during the game if he turns down any more shots during the rest of the postseason. Q. What was it that got him all his open shots, the focus on the inside? COACH BREY: I think we have a team that really can pass the ball, and we have two guards that really can find you. Jerian and Eric did a good job of getting in there. Our bigs can pass it. We find a guy that's open. Mike's been good at that throughout the year. Tonight he really cashed in on it. Q. Pat, what was falling for you? Was it a matter of just having the stroke tonight? PAT CONNAUGHTON: I think it was something that I needed to work on. Something that moving without the ball to get to those open spots so those guards could find me easier, make it a little easier on myself to get open looks. Q. Tom, you talked the other day about how important it was for you to get off to a fast start. Did you feel like you were really ready to hit the ground running when the game started? TOM KNIGHT: I came out for the games wanting to give energy where the team needed. If it was rebounds or scoring, that's what I was going to try to do, and today was scoring. I'm going to try to work off of that, just hit the ground running every game. Q. Mike, Rutgers obviously had scoring troubles this season, but when you saw what they did last night against DePaul, did that change your game plan at all? COACH BREY: I was concerned. What we did a good job of is not let them really get going from the arc. Those two guys knocking down threes would have changed the whole complexion. What we gave up was some inside stuff. We didn't help so much. We hugged the perimeter. Overall, over the course of time, that paid its dues against us. They've got‑‑ I love their personnel with what they have coming back. That front line is physical. They've got good guards. Get Carter back. They're a heck of a team. Q. Mike, any thoughts about Marquette, longtime rival? COACH BREY: The big thought is they thumped us early. We did not get off to a very good start, and it came down to defending their bigs. Their bigs beat us up. I just talked to our guys in there, challenging our four big guys. We have to do a better job establishing our post presence defensively and offensively against Marquette. Q. What's it been like to navigate sort of the ups and downs, having a good shooting night? Maybe a lull here, coming back the last couple of games? What's it been like navigating that? PAT CONNAUGHTON: I think that's something my team has helped me with a lot. The chemistry on this team, everybody likes each other and picks each other up. That's helped me keep the confidence and keep shooting. That's something they've been on me to do. That's helped me get through the times where I wasn't shooting the ball well and needed to work on it in the gym. Q. Mike, did you tell your team to pack for the whole week? Do you expect to be here all week? COACH BREY: We expect to be here a while, no question. We love New York City. I'll take that over South Bend for a while, so we're going to stay. Q. You talk about the maturity of your team being real key this week. What's it tell you about the way you took two or three real big hits in the second half and hung in there. COACH BREY: What I told them is the first two media time‑outs or the called time‑outs by Rutgers, I thought we had such a great poise about us when we started the game. I said, we're kind of playing like men. We were really mature and poised, and as you said in the second half, they're coming at us. We made great plays out of time‑outs. We defended. We had putbacks. We had great rebounds. We made big free throws. We made big threes tonight. That's something I'd love to see us ride. I think we're a team that could shoot the ball better than we shot it from the arc throughout the year. I would love to see this jump start us throughout the year. It's a great weapon for us. JOHN PAQUETTE: Notre Dame, thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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