Everything Earl Grant Said After 18-Point Loss To Notre Dame

Both teams shot 47% from the field and Notre Dame was an abysmal 3-15 from three (BC was 10-19), but the Eagles attempted just six free throws (6-6) while the Fighting Irish were 23-27. The Eagles were also dominated on the glass (35-23) including 17-7 on the offensive end.

Donald Hand Jr. had 17 points and three assists with five three pointers. Josh Beadle chipped in nine points with Chad Venning and Elijah Strong each adding eight.

Only one player (Dion Brown) was on the positive side of the plus-minus column, Five of the 10 players who played were all double-digit minuses,

Just in time for the No. 4 Blue Devils and 'local' sensation Cooper Flagg to visit Conte Forum on Saturday night...

Here's what Grant had to say following the loss to the 8-9 Fighting Irish:

On ND's Tae Davis (26 points)

"He's developed. That's the fifth time I've seen him, fourth time I've seen him and it's the best he's played. So, really was impressed with his game. Looked like a professional player today."

On only having 10 team assists (ND had seven)

"I thought we played a great game up until about the eight-minute mark left. It was a one possession game and Notre Dame was really aggressive, they hit the glass pretty hard. I just think...give them credit. They beat us on the glass. Their ball screen coverage, we made some tough decisions, they knocked the ball loose on some deflections they had. I thought (Julian) Roper came in and really gave them a great lift off the bench with his energy."

On if ND did anything different from the eight-minute mark onward

"I think the difference is, you know...to be honest with you, every time we've played Notre Dame it's been tight. The difference is they had seven guys from last year. It's the same guys. So, we got to that moment and those guys have been together. We broke down. We broke down. We didn't make the plays we needed to make. We didn't execute at the level we needed to execute and they did. It's simple. They executed and they were fluid and we got choppy in a tight moment. But, I think their experienced helped with that. You look, they've got five on the floor, five guys returning from last year, that's a huge difference. In a tight game, that's a huge difference. Because now, you've got to execute. Now, you've got to get stops. Now, you've got to really trust your system, trust each other. So, I thought between...we did a great job on (Braedan) Shrewsbury, but I thought between Tae Davis and (Markus) Burton, they really turned up their gas in the middle of the second half, in the guts of the game and kind of took command of the game, it was simple."

On the free throw discrepancy

"I mean, it's a combination (of officiating and not being aggressive enough). I thought the officials...it was a good crew. We could have got two or three more calls, but again, I thought they took the ball to the basket with more authority. I thought we shot some balls kind of in-between. We needed to get closer to the basket and be more physical, forcing the referee to make a call. So, that was the difference. I thought the officials were fine. There were a few calls, maybe two or three that I argued. But, overall, it was just they took the ball to the basket with a little more authority than we did."

On losing the offensive rebounding battle

"That was very uncharacteristic for us. Our defensive rebound numbers are really high, we usually rebound the first miss. This was the first night in a long time where somebody hurt us on the glass the way that they did. I thought their guards penetrated the ball, got us in rotation and their bigs were at the rim trying to tip it back in."

On a technical foul call on Chad Venning that stopped momentum in the first half

"I'm not 100% sure what was said. I thought most times a referee would warn a kid before you give him a tech. We were up four at the time, we were in good rhythm. Most times referees will warn a kid, 'hey, clean up your language,' you know, but he gave him a technical foul. That chopped the game up. We went with Jayden (Hastings). he's been really good for us, but he's a young guy, hasn't been in these moments and he looked like a young guy, you know? So, yeah, they made that call. Again, I wasn't on the baseline, so I'm not sure what was said, what (Venning) said to make that call. But, most times I would think a referee would give a guy a warning."