Mike Brey Notebook: Moving Forward
Notre Dame was hit with another blow on Thursday afternoon when Mike Brey announced senior point guard Matt Farrell would be out indefinitely with a bone bruise in the ankle he sprained against NC State earlier in the month.
Farrell will miss at least the next two games against Virginia Tech and Duke before being reevaluated next week. The senior already missed three-and-a-half games with the sprained ankle before returning for the Louisville and Clemson games.
“He’s past frustration,” Brey said of Farrell. “He’s almost shaking his head. I give him credit he’s handling it pretty darn well. He knows he can help us, but he can’t help us if he’s dragging that thing around … We’ll take our time with it.”
This comes after freshman wing DJ Harvey suffered a bone bruise in his knee against Louisville and was expected to miss four weeks. Brey mentioned Thursday there’s a possibility he’s ready for NC State next Saturday, but that remains to be seen.
Notre Dame is now — again — without its top two players as senior forward Bonzie Colson continues to rehab his fractured foot. It seems to be one-after-another in terms of injuries for the Irish.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had it like this,” Brey said yesterday. “As I told our staff, maybe a week ago, we can’t complain. We’ve been pretty darn luck on the injury front and having a good run avoiding some stuff. It’s a cycle. It really is as long as I’ve been it …
“Can you handle it? It’s been hard for us to handle it, but the group of guys that are healthy continue to scratch and fight and they’ll continue to do that. It’s who they are.”
Even though the injuries can cause a team to feel down, Brey isn’t worried about his group.
“I really think there is none of that,” Brey explained. “I want to be very positive with them and keep helping them. Especially the guys that are kind of new to the party. They are doing some good things. In the midst of not winning, I don’t want them to feel like they’re letting us down.
“I want to highlight what John Mooney is doing or Nik Djogo's doing or Elijah Burns coming off the bench and giving us good stuff against Clemson.”
Brey mentioned the team will lean on sophomore guard TJ Gibbs, junior guard Rex Pflueger and senior big man Martinas Geben for leadership and to carry the team offensively.
MOVING FORWARD
Notre Dame now has eight scholarship players available which includes former walk-on forward Matt Gregory. For Brey, continuing to play well on defense and rebounding will be keys for this group without Farrell.
“We can’t let up on that end because that’s putting us in positon,” Brey said. “We’ve not been able to score enough especially on the road … We’re getting some pretty good looks and you got to make a couple of those to get over the hump and get a win.
“Seven guys with Austin Torres and Elijah Burns coming off the bench. I even mentioned to Matt Gregory and Liam Nelligan that they need to be ready if we have to go that far here in the short term.
“Can we make a few more plays down the stretch on the offensive end to help us. Our offensive rebounding is imperative because we’re not as good as a first shot-making group right now. We had 11 offensive rebounds against Clemson. We need more. Our goal should be 15 per game. We’ve hit that a couple times and it’s helped us. Getting second shots is really a key for us.”
The Irish will need to find a way to improve on the offensive end in order to have a chance to weather the injury story.
IMPROVING OFFENSIVELY
Moving forward, Djogo will likely take Farrell’s spot in the lineup and earn his first career start against the Hokies tomorrow. Mooney should also see the start as well which would be his second.
Notre Dame is averaging 66.3 points per game in ACC play and will need to improve that number in order to compete in the league moving forward and earn an NCAA bid.
“I don’t want to totally reinvent stuff,” Brey said of how to improve. “I think throwing it into the post more helps us more and let some guys score. Even John Mooney posting up some because he has some footwork down there. I want to throw it down to Martin too …
“Our initial movement has been pretty good. One of the things that I’ve tried to talk about is ball screening too early because that kind of stalls us if we don’t move it for a while before we ball screen. Ball screening for TJ and Rex will be important for us.”
Djogo is averaging 4.8 points and 2.4 rebounds over his last five games playing 22.4 minutes. Overall, the sophomore shot 34.8 percent (8-of-23) during that stretch including 31.3 percent (5-of-16) from three-point range.
“He needs to take it,” Brey said of Djogo. “He probably didn’t get as many, but he needs to take his shot. He needs to drive too because he can get fouled. He’s very good moving with out and we like how he cuts … Certainly, if he has open looks he’s got to take them. He and John cannot turn down anything that is a good look. I’ve tried to emphasize that with them this week.”
REVERSING MOMENTUM
With a losing streak that is up to four games and injuries, positive momentum would go a long way for an Irish team clinging to an NCAA Tournament bid per ESPN (last four in).
Getting back to .500 in league play could be a huge boost and confidence builder for the team.
“We could use some good news in there when we come off the floor at 10 o’clock on Saturday,” Brey said. “No question. You get one then you can kind of turn things sometimes … The one-game win streak can change the mentality a little bit. If we can get to 4-4 in this league on Saturday given what’s happened, that would feel like 7-1 quite frankly …”
Brey and the Irish are aware things need to change quickly with March inching closer and closer.
“Can we keep this thing around .500 or a little under?” Brey said. “That’s as good as it gets. I’m very realistic. If we can’t? Then we’re not part of March Madness. It’s real simple and I think all of our guys know the reality of it.”
INJURY UPDATES
On Thursday, Brey provided updates on Colson, Harvey and sophomore big man Juwan Durham, who is sitting out after transferring from Connecticut. Durham suffered a wrist injury earlier in the season during practice.
Colson
“They x-ray this thing probably in early February to see how it is calcifying. It won’t be earlier than eight weeks. What’s realistic? Does he play a little against Virginia in early March? We do we get him into some practices and play him a little bit against Virginia and have him ready for the tournament? That’s probably best case.”
Harvey
“He’s on the bike getting range of motion again. We won’t have him for these two. Is there a chance you have him for NC State? Possibly. I think that he can get the full range of motion and ride the bike hard is a good first step. We’re hopeful we maybe have him back next week.”
Durham
“He got a little stronger … He lost some of that because he couldn’t lift weights. Probably understanding how to keep it simple, play and play a little closer to the bucket. I think he wanted to be a little bit of a jump shooter and face-up guy. I think he understand to be around the basket and block shots.
“I’m always after him to block shots … I think that is something he can give us … He was pretty good yesterday. We scrimmaged a little and he was pretty good. It will be good to get his strength back now that he can work out.”
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