Mike Brey Notebook: Previewing Delaware
On Saturday, Mike Brey returns to the face the program that gave him his first head coaching gig: Delaware.
Brey coached the Blue Hens from 1995-2000 finishing with a 99-52 (65.6 percent) record including two NCAA Tournament bids.
To make Saturday’s matchup more interesting, Brey and Notre Dame (7-2) will be facing former long-time Irish assistant Martin Ingelsby, who took over Delaware (4-5) last season.
“I’ve really tried to prepare like it’s any road trip and focus a little bit more on us,” Brey said Thursday. “As it gets closer, there are more people wanting to check in and come by practice and come by the hotel. I want to be a good guy and do that, so I’m trying to handle that diplomatically.”
Ingelsby of course is applying some of what he learned under Brey to Delaware while adding in his own wrinkles. Brey is impressed with Delaware’s persistence and fight.
“I love what he’s doing with his team,” Brey stated. “I’ve watched a bunch now. They’re building it. They have really good, young perimeter players … Teams have gotten them down double-digits and look likes they’re going to pull away and beat them by 20 and then they close the gap. They’ve had spurts in the second half when they’ve been down double-digits: 17-2, 20-4.
“They have some guys that can score and take you off the dribble. We have some interesting matchup stuff because they’re smaller. Talk about the ultimate downshifter, they’ve played five guards at times. I’m really proud of how he’s building it. He’s been true to what he’s been trying to do there. He’s been playing the young guys to get them experience. I think we have to be ready for everybody to play above their head in that atmosphere."
Some of the Irish players have noticed the similarities between Brey's system and what Ingelsby is trying to implement at Delaware.
“A couple of our guys yesterday said ‘Coach we watched Delaware on the internet and they run all of our stuff.’ Some of that stuff is Martin’s. As I’ve always said, Martin and I conspired a lot with our offensive stuff. He has a great offensive mind … He’s got his own tweaks in there. I think he’s always had a good offensive mind and he’s trying to turn his young guards loose to play and play confident … These runs they’ve had in the second half is impressive. No one has been able to get away from them.”
BOUNCE BACK
Notre Dame has a challenge on Saturday with a road game following a tough home-loss to an unranked opponent in Ball State.
Drastic changes aren’t going to be part of the equation, but Brey and the Irish are still searching for answers.
“It’s interesting,” Brey said of his thought process the past 48 hours. “Wednesday is an off day, so you can’t really touch them. I thought we needed to go twice today. We didn’t go but for 30 minutes this morning. To kind of set a tone and not to see them for 48 hours after a tough loss is not great.
“My thing was ‘fellas, we win Maui and we rocket to fifth in the country and everybody kind of thinks we’re a finished product.’ I said, ‘we still have some things to answer and figure out. Let’s remember we’re still in the process' … I want to give all the credit to Ball State … Let’s tweak a few things as we get ready for Saturday. Not wholesale stuff and see if we can get a done.”
With a team led by multiple seniors, Notre Dame isn’t frustrated or worried about the bumps they’ve suffered through early in the season.
“There’s no question,” Brey said when asked about his senior leaders knowing team isn’t a finished product. “But you have to control the outside a little bit … Who is our bench? Who is coming off the bench for us? I think that’s going to be a work in progress for us for a while and we’ll still have to keep searching for that. I give our leadership credit in that they’re not panicking.”
BENCH PRODUCTION
Notre Dame got just six points from its bench on Tuesday night all coming from sophomore big man John Mooney.
Brey is planning to a do a little experimenting to potentially get more production from the group moving forward.
“One thing a John Mooney can do, and we do know he can rebound and he’s shown that, he has the ability to stretch and make a shot,” Brey explained. “That’s intriguing as well … He’s gotten better defensively. We don’t win Maui without DJ Harvey. Two weeks ago, he was pretty solid there. He’s having a little bit of the freshman here come the assignments, exams and there’s a lot going on. We have to get him in gear.
“Elijah Burns and Austin Torres aren’t off the radar or Nik Djogo. I think Nik is a guy I want to get in a while shirt the next two days and examine that as well.”
Djogo has played in six of the team’s game this season going over five minutes just one time (10 against Chicago State). The redshirt freshman could add another scoring threat off the bench if given an expanded role.
REBOUNDING
Ball State out-rebounded Notre Dame 40-27 on Tuesday including a 13-4 advantage on the offensive glass.
Brey was asked about the team’s effort on the glass and what the staff may change in order to be more productive in that area and now allow additional possessions by opponents.
“That was disappointing, the 13 put backs by them,” Brey said. “Our big guys are so good at getting out and hard-hedging, it does extend them. They’re out on the three-point line when they shot goes up and they’re recovering. Sometimes we’ve looked at a different ball screen coverage that keeps them jam. I think we have to have that ready. I thought that was my fault. We should have changed that in the second half …
“I think you have to stay on our guards about helping us. Rex Pflueger has shown he can rebound … TJ Gibbs can help us there. One of the reasons I like Johnny is he rebounds and DJ can rebound. Our block outs have to be better. We were sloppy and we were kind of watching.”
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