The mental aspect was the difference. We weren't on the same page. All-American Troy Murphy had 18, while Penn State shot 7 of 26 from long distance against coach Matt Doherty's zone defense. Still, Notre Dame, which had its NCAA Tournament bubble popped by the tournament's selection committee, lives on for another day, grappling the Demon Deacons at 7 p.m. today, while N.C. State and the Lions will try to pick up the pieces two days after their shortcomings. There's a very short turnaround and that will be our next mountain to climb.
Kids are human beings.
The focus is to close on a good note and get our guys to play for a new day. This game is history. We can't do anything about it now.