Micah Shrewsberry transcript: Notre Dame head coach explains what was different in win over Pittsburgh

Notre Dame men’s basketball, if only for a brief moment with a difficult road game at No. 13 Clemson coming up, is back in the win column. The Irish beat Pittsburgh 76-72 on Saturday afternoon.

Here’s everything Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry had to say after the victory.

Opening statement

“Just proud of our guys for fighting, scratching, clawing, kind of doing whatever was needed. They made a commitment to each other on Thursday of, like, man. They were disappointed. They just said, ‘We want to do whatever it takes, whatever possible, to stay together, to scratch, claw and get the job done.’

“We went through that stretch where we got a pretty good lead there in the second half and they made that flurry at the end. When you have so much stuff you gotta work on and so little practice time now, late-game situations is one of the ones that goes by the wayside, that we need to be a little bit better at. But I thought J.R. [Konieczny’s] 6 big free throws and Markus [Burton’s] 2, those two making those free throws down the stretch were huge for us.”

On Notre Dame getting contributions from Konieczny and Cole Certa

“You know, you don’t have Braeden [Shrewsberry], you don’t have [Matt Allocco], guys that you count on to score. Those guys just kind of stayed ready. Thursday morning, at probably 9 a.m., I get to the office and Cole’s down there on the court, working. He’s shooting it. He’s constantly down there. Same with Sir [Mohammed], same with Garrett [Sundra]. We have a group of freshmen that really, really work, but Cole’s never gotten discouraged about how much he’s played or what his role has been. He’s just kind of been ready for the process.

“And even J.R., the work after practice on Thursday when we just didn’t do much. He stayed after and got a bunch of shots up. The free throws were big and a couple other buckets, but I thought his rebounding was really good for us.”

On what he learned about his team this week

“Just kind of who they are as people. Reinforce who they are as people a little bit. We had a game that we really regretted as a group, and like I said, how they all recommitted to how we should play and what we should do. And then to come out and do it just says a lot about who they are as people.”

On if Certa was on the verge of a breakout like this or if it came out of nowhere

“No, it’s just hard to make shots in inconsistent minutes, no matter who you are. You can go to guys in the NBA that don’t play a whole lot, it’s hard to be a knockdown shooter in inconsistent minutes. He’s now starting to sniff it and play a little bit more. He’s getting on the court a little bit more, and he’s missed some of his open threes, but you just knew at some point in time he’s gonna start knocking them down. That’s what he does.

“If you watch him in practice, if you watch him — sometimes when he’s on the scout team, that’s what he does. That dude has unwavering confidence. Unwavering. You gotta snap him back in and tell him who he’s guarding every once in a while, because he’s celebrating instead of sprinting back. But he believes the next shot is going in, no matter if it goes in or not. And that’s what you kind of need.”

On Notre Dame moving the ball better to start the second half

“I think it was an effort going into SMU. As bad as we played against SMU, I thought we really moved the ball. We couldn’t guard a soul. Things didn’t go well, we weren’t competing but I thought we moved them all. And that’s what we’ve been trying to get to all season, where we’re attacking. But now the help comes, we’re kicking it, we’re swinging it, we’re getting extra passes. We can do that sometimes. We can get to that.

“We tried and talked about it before the SMU game, of, ‘Let’s get back to being that team.’ Or not let’s get back to. Let’s be that team, because that’s who we want to be. And I thought that carried over. They do some stuff where they mix up their coverages. Sometimes they’re hedging, sometimes they’re switching, sometimes they stay in help, sometimes they’re getting out. I think we struggled with those turnovers early, because they’re in help and we’re trying to make the next play for the guy and they’re just going back out. So they’re not attacking the rim.

“I thought after we adjusted to that, we attacked the rim more. Now the help’s coming at the rim, then it’s easier to get those kick-outs in those moments.”

On Tae Davis being more aggressive and demonstrative with his emotions against Pitt

“Man, you know what? I met with all these guys on Thursday and Tae asked me, ‘What can I do to help more?’ And this is a guy who’s been consistent in how he’s played and what he’s done, and his first thought is, ‘What can I do to help the team even more?’ And the challenges like him scoring, his rebounds weren’t as hot — or they made a bunch of shots. But he’s chasing around Ish Leggett the whole game, right? So he’s guarding more on the perimeter. He can move around, he can shift around defensively. And then just hunting different matchups, getting into the paint, attacking people, getting to the free throw line.

“He’s one guy that you never question how hard he’s gonna play. That’s pretty consistent with him.”

On what Notre Dame’s ability to close out a tight game says about its character

“Yeah. And it also, like — I don’t know, we’re probably ending the game with a lineup that’s probably never been in together all season. Cole’s in, and Logan [Imes] and Markus, J.R., Tae. Guys are moving around, doing different stuff, like what they’re asked of in our press break. As we watch it, they’re taking certain things away so now J.R. can sprint to catch it. So kind of adjusting on the fly, based on what they’re doing, is something that’s really good for us and key for us.

“Because, like, I needed every single one of those timeouts at the end. And that’s what you save them for, mostly, if you don’t have to use them throughout the game, if you don’t have to stop a run, if you don’t have to do certain things. You use them for those moments, because you’re like, in my mind, this is gonna be a close game. This is gonna come down the stretch. We’re gonna have some lineups that have never played before. We gotta make sure we’re organized. For those guys to adjust and do it on the fly was big for them.”

On how he personally blocked out the noise after the Louisville and SMU losses

“I’ve talked to a lot of people. It’s texts from coaches all over this state. High school coaches. Texts from coaches all over this country. After the game — [Pitt head coach] Jeff Capel and I are competitors. We’re competitors, man. We want our teams to win. We’re in the same conference. But I told him after the game, like, ‘Hey man, you’re a real one.’ Because he went out of his way to text me. It might’ve been the first time I’ve ever texted Jeff Capel, or he’s texted me. But he sees me and he says, ‘Man, I want to reach out to him, make sure he’s doing okay.’ And that shows who he is as a person.

“Because his team is up and down, losing and winning. He’s going through the same stuff. A big part of it is people around. That’s Notre Dame people. There’s a lot of former players. That’s a lot of fellow head coaches that are here at Notre Dame. It just shows how much they have your back, right? And that just keeps pushing you forward, right? The people that you work with on a daily basis. Our staff has been super positive and great with our guys and prepared each and every day. I know I’m not doing this alone. There’s a lot of people that are behind me. There’s a lot of people that are behind our team. It helps you kind of keep pushing forward and carrying through.”

On what he wants to see from Notre Dame in its final four regular-season games

“Yeah, we got a great challenge coming up in our next game. You go on the road and you play a really good team.

“I just want us to fight and compete, right? Play good basketball. That’s it. And then let the results be what the results are, but give yourself a chance. I told our guys today, make the preparation matter. We spend so much time walking through. We spend so much time breaking down. We do offensive review to make sure we’re running our sets the right way. But if you don’t compete like on Wednesday, that stuff doesn’t matter. Details don’t matter.

“But, when you have the right energy, now the details kick in. We want the details to matter. That involves us coming and just giving our all, and fighting. I know we’re gonna prepare the right way. Now let’s go right the right way.”