Sweet 16: Villanova & West Virginia Postgame Quotes

JAY WRIGHT: What a game, man. What a college basketball game. I hope that looked as good as it did from the bench, man. Just all the credit in the world to West Virginia. That was the most physical, physically demanding, mentally demanding 40 minutes we’ve played in a long time. They’re so relentless. They keep coming at you.

And because of that, because of how good West Virginia is, how well coached they are on the half-court offense; they don’t get credit for that. Their defense is great, but their half-court offense and offensive rebounding is strategic. They’ve always got three guys, four blocks in the middle of the lane. It’s really intelligent basketball.

Because of that, I’m so proud of our guys’ leadership. Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, and Phil Booth, our three leaders. When we got down six, I saw they pulled everybody together and just kept us together to grind it out. Great win for us because West Virginia’s so good.

THE MODERATOR: Take questions for the Coach and the student-athletes.

Q. For Jay and the players, can we talk a little bit about Omari Spellman and the stretch that he had.
JALEN BRUNSON: To be honest, I don’t know. (Laughter). After the game, Allie LaForce asked me, “How do you think Omari played?” And I just said, we’re used to that. Omari can shoot. He can make plays. He can do all of that. He’s a great defender. It’s nothing that we’re not already used to. I mean, we expect that of him. He’s supposed to play at a high level every game.

So for him to play like that, it’s great for him, how consistently he’s been doing it. When he makes shots, it’s not special to us. We’re thankful for it, though. Very thankful.

Q. Omari, what was it about your looks that caused you to get the shots right up without hesitation in that second half?
OMARI SPELLMAN: Coach always tells me to catch and shoot. We were just looking to come out and run offensive score. I was just having a shoot ’em up, battle in the streets mentality. I was just trying to take the right shots and be aggressive.

Q. This is for Coach and Jalen: Coach, you guys didn’t have a paint bucket until the 10:00 mark in the second half. How was that to be persistent to get in the rhythm and it eventually opened up that run. And Jalen, that bucket was your and-one. Can you just describe the mentality to size up the rim, getting the contact, and then what that means for you and you could go forward.
JALEN BRUNSON: It’s just our confidence we have in each other. Our teammates have confidence in me to make plays like that. I just try to get low, be aggressive, and just really concentrate on making a basket. I mean, it’s something that I work on, and it’s something that my teammates and coaches have confidence in me doing.

JAY WRIGHT: You’ve got to give credit — Konate is one of the best rim protectors I’ve seen in college basketball in a long time. I was an assistant in the Big East when Mutombo and Mourning were at Georgetown. But Mikal Bridges is one of the best athletes around, and he took it at him, couldn’t finish. The kid is impressive. The kid is really tough. He’s young. It’s hard.

But we had to keep going. Phil Booth got his shot blocked going to the rim, and the next play he drove it and found Omari for a three. So just had to keep going at the rim and making good decisions.

Q. Jalen, how much did you take that rivalry with Jevon — how much were you looking forward to playing him, and how much do you kind of step up your game knowing you’re going against Jevon in your backcourt? And what did you think of Eric’s dunk there?
JALEN BRUNSON: I try and approach every game like it’s my last, every game. So there’s no extra incentive when I’m playing someone I’ve known growing up. If I need to be motivated by that, I’m doing myself an injustice. I’ve got to play every game like it’s my last. I love to play against old friends. I love great challenges. But it was Villanova versus West Virginia, and it was a great battle fought between two teams, and that was great.

Eric’s dunk, it’s honestly something we’re used to seeing. We’ve seen some crazier ones in practice, but we’re happy to have it.

Q. First, Jalen, you play against guys like Jevon. You play against a great backcourt on Sunday. What’s your philosophy playing against a high-caliber offense like you were this weekend? And, Jay, what do you expect out of this team coming up Sunday, no matter who you’re playing, two very different teams?
JALEN BRUNSON: I think the deeper we go, the better the teams are going to get. But most importantly for us nothing changes. Nothing changes no matter who we play, no matter where we play, what time, what day. It doesn’t matter. Nothing changes for us. We play every game like it’s our last. Sticking to our core values. 40 minutes of Villanova basketball. That’s our mindset every game. As long as we’re stick together, those 40 minutes or more, and that’s all we can pray for and all we want to do.

