GEICO PLAYERS ERA MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP

November 25, 2025

Micah Shrewsberry

MGM Grand Garden Arena

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Postgame Press Conference

Notre Dame 68, Rutgers 63

MICAH SHREWSBERRY: Happy that we won. We play Rutgers, I feel like I've played against Rutgers for 20 straight years, and every game has looked exactly like this. I thought when I left the Big Ten, I'd never have to play Steve Pikiell again, but yet here we are every year.

Q. Obviously you guys built a decent lead in the first half there and then Rutgers kept battling back. Every time they threw that punch it seemed like you guys were able to withstand that. Talk about the resilience of your team and being able to keep them within that striking distance most of the time.

MICAH SHREWSBERRY: Yeah, that's something for us that -- kind of both things that going into this year we've had to improve on. Last year we would build leads, people would come back and we didn't have that answer, right, and we ended up losing a lot of the close games that way.

I thought we did a good job of answering each time. I thought some of our mistakes were kind of self-inflicted, but there were moments where we did play with some calm and we got some baskets to kind of weather the storm, and that's important for us to kind of get and see early in the season.

Q. You mentioned playing Rutgers a lot over the years, a lot of versions of Rutgers. What sticks out about this year's team, when you were watching them on tape and playing them today?

MICAH SHREWSBERRY: Like you said, the personnel has changed a lot. Obviously last year was completely different with two -- I forget where Ace went, ninth? Fifth? Yeah, two top-5 draft picks. They were so good.

This year's team, this team is like his identity, like just gritty, tough, nasty, like, always compete. We talked to our guys about when they get down, they really amp up their pressure. They're attacking in how they play.

I think he probably really enjoys coaching this group just because I think they fit his personality and who he is.

Today we caught them on the -- they haven't shot the ball well. But to go 11 for 27, they really got going. Now, if they can start to do that, and then with that crowd, that's one of the hardest places to play. So now they start to get that crowd behind them, which feeds their defense. They're going to be okay.

Q. Can you speak to Markus Burton? Obviously missed most of the tournament last year after the injury; the last two games obviously played great; one of the best point guards in college basketball. I believe he had 21, 5, and 6 today. What makes him so dynamic on the offensive end specifically?

MICAH SHREWSBERRY: Yeah, I think just his speed and his ability to get in, like, small cracks and crevices to kind openings. When you don't think it's there, when you think you have him bottled up, he can get there.

I thought he really tried to play make for guys today, too, to get guys some extra shots, and when he's doing that, now people are worried about those guys, and he's getting more lay-ups in that way.

He competes. He's a competitor. He's trying to guard on the opposite end. He's scoring on the other end. Then he's keeping our guys together just with his talk and his energy.

Just proud of his growth. This was a hard game. I know we played the game yesterday, but Rutgers was the game he got hurt last year and the player that hurt him was starting. So mentally to get through that, I think, was really important for him, especially early in the game.

Q. You mentioned making a lot of threes. They took a lot of threes. They don't usually take that many. Was that you guys trying to force them to shoot from the perimeter or was that just them?

MICAH SHREWSBERRY: I think a little bit of both. We're a gap-help oriented team, so we're going to be in gaps. They've been so good at living in the paint, so we thought we needed to win the paint battle on both ends of the court.

I didn't think some of our movements defensively were good leaving the gaps at the right time, and it led to some open shots. We didn't have great discipline guarding pin-downs. We whipped a bunch and they got some threes that way.

I think how we guarded them led to more threes, but once they got going, too, then that changes some things, right? Dylan Grant was 3 for 5, but started at 3 for 3. He could have rolled and ankle and went and got him a two-way or something.

Q. How do you prepare for tomorrow or possibly Thursday, not knowing who you're going to play, what time you might play? What do you do today to kind of prepare for that?

MICAH SHREWSBERRY: Yeah, number one is rest, get back and get back to the hotel and rest. Luckily we play the early game. We don't know what tomorrow is going to hold or the time, but at least we get a significant amount of rest time by playing the first game today.

Then our staff has kind of broken it up in different teams. They've kind of looked at different scenarios of who could play, what are their records now, who's playing in what gym, who's playing at what time, and they've done a good job of kind of playing ahead.

But I think day 3 for everybody becomes more about them and their team and system. You've got to trust your system on day 3 because you just don't have the preparation time to be like a normal game. You're not going to have that preparation time.

Tomorrow is going to be about system for really every team that plays.