Dec. 28, 2006

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Rider vs. Notre Dame
Post-Game Quotes
December 28, 2006 o Joyce Center o Notre Dame, Ind.

Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey Quotes

General comments on the win…
“I was very proud of how prepared we were tonight. The team was really locked in and was not distracted by things. Our defense was very good against a team that is very good offensively and can shoot the basketball. Anytime you can get 23 assists, that shows you are unselfish. It was a nice effort and we want to keep it going.”

On the defense against Jason Thompson…
“We did a good job on him and had a number of people on him. We don’t get in foul trouble because we keep bringing in another guy and we want to make them earn it at the foul line. We want to challenge guys and play physical around the lane.”

On Kyle McAlarney’s game…
“I am so proud of him – starting with the Maryland game – the way he has quarterbacked our team and the way he understands how to hunt for his shot. He’s done a great job of controlling the tempo. We did a good job of finding him in that stretch where we kind of broke it open in the first half.”

On Rob Kurz…
“He has been solid as a rock, he’s machine-like. One thing that does not show up in the stat sheet is his great team defense. It’s a big weapon when we have the big guys who can make the long-distance shots out there.”

On Luke Harangody’s reserve role…
“Luke was great off the bench and has given us a scoring presence in the post. He continues to get comfortable in his role and with playing with his teammates.”

On Russell Carter adding to his strong season…
“Russell had a great game. He is doing a good job of not letting missed shots affect the rest of his game. His rebounding really got us going in the fist half and got us in transition.”

On the crowd…
“It was another great turnout tonight and – as I’ve said – this is a heck of a team to watch. The crowd helped us break away in the first half.”

Notre Dame Player Quotes

Sophomore Guard Kyle McAlarney On getting the selflessness of the team…
“With such an unselfish group, when someone gets in a rhythm and gets going, we know where to find them and we know who the ball is going to.”

Junior Forward Rob Kurz On getting a good rhythm early…
“Coach always wants us to get the inside game going early on, play inside out and get a rhythm going early in the game. I think we got some good inside baskets and that really helped to open up some driving lanes and jump shots for everybody.”

On attention being brought to him as a player…
“The thing about our team is that we have so many guys that are playing really well that it’s tough for anyone to focus on one guy. I’m thankful to play on a team with so many threats on the court.”

On first half rebounding…
“I think we did a great job in the first half. When shots are going in there aren’t too many rebounding opportunities. I’m just happy that we were playing really well offensively.”

Senior Guard Russell Carter On the flow of tonight’s game…
“That’s the flow we want to bring every game. Everyone was scoring and hitting shots. We were just playing together.”

On what the team should work on offensively…
“There’s always something to work on. Sometimes we get a little stagnant and sometimes we don’t cut but as a whole we did pretty well. We had 100 points on the on the board.”

Rider Head Coach Tommy Dempsey

His thoughts on the game …
“We were beaten soundly by a team that’s playing really well right now. We knew coming in here that they were obviously playing well and we needed to really shoot the ball well to be able to hang in the game. We couldn’t get the ball to go in the basket. Numerous times we had shots that went in and out and we had some open looks that didn’t go in. Again, that’s not to say that we were in any position to win the game. To stay in the game and be competitive we needed to shoot it really well. To come in here and shoot 31-percent, you can get it handed to you and we did tonight.”

On any Notre Dame players that stood out to him …
“They do such a good job in general. They have a lot of weapons. I thought (Kyle) McAlarney played very well. But again, they are just a solid team. They don’t stand out to you with individual performances as much as they just stand out to me by sharing the ball. They have multiple options and you have to guard everybody. They are a hard match-up, but I think it’s more of a team effort than great individual performances