What Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry said after win over Wake Forest

After Notre Dame’s 70-65 win over Wake Forest on Tuesday night, Irish head coach Micah Shrewsberry discussed several players who contributed to winning, his young group’s progress in Year 1, the culture he’s trying to build and more.

Here are five things Shrewsberry said after his team beat the Demon Deacons.

On sophomore forward Tae Davis’ winning plays down the stretch

“Tae, man, is just kind of coming into his own a little bit at different times. I always get on him about his consistency, but also like — you want more from him on offense, but it’s really hard to guard the best dude every night and then have some juice to go play offense at the other end. But that’s what he’s doing.

“He got into some foul trouble, and he wasn’t the only guy — I thought [junior guard Julian] Roper [II] and [freshman guard] Logan [Imes] did a great job as well — but man, I don’t think there’s probably anybody that’s guarded [Wake Forest star] Hunter Sallis that well all season. Tae’s a big part of that. And I’ve talked about his versatility as a defender. Whoever the best player is, that’s Tae’s matchup, and then we match up everybody else around it.

“But now he’s starting to get a little bit more aggressive, man. Scoring in the post a little bit, getting some of those tough drives, some of those offensive rebounds. Those plays that are huge plays down the stretch. And he’s been right around that 11, 12 [points], 6 rebounds. That’s been a huge, huge production for us.”

On if Tuesday night’s win was a coming-of-age moment

“I think so. We talked before the game about just competing. Competing for each other. Just competing for Notre Dame, man. Competing for the name on the back, too, right? Our family and friends have stuck by us this whole time.

“This point in time of the year, there’s a lot of teams that quit. There’s a lot of teams with our record that have quit. And these dudes are having fun. I love every day at practice, right? It hurts me now that we gotta shorten practice, because it’s late February and we can’t keep grinding and going hard and doing everything as much as I want to. But they’re having fun competing with each other and for each other. That’s the biggest thing. No lead, nothing seems insurmountable to this group.”

On if Notre Dame’s culture is further along than he expected in his first season

“Yeah, I guess. I always expected it. It’s gotten better. Just like our team has, our culture has gotten better. It’s remained strong. Through tough times, it’s remained strong. I always talk about [senior forward Matt] Zona, but it’s a credit to him for getting guys together and keeping guys together, early and throughout the season. It’s a credit for a guy like [senior guard] Tony Sanders [Jr.], who hasn’t played barely at all, but every dude on our team loves him. Everybody on our coaching staff loves him because of the joy that he brings with practice every day, how he competes and how he jumps in. Different guys are out in parts of practice, I just throw him in there and he can come in and do it and help us, and he does it with a great attitude.

“When guys see that, that’s why you know you’re in the right spot. That’s when you know you’re going in the right direction. And they’re coaching that. Now the culture is creating itself. In this culture, the head coach defines it, the assistant coaches defend it and the players exhibit it. That’s what’s happening right now. They’re exhibiting our culture.”

On freshman forward Carey Booth staying confident after several misses and hitting a three to take the lead in the second half

“Yeah, a lot of times, he’s probably shot-faking that and driving. For him to get 9 threes up, it’s a positive sign. But he’s working, man. He gets in every morning. Carey’s an early riser. He gets into the gym really early every morning, and he’s in there with [development and recruiting coordinator] Grady Eifert, and they’re working on different things and they’re getting shots up. Grady’s helping him through progressions offensively and defensively.

“He’s growing and he’s fighting and he’s finding ways, even when he’s making threes and not making threes. He’s getting into he paint, hitting some pull-ups, trying to get to some post-ups and scoring. The different things we’re working on, he’s trying to put it into his game.”

On Notre Dame being a team no one wants to play in early March

“Yeah, like I’ve always said, we want to play our best basketball at the end of the season. And I think that’s what we’re doing. The game’s starting to slow down for some of these guys, for some of these freshmen. If we can keep our foot on the gas defensively and how we want to play, and then keep playing the right way offensively. Guys played a lot of minutes because there was some foul trouble and some other things, so they had to play a little bit more minutes, like [freshman guards] Braeden [Shrewsberry] and Markus [Burton]. Carey played a lot, on a hot day. But they still kind of fought through it. You get those contributions, right?

“We probably missed [junior guard] J.R. [Konieczny‘s] minutes a little bit, like he could come in and give us a spurt. Logan gives us a spurt. As you see guys keep getting better and better, they still believe. They still believe in what we’re doing. And yeah, we want to keep doing it. I want to keep playing. I’m gonna keep playing as much as we can, man. I want to keep playing because I love the direction that we’re going.”