Notre Dame-Providence Post-Game Notes

The switch could have been taken as a demotion. Yet with the way Ryan Ayers has played the past two games, the junior took it as a motivator instead.
After lackadasical play throughout much of the Big East season, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey switched Ayers in the starting lineup in favor of junior Zach Hillesland. Ayers has responded with more aggressive play -- and two consecutive 10-point outings.
"If that's the role he wants me to do, I'm going to keep going out there, working hard and help my team win," Ayers said. "I would say it makes me a little more aggressive, with a little more edge, a little more fire.
"A spark off the bench."
Brey, who earlier in the week seemed to be in a game-by-game approach as far as the switch, seems happy with the dividends. Hillesland had his best scoring night in almost two months Thursday with seven points -- his most productive scoring night since an eight-point effort against San Francisco.
"(Ayers) has been great," Brey said. "He came in really confident, hunting his shot right away. He's more aggressive out there on the perimeter. Right now it's giving us good stuff and while it is, we'll continue to ride it."

He Thought It Was Good
Sophomore guard Tory Jackson isn't one to take -- or make -- many three-pointers. But after a stealing the ball from Geoff McDermott with two seconds left, Jackson drove up the court and got a clean look at a long three-pointer.
Jackson saw the play before -- both in the game and in scouting reports. Providence had run the play, where McDermott drove and then faked a hand off, a few possessions prior. So Jackson made the read and then the steal.
"When his hand went across it was just a reaction, a quick reaction," Jackson said. "Nobody told me to go up or coach didn't tell me to step up. It was just a basketball reaction.
"Thankfully I knocked the ball away and I looked up and there was time on the clock. I thought time ran off so I tried to get up something. It hit the front of the rim. I thought it was going in but it didn't."

Worried? Ehh...
As his team missed shot after shot in the second half, Brey admitted he started to think about all the possible scenarios he'd say to his team after the game, win or lose.
Win, and he'd keep on the track. Lose, and he'd become Mr. Positivity with DePaul entering the Joyce Center less than 48 hours later. There were times he even wondered whether or not this was his team's night.
"You think about everything," Brey said. "What's your post-game talk because you have another game coming at you. You have to flush it quick. You have to try to get out of the week 5-3 then and not let it hang over.
"Certainly that goes through your mind but we got it to overtime, and you see this in college basketball so much, that surge that got us to overtime, that momentum, it carries that team into it."
Notre Dame had been in that position before -- read: the entire 2005-06 season -- so Brey recognized the scenario from both sides. This year, this time, Notre Dame was on the other side of it.
It's logical, though, as Notre Dame hadn't been in this type of game at home very often in the Irish's 32-game home win streak. So negative thoughts -- or at least questions of confusion -- would be logical. Not on this team.
"We have great leadership on this team and guys who have a lot of experience in the Big East and know what it takes to grind out wins," junior guard Kyle McAlarney said. "Even the guys who don't have experience, they go out there with nothing to lose and just go for it. That adds to how we play in end of game situations."

This and that
Notre Dame was outrebounded, 48-38, rare for a team ranked seventh nationally in rebounding margin. ... The Irish squeezed their bench in the second half and overtime, essentially cutting it to six players -- the five starters and Ayers. Luke Zeller had four minutes after halftime and Jonathan Peoples two. ... Jackson couldn't help but laugh as Notre Dame's student section harassed Providence center Ray Hall, who had a rough 2 of 10 shooting performance from the free throw line. Jackson wouldn't repeat what he heard, but "it was a lot of bad things. They had me laughing."

-By Michael Rothstein of The Journal Gazette