What Notre Dame HC Micah Shrewsberry said before Virginia Tech game

Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry spoke to reporters Friday afternoon, a day before the Irish will look to snap their seven-game losing streak. Shrewsberry discussed the struggling offense, player development, what he wants to see in the regular season’s final eight games and more.

Here’s what Shrewsberry said as Notre Dame gets set to take on Virginia Tech.

On the struggling Notre Dame offense

“You know, we’ve tweaked a couple things to try and get us into things that we think are more beneficial for us or helpful. As you go through and you look at different parts of season, we were better at one area than another. So we started going to something else more, to try and get more of the things that we’re better at. We’ve worked a lot in transition about trying to be better in transition, right? You don’t don’t want to continuously play against a set defense. Sometimes we’ve been good at it, sometimes we haven’t. But we keep practicing it, because if we can get a few more points in transition, that can help us as well.

“And then our ball movement’s got to improve. I showed our guys yesterday, on our film, where we’re missing each other. When guys are open and there’s opportunities to move the ball, to get the ball moving, to get the ball flowing, we’re not taking advantage of it. Because we’re not hitting each other. And that’s got to change. It has to change. You’re not beating people with 9 assists a game. It’s not gonna happen. One of our best possessions that we had against Duke was the first possession of the game, and then we don’t go back to it. We can’t find it again.

“That’s on me. I have to demand it more, that we got to share the ball. We got to move the ball, make each other better.”

On freshman guards Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry

“Different guys show you different things as the season goes on, right? You guys asked me, when I got here, about Duke. Some people experience Duke for the first time, or every time they go. It’s a destination for people, like fans. ‘Hey, I gotta get to Duke.’

“Those two dudes walked in there like they’ve been there before. They didn’t care where they were. Like it was Mishawaka High School or Cumberland Valley High School, man, that’s how those two dudes walked in. They’re just basketball players that don’t care about the environment, don’t care about the opponent. They’re just gonna go out there and do what they do.”

On building off the response to Duke’s dominant start (Notre Dame ended the first half down 8 after trailing 20-5)

“Yeah, I think [we can build off it]. We’re still trying to put the best combination of players together. Sometimes, whether it’s fouls or whether it’s guys getting tired, you get out of your rotation that you want to get to or you want to stay with during the game. We got to a point where Markus had to come out because he was gassed, but now you’re left without any ball handlers. Tae [Davis] is in foul trouble, and maybe Logan [Imes] is the only one. You get out of sync a little bit, with your rotations and everything else, so they went on the run. Right then and in that moment, they upped their pressure and we turned it over and they went on a little bit of a run, but our response at the end was really good.

“That’s the one thing, like, no matter what’s happened this season, the resiliency of this group, it can’t be questioned. In game, after games, leading into games, they show up every day. … They just keep showing up, because you don’t know when success is coming. You don’t know when the finish line is. If you quit, you know when the end is, I know you’re not gonna reach it. But if you keep going and keep pressing and keep pushing on, like, when is success coming for you? Don’t know. But if I keep showing up, there’s a chance it’s coming. If I quit, there’s zero chance it’s coming. That’s what our guys keep doing.”

On freshman forward Carey Booth’s development

“He’s doing a good job. I’m constantly on him about just competing. Just competing every night. His minutes were down, it’s just tough matchups for him. Pitt’s playing my man [Blake] Hinson at the four, who’s a tough matchup for anybody, right? It’s gonna be a tough matchup for him. Chasing him around on the perimeter, they’re running everything through him, it really limits what he can do and how he can play.

“Duke had a good matchup for him, so he can play more in those types of games. For him and the things we talk about is, now, every game’s gotta be a matchup. I gotta be able to guard, whether it’s a guy that’s a perimeter guy, whether it’s a guy that’s only a post guy, I gotta be able to guard everybody. You’re able to do that, the more you can play.”

On what he wants to see from Notre Dame in the season’s final stretch

“Just growth. Continued growth. There’s small things that I’m seeing from our group that maybe people don’t recognize, maybe they don’t see. We used Carey for an example. Early in the year, Carey was driving baseline. The same side. He started over there and he’d drive that baseline right there and turn it over. It gets stolen from him, knocked out of bounds, stepped out of bounds, whatever. He drives that baseline the other day and he goes and scores it. Or he gets to the rim and he almost scores it. The growth that he’s making, individuals are improving every single day.

“And that’s a part of them showing up. They’re getting their work in, they’re listening, they’re paying attention. I think they’re still having fun in this process. … I sat with Coach [Jim] Boeheim before that shoot around. And he’s like, ‘Man, I’ve been around teams that have won 30 games, and I don’t want to be around them.’ I want to be around these dudes every day. That’s the difference. I don’t care what our record is, they keep coming back, and they come in with enthusiasm and they want to learn more and they keep playing hard. I want to be around a group like this.

“And that’s it. You have to have that joy, or it’s not gonna be worth doing. And that drives us, as a staff, to keep going, keep going, keep going, because I want them to see that success pay off.”