Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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W By Andrew Owens hen the Irish showed up to Purcell Pavilion for earlymorning workouts Nov. 18, they did so in a position unfamiliar to head coach Mike Brey during his 14-year tenure at Notre Dame — after losing a November home game. With an 83-70 loss to Indiana State Nov. 17 fresh in the minds of the coaches and players, Brey took the fifth-year senior starting frontcourt of Garrick Sherman and Tom Knight aside and "firmly" addressed the current state of affairs while also trying to boost their confidence after the pair combined for 24 minutes in the loss. "I thought Tom and Sherm have reacted really well [to the loss]," Brey said. "They've been pretty good [in practice] and played with a little edge about them that I don't think you could create without a loss. They need to get started [in upcoming games] and not look over to me and play. "They can't be under the quick hook thing, and there was a little bit of that [against Indiana State], especially with Tom. And I told him, 'I wanna play you through some stuff. The best way to stay in there is to get in on that backboard for Irish Fall To Indiana State, Bounce Back Against Santa Clara Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey warned his team that Indiana State would provide an ACC-caliber challenge for the Irish, and his words proved to be prophetic when the Sycamores handed Brey his first November home loss at Notre Dame, 83-70, Nov. 17. Notre Dame trailed by double digits much of the first half until snatching a 45-44 advantage early in the second half on an old-fashioned three-point play by sophomore forward Austin Burgett. Indiana State, however, responded with a deflating 18-3 run to notch the win at Purcell Pavilion. "I thought [Indiana State's] veteran poise was better than our veteran poise," Brey said. "We couldn't guard them enough and we couldn't get efficient enough offensively. You're gonna have to score to beat them. … It kind of gets you back to trying to evaluate who you are as you move into the next game." Senior point guard Eric Atkins scored 18 points to pace the Irish. His fifth point of the afternoon marked his 1,000th in a Notre Dame uniform. Outside of his 5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, the rest of the squad posted a meager — and uncharacteristic — 8-to-15 total. "It hurts," Atkins said. "Now it gives us a chance to respond. They're a really good team and now we're gonna have to bounce back." Although fifth-year senior Tom Knight started the 84-69 win over Santa Clara Nov. 22, it was Burgett who finished it and made a compelling case for more minutes moving forward. Brey started the second half with Burgett on the floor in place of Knight, who did not play in the final 20 minutes and totaled 15 combined minutes the past two games. With Burgett's energy, the Irish outscored Santa Clara by nine points in the second half to win easily. Burgett played 22 minutes and scored six points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and recorded two assists, one block and two steals. "I felt good," Burgett said. "Coach told me at halftime I had Tom and that I needed to come out and play the way I was with the flow of the game going and get on the boards." — Andrew Owens