Notre Dame Hoops Notebook: Mike Brey Talks Learning From The Loss, Defense, Blake Wesley

Notre Dame Men’s Basketball head coach Mike Brey spoke late Monday night after a deflating loss to Saint Mary’s in the first round of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational in Las Vegas

On what Saint Mary’s did well defensively against Notre Dame

“They're really, really good and they're tough and they're old and we can steal a page from their book as far as their poise, how they played. I thought they ended up switching a lot of stuff and it was hard for us to get -- we got to the bonus quick because we were driving it, and some of those drives are forced but you are trying to make something happen. But I thought they did a really good job switching and staying in front of us”

On the early offensive struggles from Prentiss Hubb this year

“I'm trying to find where to Hubb, get him off the ball some and get his feet set ready to shoot it. But I think he at least knows he doesn't have to hunt it and he doesn't have to force plays. I think we have enough guys that can go do something. And that's new for him and we're trying to grow him there in that area. But we're going to need him to score and make some shots and I think he's going to get some open looks because this group does pass it pretty well and find each other. He's going to be a key for us, no question.”

On the continued improvement from freshman Blake Wesley

“It was interesting tonight as I'm still learning about, we have more guards, you know, especially with Blake Wesley. And I thought on this stage he was very good. To be thrown in playing against 22-year-old guys, I was very impressed with him and he made some big plays for us.”

On what to take away from a tough loss early in the season and moving on quickly

“Well I love that it looked a little dim twice when they punched us and we fought back, first half and second half at a key time. I mean, an old, veteran team was grinding us a little bit and, I mean, I like that about us. I like how we're moving and wanting to work defensively. We made great strides there. We needed to improve immensely. I'm still trying to figure out how to help us offensively. We know we got something down low with Paul, but then what are we doing with our ball screening and who is driving and Blake Wesley's starting to become a really important guy for us and got to figure out how to weaponize him more. I think they just probably are, they're further ahead than us. They have been together longer and they did it for 40 minutes. But can't dwell on it long. We got to bounce back and try and win a game out here tomorrow as we're figuring out our team.” 

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