SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Mike Brey has always had “a guy.’’
Someone he turns to during a game to give him feedback and to deliver messages.
Someone who’s part floor general, part mind-reader.
Someone he can trust.
Following an 82-70 victory over Southern Indiana (1-2) at Purcell Pavilion on Wednesday night, Notre Dame’s head coach rattled off several “guys” he’s had like that in his 23 years at ND — guys like Chris Quinn, Kyle McAlarney and Tory Jackson, to name a few.
Through three wins in three games, Trey Wertz has been that guy this season.
“I need a guy like that, that's running the team and I can talk to,“ Brey said following the game.
“He's calm, and he sees the floor, and I just love his demeanor. I think his demeanor just helps all of us stay calm offensively.”
By the time players are in their fifth year of college basketball, coaches pretty much know what they’re getting. And then sometimes there’s a surprise, and Wertz has been that for Brey and the Irish.
Averaging just four points and 18 minutes last season, the slim 6-foot-5 Wertz, one of six grad students on the roster, is on an early roll. He has been in double figures scoring each game and led the Irish with 20 against the Screaming Eagles on 6-for-12 shooting – 3-for-9 from 3-point range and 5-of-6 on free throws. He also went turnover-free in 35:30 while handling the ball a big chunk of the time.
Notre Dame’s lead grew to 21 early in the second half, but as the Irish misses piled up, the Screaming Eagles got back into it, getting to within eight at 51-43 at the 12:22 mark.
Each time Southern Indiana made a mini-run, Wertz responded on offense with a drive to the bucket, a floater in the lane or a few free throws. He had 11 points over the last 11:31 and kept the Irish comfortably ahead, if not in complete command.
“I think you can kind of feel the game start to shift,“ Wertz said about Southern Indiana’s rally. “I'm someone with the ball in my hands a lot, and a coach has trusted me to make decisions and I feel pretty comfortable shooting the shot in that situation. So it's just taking it with confidence, and I've been able to knock down some shots these first three games.
“I know last year wasn't the best scoring output for me, but I worked hard all summer and my confidence is there now. … I mean, I think I've always been able to get into the paint, but I think I was always looking to pass first. Now when it's (in the paint), I’m looking to score first and then if something opens up, pass it.”
Wertz’s surge has come at a good time. He averaged only 18 minutes a year ago and now it’s over 30. The steady hand he’s provided is especially timely considering the knee injury to grad transfer Marcus Hammond, who figured to lend a big hand in the backcourt. Hammond has yet to play but could next week to help spread some of those minutes among a primarily seven-player rotation.
Southern Indiana, a school of 9,700 from Evansville, Ind., playing in its first season as a Division I team, had given host Missouri a tussle before falling 97-91 and handled Southern Illinois 71-53 before visiting the Irish.
Head coach Stan Gouard didn’t like his club’s vibe early on Wednesday night.
“I didn’t think we were ready,” Gouard said. “I felt like we were flat. I had a funny feeling we were going to come out and not shoot well.“
Southern Indiana started 6-for-24 and fell behind by as many as 17 a few times in the first half, including 42-25 at the break.
Nate Laszewski, the reigning ACC Player of the Week, had his third straight double-double. He had 11 points and four rebounds in the first half and finished with 18 and 10, respectively.
Brey figured with the departure of Paul Atkinson, Blake Wesley and Prentiss Hubb, it would be Laszewski’s time. It has to be.
“I told him ‘The stage has been cleared out for you to be the star,’” Brey said. ”And it took me time to explain that to him. And I was like, ‘We love all those guys, but they need to go for you to be the guy.’ And I love that he's grabbed it.’’
The Irish needed to start to make some strides defensively and there were some signs of progress on Wednesday night.
Starting the day last in the ACC by allowing 78.5 points and a 48.5 field-goal shooting is worth worrying about, so calming some of those numbers Wednesday night with a strictly man-to-man approach was encouraging.
“I think we probably put it together a little better on both ends of the floor tonight than the previous two games,” Brey said. “Defensively, we were especially worried about them making a bunch of 3s, like they did at Missouri, and we were a little better. And I thought we had some really efficient offensive possessions in the second half.’’
What was typical for Notre Dame, which started the day first in the ACC in field-goal percentage (56.3) and free-throw percentage(87.5), was the offense.
The Irish went 23-for-28 ( 82%) from the line and shot 25-of-53 (47.2%) from the field. As usual, there was scoring balance with Dane Goodwin (14), Cormac Ryan (13) and JJ Starling (10) in double figures.
The Screaming Eagles got big games from grad student Trevor Lakes (21), who went 5-for-7 from 3-point range, and 6-9 senior Jacob Polakovich (16 points, 7-for-10 shooting), who was playing in his first game following foot surgery.
What’s likely to need to shift for Notre Dame to have big success in the ACC is to reverse the turnover situation.
The Irish started the day at minus-4.5 in turnovers per game, last in the ACC, and had 10 to Southern Indiana’s seven.
The Irish host Lipscomb at 7 p.m. EST on Friday. It will mark the third game over a six-day stretch.
NOTRE DAME 82, SOUTHERN INDIANA 70 Box Score
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