NOTRE DAME, Ind. (WSBT) — When in Spain?
Notre Dame men’s basketball embarks on an 11-day trip to the Iberian Peninsula on Monday to grow the bond between his new roster that features six newcomers, seven returners and a handful of walk-ons.
“That’s mostly what I’m looking for, just being together as a team is the most important thing,” Notre Dame Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry said. “Like we’re learning in practice. We’re doing stuff. We’re not going to be great defensively, because we’re not spending a lot of time on it [yet]. So, really gauging our offense, how we’re playing.”
The Irish are spending 11 days across Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia scrimmaging Spanish teams to focus more on improving its offense from a season ago.
Notre Dame averaged 64 points per game, ranking 342nd of 351 Division 1 teams.
Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry hopes the 24-second international shot clock will help increase the efficiency and tempo of the offense.
“So, doing that in these games, we should see how that pace translates to what we’re doing offensively,” Shrewsberry said. “These games are really important in Spain, but these practices are really important for me.
“We don’t have a lot of stuff in, but we’ve got enough into play, So, there’s going to be some situations that we’re not going to be quite ready for. Like, how can we, on the fly, figure it out? I’m trying to increase our creativity as a team. So, how can we do some things on the fly when we get in these situations?”
