Everything Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry said after win over Stanford

With its win over Stanford on Wednesday night, Notre Dame ensured that it will not miss the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. The Irish will face California on Saturday with the opportunity to rise as high as 10th in the final league standings with a win, but they can also fall as low as 15th with a loss.

Here’s everything Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry said after the Stanford win.

On Notre Dame’s final possession, which ended with Cole Certa’s game-winning three

“Yeah, they were paying so much attention to Markus [Burton] and we just tried to clear a runway for Tae [Davis]. We were both kind of undersized, so he ended up driving on [Benny] Gealer, and we felt like he could get in the paint and play off two [feet] and just shoot over the top of him. And he just made a good basketball play, because they switched so much. Their matchups are so mixed up from possession to possession and throughout the possession.

“[Maxime] Raynaud was just sitting in the paint waiting for him, and he just — he knew at the start of the play, Cole’s gonna be in one corner, [Matt Allocco] is gonna be in the other and [Burton is] gonna be behind me. So now he knows what his options are if he gets stuck.”

On if Certa would’ve been able to make that shot early in the season

“Yeah. Yeah. Him making the shot, that’s what he can do. He’s one of the most confident dudes I’ve ever been around. He’s not scared of the moment, and he’s not scared to be in in situations at all. That’s an unbelievable attribute to have, especially as a shooter.”

On Notre Dame going on a 15-0 run after being down nine in the second half

“I think it was really just like, I think the activity really picked up, right? I thought because of how we were switching, we’re trying to switch under, you can’t really get into the basketball that much. Or, higher I pick him up, now he’s gonna screen underneath me and I’m above him. Now he’s rolling, now we got help from other places, right? So we gotta switch under as much as possible. But, that tends to lead to some unaggressiveness at times on the ball, right? It’s okay on the first pick-and-roll, then we get to switch. But now when they move it, you gotta pressure those dudes, and I didn’t think we did that.

“But, we started to, right? I’m yelling at Tae to get after him, and now he turns them over and they get a shot clock violation. Now Roper’s picking up more and into the ball, and we turn them over and get to a shot clock violation. It was like a lot more — like, I thought just our activity went up in that moment, especially guarding the basketball.”

On how Certa earned consistent minutes

“I mean, just need somebody to make some shots. That’s a huge part of it. We made five threes at Wake Forest. Made seven tonight. Of those five, Markus made two, Cole made two at Wake. Markus makes three out of seven tonight. Like, you can’t beat people just getting twos. You need some threes, and he’s got the ability to do it. And even if he doesn’t, even if he only gets three attempts, they’re worried about him. They gotta guard him.

“And he’s doing a better job, like, there’s still some technical things defensively. But his effort level has been pretty good. And now, we got the summer to fix the technical things. But if he keeps playing with that effort level, now I’m excited about where we’re going. Before we had to scrap all plans against SMU, Cole was gonna be the first sub and he and Braeden were gonna play together. So now, think of how much space Markus would’ve had, Tae would’ve had to drive it. But, we got our ass kicked from the jump, so it’s like, tear it up. There is no game plan. But, like, he’s been in our plans because you gotta guard him. And if you don’t, the ball’s probably going in.”

On what Certa’s experience Wednesday night will do for his game going forward

“I think it’s great, right? But it also is a huge test, too, about how we handle success. Like, how do we move from this to what’s next? They celebrate tonight and then get ready for practice tomorrow. Know the game plan, know what we’re doing, know how we’re guarding Cal. I’m not worried that he’s not gonna stay and shoot after practice, right? That’s who he is. He’s probably gonna be in tomorrow morning, shooting. Probably gonna stay after practice. I’m not worried about that part of it, but now, ‘Okay, I made a big shot, now let’s handle success the right way and let’s be ready for the next game.’ I think that’s the biggest thing for young guys, is how do you handle success? And if you handle it the right way, more success is probably coming.”

On what Matt Allocco’s return did for Notre Dame

“Man, he’s been wanting to play every single game. Every time you see him, he’s got his practice gear on and he’s jumping into walk-throughs, he’s trying to get into practice and [athletic trainer] Nixon [Dorvilien] and I are like, ‘No.’ I’m just happy for him, man. Nobody understands how much pain this dude is in, what he has to go through to practice, what he has to go through to play. But he really, really cares about team, and he’s putting his body on the line for team. Every time he falls, I’m worried. And he steps over and takes a charge on Raynaud, because he cares. He ain’t worried about it. He’s like, ‘What does the team need me to do? If you need me to take a charge, I’m gonna take a charge. And if you need me to make a jumper, I’m gonna shoot.’ We’re trying to protect him, because he’s not gonna protect himself, because he cares that much about the team and his teammates.”

On the way Notre Dame responded after Stanford took the lead back in the final minute

“Yeah, it was a little bit difficult, because we were trying to match small and big. When those guys fouled out and those guys went in foul trouble, they went with a smaller lineup, so now we were really helping off a guy that can make shots, so it kind of put us in a bind a little bit. But to be able to answer that, when things go wrong, sometimes we can’t get out of that. But they took the lead, and we were able to just answer back and stay positive. I thought we executed a couple times to be able to try and get what we wanted.”