Everything Notre Dame HC Micah Shrewsberry said after 4OT win over Cal

On Saturday afternoon, Notre Dame men’s basketball battled California through four overtimes and won 112-110.

Here’s everything Irish head coach Micah Shrewsberry had to say after the victory in Notre Dame’s regular-season finale.

Opening statement

“Oh, man. Not much to say. You start a game at 4 and you end at 7:30. Senior day marathon. But just proud of our guys for how they just fought and competed. Markus [Burton] was unbelievable. He was unreal. But I thought the four seniors, the ones that played a boatload, Nikita [Konstantynovskyi], [Matt Allocco], J.R. [Konieczny], [Julian] Roper, they were not gonna let us lose. They were gonna will us to victory some way, somehow. Just proud of our group.”

On the difference for Burton as he scored 21 points for Notre Dame in the overtimes

“Yeah, just some different — like, trying to find different matchups, trying to move him in different ways. They do a good job of really trying to deny you, after makes, after misses, after they make, having somebody there to pick you up if he passed it. We just had to find something that we could go to to try to spring him open a little bit. And then a couple things that we got that we just kind of stuck with, because he was making some plays out of it, whether it was on the ball, whether it was off the ball.

“Still some stuff I think we can clean up. Sometimes as you get late in the game like this, when he doesn’t have it, what are we going to? But then, how can we try to free him in a different way? That’s stuff that we can work on and keep growing from, but he made some huge shots, man.”

On his emotions in a game like this

“I was riding the wave like those guys were. We got a group of guys that, like, we’ve been in a lot of situations. We’ve been in a lot of close situations. We’ve been up and lost. We’ve been down and come back. We’ve played in close games. Today, it was opportunities where you needed stops because they got the ball last, or you need a bucket because we got the ball last and nobody could really win it there at the end. They just kind of fought through, right? It was just, like, keep trying to put us in the best positions to have success on offense and defense. And that’s it, right? That’s all. Keep us from thinking that we’re tired, right? And keep us calm and poised in the moments we need.”

On Notre Dame forward Kebba Njie’s apparent head injury

“I’m not sure. I just know that he went down, then he came back to the bench and they said he’s out for the rest of the game. I haven’t had the chance to talk to [athletic trainer] Nixon [Dorvilien] or our docs to see what or why or what the situation is. They tell you he’s out, and then it’s like, ‘Okay, how do we sub, how do we rotate versus a team that’s humongous in the paint.”

On Nikita Konstantynovskyi — Njie’s backup — not having that kind of playing time this year

“I don’t think so, either. Not at all. It’s probably two or three games it takes him to get to 44 minutes.”

On Notre Dame going to four overtimes without Tae Davis (fouled out in regulation) and winning

“Yeah. You look and he played 15 minutes. You had to fight through some foul trouble early, then he picks up another and he picks up a third and he picks up a fourth, and you try and manage it the best you can, but he fouled out so early, that you get in that spot and you don’t really — like, he had 12 points, but he just wasn’t a factor because we played a whole other game without him. But it just shows, like, there was some stuff. I thought JR tried to attack in that way.

“This was a playmaker’s game. How they defend makes it a playmaker’s game. Need some guys that can put the ball on the deck and get in the paint and make a play. I thought Mush [Allocco] and J.R. were kind of getting to that for us.”

On pulling out a win even as Markus Burton fouled out and Notre Dame trailed by 4 in quadruple overtime

“Just their belief in each other, right? I guess it helps us that we played, what, seven, eight games without him. You win some close games when he’s not, you know, you beat Syracuse in a close game without him, where you gotta get down the stretch and do it. But Braeden [Shrewsberry] played in that game, right? So now, it’s even different. But it was just about getting stops, and when it gets to clutch time, man, I know he missed a couple but Mush is not scared of the moment. He is not scared of the moment. He wants it. Some people don’t want it. They are like, ‘Hey, stand me in the corner and do something else. He is, ‘I want the basketball and I want the opportunity to win the game.’ When Markus fouled out, he just said, ‘I’m not gonna let us lose.'”

On if leaning on Notre Dame’s seniors late in the game was intentional

“Not really. We were just rolling with them, because they had been guarding. You get so late, you’re staying in the same stuff that works, right? Both teams are running the same stuff over and over again, because something good has happened within it. Those guys had just been guarding it and guarding it and then making adjustments with how we guard it. It’s hard for somebody to stand in on the outside and listen. I might be able to hear what you’re saying and I might be able to draw it on a whiteboard, but for me to come in and now guard it is a little bit tougher, right? So you just lean on those guys that have been playing. We could’ve been close to having more people foul out, but I felt on the defensive end, those guys gave us the best chance.

“But then, you know, we start subbing offense-defense for guys that, like, Sir Mohammed, we trust him inbounding the ball. Garrett [Sundra] and Cole [Certa], running to get catches and being able to make free throws even when they haven’t been in and been cold. So, having different groups and using different groups, but I felt like those older guys, being able to guard there late, I wanted to try to stick with them.”

On Allocco’s impact on winning

“I mean, he’s just so tough. I’m not good at understanding numbers, whatever, he’s missed seven out of eight games or seven out of nine games, and for him to play 54 minutes with a heavily-taped wrist. Tape is holding his hand to his arm, and him being willing to take tough shots in that moment. Some of those threes he made were just bold, man. All I could think about was Sam Cassell in those moments. Sam Cassell‘s celebration.”