What Opposing Coaches Said About Notre Dame Basketball Last Season
BlueandGold.com rounded up significant quotes from several opposing coaches before and after games against Notre Dame basketball from last season. Many opponents had positive things to say about head coach Mike Brey and the Fighting Irish players and also provided insights on the challenges of playing Notre Dame in 2019-20.
Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski
On having Brey as an assistant coach at Duke from 1987-95:
“Mike Brey and I are obviously really close and a number of the banners you see up here. He was my final four assistant coach. While he was here, we just went to Final Fours and won two national championships.”
On the 94-60 win over Notre Dame Feb. 15:
“After the game, he said it was like [playing] pick up for a while. We just hit everything. They were playing really well in the first half, and I was proud of my guys because we were ready to play. In the first half, I thought we outplayed them for 13 minutes and they outplayed us for seven. We were both playing well, but we’d have a spurt, then they’d have a spurt. Spurt, spurt then we had a spurt.
“Then it was half time, which was a good thing because they were ready to have another spurt. In the second half, we just exploded.”
North Carolina’s Roy Williams
On the 77-76 loss to Notre Dame Feb. 17:
“Congratulations to Mike and his club for the toughness they showed down the stretch. [Prentiss] Hubb really hurt us, we couldn’t keep him in front of us. He was driving to the basket every time and then all of a sudden they started making some threes as well. We turned it over two times. One time on the far side: Leaky. One time Garrison inside. That gave them more energy as well.
“Last shot, I thought Garrison [Brooks] really played John [Mooney] really well. John’s a load to have to guard. He missed the shot and Rex [Pflueger] got Chris [Keeling] and just pushed him right out of the way.
“I’m not saying that in a negative manner. He wanted the ball a lot more and got a big-time rebound for them and threw it out and they made a huge shot. It doesn’t feel good for us. It doesn’t feel good at all.”
On what allowed Notre Dame to win a close game:
“The whole thing was they were tougher. They made plays down the stretch and I really think you just have to congratulate those guys for making those plays, making threes.”
Indiana’s Archie Miller
On the challenge of playing Notre Dame:
“They’re as good as there is in college basketball at not fouling. They’re disciplined. They don’t play a ton of guys, so they have good chemistry. They’re smart and very intelligent in their approach. It’s something they do a really good job of and it’s, obviously, something we aspire to do a really good job of as well. To play smart and to play hard without fouling is huge. Not only are you keeping your best players on the floor, but you’re keeping the other team off of the line.”
On why Notre Dame was so dangerous offensively:
“You’re not going to shut teams down that are that skilled, especially when you have frontcourt players like they do who can shoot it. At times, they’re very difficult to guard because they're random. They run good motion and they play together, so it’s not as if you’re defending certain players in certain set plays or something like that.
“They get them in transition, they get them after a lot of movement with their motion and they’re hard to guard. They’ve been like that for a long time with Coach Brey and his system and how he likes to play.”
Louisville’s Chris Mack
On the 67-64 win over Notre Dame Jan. 11:
“I thought Notre Dame got in a really good rhythm. They were rolling to the rim, your helping and they’re skipping it. They shot better in the second half and it just felt like Malik [Williams], if we switched with him, could probably do the job on their guards, for the most part.
“We got a little nervous that they’d roll our guards into the post with Mooney, but we fought and we were able to come up with enough stops. I thought out last two possessions defensively were top notch.”
Pittsburgh’s Jeff Capel
On the 80-72 loss to Notre Dame Feb. 5:
“Congrats to Notre Dame. They’re a really good offensive team. They got into a rhythm shooting the basketball, especially in the first half and that gave them separation. You can’t allow a team that shoots it so well to make seven threes in the first half. I thought that’s what hurt us. We were never able to fully recover from there.”
Clemson’s Brad Brownell
On the 61-57 loss to Notre Dame Feb. 9:
“Credit to Notre Dame. Pflueger, obviously, stepped up and made huge plays. He hasn’t been scoring very much and he hit four threes, gave them a great lift and that’s what good experience teams do: they find a way and they found a way tonight.”
Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim
On Notre Dame big man John Mooney after he was left off of the 25-player midseason watch list for the Wooden Award:
“It was just a great game. I would like to say that, and I don’t get involved too much with this type of stuff, but if John Mooney is not one of the top 25 players in the country, then I don’t know anything about college basketball. Literally nothing. It’s absolutely a joke that he’s not one of the top 25.
“… What Mooney’s done is absolutely remarkable. He’s a great player and it’s amazing that he’s not recognized.”
Virginia’s Tony Bennett
On a 50-49 overtime win over Notre Dame Feb. 11:
“They do some good stuff. They’ll sometimes do a dribble handoff because they had enough time to do a few things. They’ll keep on dribble handoffs, they’ll fake a dribble handoff and go. In that spot, just don’t give up anything too easy at the rim. Make them hit a tough shot. They threw a little drift pass to the corner.
“We missed free throws. We had some key turnovers down the stretch. They missed some open shots, but we’ll take it. We did fight and we battled and came up with a tough win. Both teams are playing well and are trending in the right direction. Maybe we didn’t play as well tonight, but both teams have been winning on a good trend. That was two teams that had some momentum and home court got us one.”
Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton
On the 73-71 win over Notre Dame on the road March 4:
“Coach Brey had his guys really, really ready to play. They were extremely patient on offense. They moved the ball and made the extra pass. They were determined they were going to get a good shot every possession down the court. What's amazing to me is how patient they were and how many baskets they made with under five seconds on the shot clock.
“I’ve never been in a game where a team was executing almost flawlessly, to the point where they just made us work defensively and they had to make at least five or six baskets and, unfortunately, some of them were threes.”
Georgia Tech’s Josh Pastner
On the 80-72 loss to Notre Dame Feb. 1:
“First off, I want to give Coach Brey and his staff, their program great credit. They’re just a really, really good offensive team. Maybe the best offensive team in this league. They’re highly skilled, very well coached and you can't leave points on the board because they will make you pay for it based on their offensive skill set. They’re a good basketball team.”
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