Coach Herenda Postgame Press Conference

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team fell 91-66 to Notre Dame at Purcell Pavilion on Tuesday night.
 
A 1-for-21 start from the field proved to be too much to overcome for the Knights (1-5) against the Fighting Irish, who won their sixth game in a row and moved to 6-1 on the campaign.
 
For the fourth time this season, the Knights logged at least four scorers in double figures. Redshirt junior guard Xzavier Malone-Key led the way with 17 points, while Kaleb Bishop, Brandon Rush and Elyjah Williams finished with 10 points apiece.
 
Bishop corralled 10 rebounds to register his third double-double of the season, while Williams added six rebounds and four assists to his ledger.
 
John Mooney posted a 13-point, 13-rebound double-double for the Irish and Nate Laszewski scored a team-high 16 points.

"To miss our first 18 shots and to go into the half down 12 was a real credit to our team fighting and clawing and keeping their composure in an ACC arena," said Greg Herenda after the game. "Obviously, we were down a number of key contributors but our bench stepped up and competed at a very high level. Notre Dame is a very, very well coached and skilled basketball team and when they went to their zone we had trouble attack it and to their credit they never got out of it. It's hard to see from the outside but we are getting better everyday. All of our young guys grew up some tonight -- I am very proud of every player's effort tonight."
 
The Irish shot 50.8 percent overall and made 12-of-25 (48 percent) from behind the arc, while the Knights converted 37.5 percent overall and 7-of-23 (30.4 percent) from deep. The ACC Irish also outrebounded the Burgundy and Blue 44-33.
 
In the loss, the Knights recorded five steals for the fifth time in their six outings.
 
The Irish scored the first 13 points of the game as the Knights missed their first 18 shots from the field. Malone-Key got the Knights on the board with a pair of free throws just over six minutes into play.
 
Trailing 21-4, the Rush broke a nearly 10-minute field goal drought by finishing a spinning layup with 10:03 to play in the half. The Knights weathered the storm and the first career 3-pointer by Marc Dadika cut the deficit to single-digits, 39-30, with 54 seconds remaining.
 
A 3-pointer in the final seconds by the host Irish would result in a 42-30 score at the break. Rush scored nine first-half points to pace the Burgundy and Blue, while Williams scored four with five rebounds. Dadika came off the bench and scored five points in two minutes of action.
 
Mooney scored seven with eight rebounds and Gibbs scored eight in the half for the Irish, who shot 51.7 percent and held the Knights to 29.7 percent. Despite the shooting percentage disparity, the Knights outscored the home team 14-12 in the paint.
 
Bishop opened the half with a 3-pointer, which sliced the deficit back down to single digits but the Irish would extend their lead again. A 7-0 run, capped by a layup from Rex Pflueger provided the home team with a 59-40 lead at the under-12 media timeout.  
 
The Knights were unable to close the gap below 16 points over the final 12 minutes as the Irish finalized the victory.
 
In addition to the aforementioned performances, freshman Daniel Rodriguez scored a career-high eight points with four rebounds, while Dadika added a pair of rebounds to his five-point performance.
 
The Knights return to Hackensack for their second home game of the season next time out as they take on Quinnipiac on Tuesday, December 3. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. at Stratis Arena inside the Rothman Center.