Notre Dame basketball has to 'respond better to success': Micah Shrewsberry

Notre Dame basketball keeps taking one step forward and then two steps back. But head coach Micah Shrewsberry thinks he's figured out what his team's problem is. Now he just needs to find the right way to correct it.

On Saturday, it wasn't hard to see what the problem was. The Florida State Seminoles and the Fighting Irish went toe-to-toe for much of the contest. Then FSU went on a 21-6 run at the end of the first half and early in the second -- including an 8-0 run after the the break.

That was the difference in the 67-58 loss for the Notre Dame basketball team. Shrewsberry knew it. And he made it clear that he's going to take action so that the next time an opponent goes on that kind of run, his team will be able to counter it.

“Florida State came in here and really took it to us early,” Shrewsberry said in his post-game press conference. “I didn’t think we responded well early either and that’s a coaching issue. I’ve got to get these guys ready to go. I’ve got to get them ready to play. We need to spend more time doing the things we need to do to be a better team."

"We have to respond better to success," he continued. "I thought we stayed in that success instead of moving to what’s next. That got us early in the game."

Notre Dame basketball is all about changing the culture

For those feeling as though Shrewsberry has made those kinds of comments before, that's because he has. The culture of the program has been a big issue in the new coach's first year. So much so that he's resorted to threatening jobs before.

There have been some steps forward. He thought that things changed quite a bit after Notre Dame basketball's very bad loss to The Citadel. But clearly they're going to need some more fixing before things are really settled in South Bend.