Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey jokes about his team's impressive defensive effort in first half against UNC

The North Carolina Tar Heels are in must win territory from here on out if they wish to find their way into the 2023 NCAA Tournament. On Wednesday night in the first half against Notre Dame, the Tar Heels weren’t helping their cause, shooting 18.5% from the field. The Heels trailed Notre Dame 27-19 at the end of the first half. Heading into the locker room, Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey spoke with ESPN’s Angel Gray and joked about holding the ‘Heels to such a low shooting percentage.

Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey was in a joking mood

Brey was impressed with his team’s defensive effort in the first half. “Well, we’re defending. They’ve got 21 points. It’s an ugly game, but if we can keep guarding, we’ll have a chance,” Brey said.

The Fighting Irish head man was in a joking mood heading into the locker room. “Do we get a trophy? For 18 percent at half? I’m just kidding. I hope we can keep ’em low. I don’t think it’s gonna be better than 18 percent, but if we can defend, I think we’ll make enough shots,” Brey said.”

Following Brey’s comments, officials decided to take two points off the scoreboard for UNC. Not only that, but the Tar Heels also didn’t hit a single three-point shot in the first half. UNC was 0-for-11 from three-point range. Clearly, they’ll need to do shoot much better if they want to win a must-win game. The Tar Heels also had zero assists in the first half.

North Carolina ended up defeating Notre Dame in a close one, 63-59. The win keeps North Carolina’s slim NCAA Tournament hopes alive, for now. Notre Dame has lost a number of close games this season and Wednesday’s game was just yet another close heartbreaker. While the Fighting Irish currently sit at 10-18 overall, they’ve been playing some deceptively good basketball the past few games.