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SOUTH BEND – A summer weight room encounter between Notre Dame men’s basketball coach Mike Brey and junior forward Tyrone Nash gave a glimpse into the building process the Irish are undergoing.
Nash, who is a starter after primarily coming off the bench the past two seasons, was taken aback when Brey told the 6-foot-8 forward that if the Irish were playing Georgetown that night, he would be starting.
“Wouldn’t you think he would kind of assume that?” Brey said.
But according to Brey, Nash appeared stunned that he would start and stuttered that he could play 25 minutes against Georgetown.
“I told our staff, ‘He was in shock,’ ” Brey said. “You would have thought he would be walking around like ‘OK this is mine.’ It’s a new fit and we just got to keep coaching it, working it and getting it confident.”
The confidence building continues at 2 p.m. today when Notre Dame plays host to North Florida in Purcell Pavilion in the season opener.
Notre Dame will be searching for an identity as it works to find a rhythm with Nash and senior guards Ben Hansbrough and Jonathan Peoples stepping into the starting lineup to replace the graduated Kyle McAlarney, Ryan Ayers and Zach Hillesland.
Hansbrough, who sat out last year after transferring from Mississippi State, said the team is prepared for the season after the final exhibition game Nov. 6, a 75-54 victory over Quincy.
“We took one step from the exhibition against Lewis (a 70-54 win Nov. 1), step by step we are definitely getting there,” said Hansbrough, who scored a combined 26 points in the exhibitions.
The one step Notre Dame took that Brey said he liked the most was slowing down its tempo.
In the first exhibition, Brey said the team played too fast at times, but the Irish were able to slow down against Quincy and play their game.
The next step for Notre Dame to figure out will likely be how it uses the three-point line this season.
The Irish went 8 for 33 on three-pointers against Quincy. That was four less than last season’s high mark for three-pointers.
“I think it’s a fine line how we use the line this year,” Brey said. “We are going to have to use it. We are going to have to shoot it from out there. They are going to jam defenses in on Luke (Harangody). I don’t want to take anybody’s confidence in that, but I don’t know if it has to come up as fast as previous teams.”
The Irish do have one constant from previous teams: Harangody. The senior went 15 of 25 for 33 points against Lewis, but he doesn’t think he will have to score that much this season.
“That’s not going to happen,” said Harangody, who scored 17 against Quincy. “We have so many weapons; I’m not going to have to score this many points each night.”
