When Morgan Wootten called Mike Brey to check in on his former player and pupil Tuesday afternoon, Brey told him, “I hope you’re not going to the racetrack after calling me.”
After all, Brey did not want any of the bad luck that has bedeviled his Notre Dame basketball team to rub off on his mentor and former coach.
The news is not all bad. Going into Wednesday night’s game against Rutgers (13-9, 3-6 Big East) at the Joyce Center, the Irish are indisputably the best 10-10 squad in the country after losing five straight games by a total of 11 points. The Irish’s 10 overall losses are by a total of just 43 points.
So while the Irish have disappointment to spare, despair has not set in.
“Number one, I love our guys,” Brey said. “I love our team, and I think we’ve done so many things better, we’ve gotten better throughout the season. I like coming out interacting with these guys every day.
“I’ve talked to them about how it’s our responsibility to keep grinding and coming. We don’t waver from that. You need solid guys who will come in on a daily basis even after a lot of disappointment and say what is it today? This group has done that.”
Even after losing on Steve Novak’s last-second shot at Marquette. Even after having a last-second three-pointer at Louisville send that game into overtime. Even after dropping a double-overtime contest to Georgetown, and a one-point decision at West Virginia.
Through it all, however, Brey has managed to keep his players’ attention and his own sense of humor intact.
Senior point guard Chris Quinn has continued to perform superbly. His 23.7-point average in Big East games is second in the conference only to Quincy Douby’s 25.4 for Rutgers.
And Quinn has done all that without much respite. Through Notre Dame’s first nine conference games, a slate that has included two double-overtime contests and one overtime game, he has sat for a total of just three minutes.
Brey also has been pleased with the development of 6-foot-4-inch junior guard Russell Carter, who scored 24 points Saturday in the loss to Louisville.
“Certainly, we need him. When we started league play, he had a tough stretch there against Providence and Marquette where I just thought he was fighting himself instead of letting things come to him,” Brey said. “But since then he has been really good.”
What the Irish really need now, though, is simply a victory. And Brey, for all of his sanguine good nature, admits he finds himself second-guessing his strategy.
“You analyze and you go back over everything,” Brey said. “Should we be man, should we be zone, should I have had somebody else in the game.”
With seven games left in the regular season, the Irish are 15th in the 16-team league at 1-8. Only the top 12 will earn a spot in the conference tournament.
“We’re in an important stretch because we could be in some tiebreakers with these teams,” Brey said. “Certainly, our sense of urgency is up. We’ve played like our life is on the line. We’ve just not finished them. You can’t be naive. You can’t sugarcoat it. We are who we are.”
And now?
“We try and clean up some things in the last two minutes,” Brey said. “[But] we could use one to bounce our way. I’m not going to lie to you. We could use one to be kicked our way.”
Quinn mighty, results trying
Notre Dame has suffered through a five-game losing streak, its longest since dropping six straight in 1993-94. The five losses have been by a total of 11 points. One player has produced consistently, point guard Chris Quinn, who has led the Irish in scoring in four of the last five games.
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DATE OPPONENT SCORE TEAM FG QUINN’S LINE
Jan. 20 at Marquette 67-65 40% 18 pts, 40 min
Jan. 24 Georgetown 85-82 40% 26 pts, 50 min (2 OTs)
Jan. 28 Villanova 72-70 42.9% 18 pts, 40 min
Feb. 1 at West Virginia 71-70 44.3% 24 pts, 40 min
Feb. 4 at Louisville 89-86 42.2% 31 pts, 45 min (OT)
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apatel@tribune.com
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