Jan. 19, 2011

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Notre Dame Men’s Basketball
Notre Dame vs. Cincinnati
January 19, 2010
Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center – Notre Dame, Ind.

Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey

Opening Statement…
“I thought that we had to defend to win tonight. Certainly the first half defense was the key considering we held them to 19 points. The three-point line defense was important because we wanted to hug their perimeter guys and make (Yancy) Gates and their other big guys play one on one in the post. It feels great to get back home and get another league win to be 4-3 (in conference).”

On Carleton’s early return…
“It was all based on Carleton’s feel. We were being very conservative in terms of him coming back. But he was feeling a lot better on Sunday and then jumped into practice on Monday and went the whole practice. Then on Tuesday it was his body that was sore, but not his hamstring so he went the whole practice again on Tuesday. We decided that we would see how he felt today so that he could give us a lift off the bench because we missed him. On Monday, though, when he got in practice the energy level and the confidence went through the roof. I thought that was exactly what he did tonight. He came off the bench and gave everyone a lift, including our fans. Of course the three point shot on that out of bounds play was helpful too. I thought that he looked good tonight, but lets get him some more reps on Thursday and Friday and then we got another game on Saturday.”

On Ty Nash and Carleton Scott playing together…
“I think that Ty really relies on him. They are kind of a tag team offensively and defensively. It was certainly uplifting to Ty having Carleton back tonight.”

On the focus moving forward…
“I think the focus is going to be on a group that really thumped us not too long ago and I’m sure they will be coming after us again. They (Marquette) played the best defense against us all year with St. Johns a close second. They’re going to come in ready to harass us.”

Cincinnati Head Coach Mick Cronin

Opening Statement…
“Mike’s a good coach, and they’re a great team. We missed our first four lay-ups. They’re hard enough to beat especially when we don’t make our lay-ups. When you hold them to 66, we have a chance to win. But our team was pretty inept. They do a good job with their defense. They’re a great team at home.”

On Carleton’s early return…
“I wasn’t surprised to see him back. I saw him warming up an hour and a half before the game. When I walked out, he was dunking. Good for him. He’s a great kid.”

On Notre Dame’s performance tonight compared to their recent losses on the road…
“I only watch their home games. There’s no point in watching their road games because we’re not playing them on the road. We’re playing them at home, and this is who they are here. We would have had to have played really well just like the other teams that come here, but we didn’t play well. They’re a hard team to come back against, and I was proud of that. I was surprised that we cut their lead from 17 to five because they’re hard to come back against.”

Notre Dame Players

Carleton Scott – Senior – Forward
On getting minutes tonight…
“Well, yesterday the guys have been counseling me on it. I called my parents, everybody to get my head right. It started feeling good two days ago. Just getting in practice and good reps, and it was feeling good.”

On feel during first time back out there…
“It felt good. The adrenaline kicked in, so my mind was just focused on the game and my assignments.”

On feeling when you hit the first three…
“It was just a weight lifted off my shoulder. I was so anxious to get back out there and to hit the first one; it was great.”

On the impact in the first run of the game…
“The run started before I got in and that’s a testament to what we do here. I just jumped in and was a part of it. My shot fell and the defense was good.”

On future games…
“It feels great. I should be back Saturday for good.”

Tyrone Nash- Senior – Forward
On having Carleton Scott out there…
“Great. Seeing 34 out there. It was definitely an uplifting experience. I drove to the lane, passed it out to him, and it was like old times again. (He was) definitely missed.”

On seeing Carleton in the last couple of practices…
“It was up in the air with me, whether he was playing or not. He went and put his cape on and hit a three. I was definitely excited about that.”

Eric Atkins – Freshman – Guard
On others bringing the ball up…
“It takes a lot of pressure off me. I think all the teams know that I’m the main ball handler, and teams have been denying me the ball. When others get it, it definitely takes the pressure off me. I start to get it at half court so we can start running the offense. It’s a big help.”

On Ben Hansbrough helping out…
“He helps me out a lot. When I don’t know what’s going on, he helps me and I help him.”

On getting back on track…
“It’s huge. I think our fans were a big help tonight. To have all the students back was great. To finally get a win, that two game losing streak felt like forever since we had a long break in between. This weekend is a big game, especially because of how they beat us. Hopefully our gym can be jumping again.”

Ben Hansbrough – Senior – Guard
On the performance of Carleton Scott…
“He was great tonight, for the limited time he got. Fifteen minutes. We’re slowly working him back in, slowly in practice. I think he’ll be closer to full against Marquette. He came out an hour and a half before the game and told me he was trying it out to see how it felt. I was very excited to see he was the first one of the bench. He’s a big player for our team.”

On finding confidence after the last two games…
“I think confidence is a thing Coach Brey did a great job of instilling in us. He is so good at developing confidence with his players. And another thing we have is perseverance; we understand what it takes to win in this league. You’re going to get your butt beat sometimes, but when you come back at home, you especially have to be able to regroup and get your team back together. That’s what we did tonight.”

Tim Abromaitis – Senior – Forward
On coming back from two losses in a row…
“I think it was there all along. There were just a couple bumps in a row. There were a couple uncharacteristic games for us, but I think we were ready to go tonight. We were confident going into it, and I think it showed.”

On the other team holding on throughout the game…
“They made some pretty tough threes there down the stretch, and that’s going to happen in some of these games. I think in general we rebounded pretty well. We played defense for the most part pretty well. We kept pretty good control of the ball. So I think those things combined to help us hold on.”

On the game’s slow start…
“I think we knew it was going to click at some point. We just had to wait for our moment, be patient, keep taking shots, and I think we did. I think we did a good job of playing pretty unselfishly and getting good looks.”

Scott Martin – Senior – Forward
On returning home after two losses…
“I think we’re just so comfortable here, so that was great tonight. We were excited to play. We were hungry, and there’s nothing better than playing at home. That’s how it was tonight.”

On the key to tonight’s win…
“Free throw shooting and rebounding, I think. We were tied in rebounding, but we kind of gave up a few at the end there. So in crunch time we were up. We hit some free throws at the end at that really helped us hold on.”

On Carleton Scott returning…
“It definitely helped. It’s a boost. He’s a great player for us, and he’s one of our leaders. When a leader goes down, we had to rally and now he’s back. We can keep moving ahead and we’re excited.”

On playing Marquette again this weekend…
“It’s definitely a big game, but every home game is a big game. You have to win your home games. We’re excited to play them again. It’s going to be a challenge for us. They’re a very good team, and they proved that. We’re just excited to get another crack at them and play as hard as we can.”

Cincinnati Players

Sean Kilpatrick – Freshman – Guard
On the slow start to tonight’s game…
“We always start off sluggish in the first half. That is something that we have to stop doing. When we do stuff like that we tend to get down a lot, point-wise. Tonight we just didn’t play to our full potential.”

On playing tight at the start of the game…
“I’d say that layups got us tonight. Our free throws got us. Also, just giving up layups. We can’t go on the road, especially against a ranked team, expecting to just win.”

On the frustration of getting down early…
“It is frustrating because I know that I can provide for my team, but I have to continue to keep cheering on. I can’t just stop cheering on because I’m not on the court at some point. Whatever coach tells me to do, that is what I’ll do. I’m a guy that plays with a high motor, and a lot of energy. I’ll go all out.”

On playing aggressive…
“That is the goal. This is the reason why we are in the BIG EAST. If you don’t play aggressive, then you will get embarrassed. We didn’t get embarrassed today, but in the first half we did. We need to stick together. We need to make sure we keep doing this the right way. St. John’s is a whole different mindset.”