Kelly talks plan for rebounding against Navy
By DANIEL O’BOYLE s ports Writer
no. 9 notre dame head coach
brian Kelly talked about his team’s 41-8 defeat to miami (FL) and the performance of junior quarterback brandon Wimbush during his sunday teleconference.
“We really haven’t had any specific goals,” Kelly said. “We just have had one mission, and that is to play to a standard, and we didn’t live up to that standard last night, you know, a standard of excellence that we’ve had since day one. so we’ll go back to applying that standard in everything we do and our preparation and obviously learn from what happened on saturday night and look to live up to the standard of excellence at notre dame and notre dame football on saturday against navy.
“This is about focus and then refocus. so we really have not talked all year about winning as much as we’ve talked about living up to a standard, and that standard was not met on saturday. It’s really refocusing on the standard and not worrying about all of those other things that seem to have maybe gotten us off our process. so really getting back to the things that have gotten us here, and getting back to a level of play that is the
baraka bouts
appropriate standard for us.”
Kelly said his team should look to the example of Usc after the game and gave another example during his teleconference, pointing out that ohio state bounded back from a blowout loss to Iowa.
“Look, ohio state went on the road and had 55 points put up against them when they played Iowa,” Kelly said. “They came back the next week and really took it to a michigan state team. It’s really how you respond in college athletics. We’ve got good kids. They really want to win, and I expect them to really come back with a higher standard of play. I think in retrospect, it was a big game. There was a lot to the atmosphere. You know, I think our guys really wanted to win. I mean, they wanted to win really, really bad. I have to do a better job of keeping them in the moment and keeping them from being distracted from all of what’s going around them.
“I think you may have asked the question about big games and such, and I’ve never given it too much thought because we play in a big-game atmosphere at notre dame, but this one was a little bit different. A number of these kids hadn’t played in a game of
see FooTbALL PaGe 10
15th-annual Baraka Bouts crown fighting champions
stephanie mackley def. a lbertina a rce mackley defeated Arce by split decision.
sam sherman def. emma Hussey sherman defeated hussey by unanimous decision.
marissa k ivi def. katherine Herila Kivi defeated herila by unanimous decision.
francie Gradel def. kyle Casey Gradel defeated casey by split decision.
By JACK CONCANNON sports Writer
Grace Weis“send It”send def. Jess “the r ipper” Wilson
ryan hall senior Grace
Weis“send It”send and off-campus senior Jess “The r ipper” Wilson started slow, with both
colson leads Irish in home opener
By MAREK MAZUREK Assistant managing e ditor
For much of the first half against mount st. mary’s, no. 13 notre dame looked out of sync. The Irish (2-0) even surrendered a 23-20 lead to the mountaineers (0-2) with 6:23 left in the opening frame.
but the Irish remained calm coming out of the locker room after the half and went on a 14-0 run.
They never looked back, picking up their second win of the season, 88-62.
“First halves are overrated,” brey joked after the game. “sometimes you play the first half to get to the second half, as long as you’re not down 20. I loved that both games we really got going. our defense to start the second half was key. I think we got 10 straight stops.”
senior forward bonzie colson led all scorers with 27 points and 11 rebounds for his 25th-career double-double. Junior guard rex Pflueger also picked up a double-double — the first of his
career — with career-highs in both points and rebounds at 14 and 10.
brey said Pfluger’s ability to guard mount st. mary’s 5-foot-5inch point guard Junior robinson and find a way to score at the same time stood out to him as impressive.
“We have him chasing around a shooter for 35 minutes off of double screens on saturday,” brey said. “now we got him chasing a little point guard all over the place. To do what he did offensively and then rebounding and five assists, it’s really amazing. he’s such a winner, he does whatever it takes, he’s an ace in the hole, he can guard anybody on the perimeter.”
notre dame jumped out to an early advantage, leading 8-4 in the game’s first five minutes, but mount st. mary’s full-court press seemed to give the Irish problems.
In a departure from his preseason substitution patterns, brey went with freshman wing
EMMET FARNAN | The Observer
Junior quarterback Brandon Wimbush sprints up the sideline during Notre Dame’s 41-8 loss to Miami on Saturday. Wimbush finished the game with 143 total yards, one touchdown pass and three turnovers.
EMMET FARNAN | The Observer
Francie “Dr. Cool” Gradel, right, throws a left hook at her opponent, Kyle Casey, during the Baraka Bouts finals Monday.
men’s basketball | nd 88, moUnT sT. mArY ’s 62
