Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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with how they've set the tone for this team. They're able to say tough stuff to each other and not be distracted. They handle it like men and that's something we worked on in the summer, being able to confront each other and not feel like you're stepping on each other 's toes. "I know at halftime that guys got on each other about stuff. Especially us defensively, because we gave up 42 points [at North Carolina State]. I'm really proud they handled that well." "[Getting out to an early deficit is] the game plan," Brey quipped. "We want to be down 10 and come back and do our thing. Maybe we play the first half just to get to the second half. I don't want to overanalyze it too much because I love our efficiency in the sec- ond half. You certainly like to get off to better starts and better starts here. "We've been digging out of a hole. I don't talk about it much because it doesn't fluster these guys and they seem to find a rhythm eventually on both ends of the floor." One hole out of which Notre Dame could not dig came Feb. 7 at Duke, when the Blue Devils dominated the Irish (90-60) in the rematch between the programs. The Irish jumped out to a 6-0 lead after Connaughton and sopho- more guard Steve Vasturia sunk a pair of three-pointers. Then, however, Duke completed a 43-7 run to put the game away and dismantle the Irish. Even with the loss, Notre Dame's 10-3 conference mark ranked Brey's squad second in the league after a di- sastrous 6-12 effort last season. As the Irish have shown all year, they're all about the comebacks. ✦ 2014-15 NOTRE DAME MEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Nov. 14 Binghamton^ W, 82-39 Nov. 16 Navy^ W, 92-53 Nov. 19 Coppin State W, 104-67 Nov. 22 vs. Massachusetts* W, 81-68 Nov. 23 vs. Providence* L, 75-74 Nov. 26 Grambling State W, 81-54 Nov. 29 Chicago State W, 90-42 Dec. 3 Michigan State# W, 79-78 (OT) Dec. 6 Fairleigh Dickinson W, 75-57 Dec. 9 Mount St. Mary's W, 93-67 Dec. 13 Florida State W, 83-63 Dec. 20 vs. Purdue% W, 94-63 Dec. 22 Northern Illinois W, 91-66 Dec. 30 Hartford W, 87-60 Jan. 3 Georgia Tech* W, 83-76 (OT) Jan. 5 at North Carolina* W, 71-70 Jan. 10 Virginia* L, 62-56 Jan. 14 at Georgia Tech* W, 62-59 Jan. 17 Miami* W, 75-70 Jan. 22 at Virginia Tech* W, 85-60 Jan. 25 at North Carolina State* W, 81-78 (OT) Jan. 28 Duke* W, 77-73 Jan. 31 at Pittsburgh* L, 76-72 Feb. 4 Boston College* W, 71-63 Feb. 7 at Duke* L, 90-60 Feb. 10 at Clemson (ESPN2) W, 60-58 Feb. 17 Wake Forest (ESPNU) 7 p.m. Feb. 21 at Boston College (RSN) 4 p.m. Feb. 24 Syracuse (ACCN) 8 p.m. March 4 at Louisville (ESPN2) 7 p.m. March 7 Clemson (ACCN/RSN) 4 p.m. March 10-14 ACC Tournament$ TBA ^ Hall of Fame Tipoff Tournament, preliminary rounds at campus sites; * Hall of Fame Tipoff Tournament at Uncasville, Conn.; # ACC-Big Ten Challenge; % Cross- roads Classic at Indianapolis; $ at Greensboro, N.C.