JAY WRIGHT: I just want to answer his question. I’m looking at minutes here. We had a lot of guys play a lot of minutes in a physical game. We’ve got to make sure we’re fresh because these two teams are both physical teams also. So my biggest concern is being fresh for either one of these teams, physically and mentally.

Q. Omari, it was pretty rough with you and Konate in the second half and that one point where play was stopped. What were you guys talking about? Were you just kind of introducing yourself, saying hello?
OMARI SPELLMAN: It was just two guys competing. That’s really all it was. He’s a great player. It was definitely a challenge to go up against him. We were just competing at the highest level, and that’s really all it was.

Q. Jay, in the past that size and physicality have given you problems? What was the difference today?
JAY WRIGHT: I think Omari and Eric Paschall and Mikal and our guards have good size, Phil Booth and Donte DiVincenzo. Phil Booth had six defensive rebounds. Donte DiVincenzo had five defensive rebounds against West Virginia. It was the best offensive-rebounding team we’ve played against. You’ve got to have five guys rebounding. So it can’t just be your bigs.

But I thought Donte, Omari kind of neutralized Konate and allowed Booth and Donte to go get some rebounds.

Q. Coach, numbers aside, why would you say this is such a big moment to see these guys win this game?
JAY WRIGHT: Just because I have so much respect for the way West Virginia plays, how physical, how relentless they play, how mentally tough they are. Really, you’ve got guys, they don’t talk any junk. A little with Konate and Omari got into it a little bit, no biggie, but the whole game, they don’t say anything. They just come at you physically, aggressively, and mentally tough. So if you’re not better in those areas, they’re going to get you.

And to see our guys come out, more to be able to compete with them physically and mentally, it was really impressive to me.

Q. This is for Jalen and Omari: In a game where you guys have all played 35-plus minutes and it’s a tough, grind-out game, how much does the crowd factor in? They really seemed to be on your side the majority of the night.
JALEN BRUNSON: They’re great. Nova nation is great. To be honest, it doesn’t really affect us at all. We try to focus on 94 by 50 feet. Every time we step inside those lines, it’s all about what’s going on inside those lines.

Our fans are great. We love them. We want them to support us every time we can, but it’s all about us doing what we do inside those lines.

Q. One for Jay and one for Omari: Omari, can you walk through that sequence where you got a block on one end and then pushed back to dunk on the other. It kind of swung the tenor of the game after Mikal hit the three. Jalen, after you go through a game like this, are you grateful for the experiences you need in the Tournament?
OMARI SPELLMAN: I just saw him put his head down. I forgot who he was going against, but he had him chested pretty well. I just saw the opportunity for the block. I came over and got the rebound and tried to outlet it, and I saw Phil going to the hoop, and I was just thinking to myself, if he misses this, I got to get it. So it just happened to come off the right way, and I just tried to finish it.

JAY WRIGHT: Just to answer Pete’s question, in this tournament, to be down six against a team like that in the second half and battle back, you know in the next game that’s going to happen. So you don’t want it to happen the first time in a final eight game.

And just the physicality, the toughness of that team, that’s what a final eight game is going to be like. I think that’s a really valuable game for us, really valuable.

Q. It seemed like the second half you’re handling the press better but you miss nine out of your first ten shots. Was that just — you know, you’re beating the press, but you’re not running an offense once you do it, or you’re just missing shots?
JAY WRIGHT: I think in the first half it was the opposite. You know, we weren’t doing a great job with the press, but we were making some shots. Second half, I think we got used to the physicality, we got used to the aggressiveness, and we were executing better. We thought that was going to be the case. You just can’t simulate that, you know. You got to just get in that game and feel it.

But I thought we were more aggressive in the second half. We got to the foul line. We missed shots, but we got to the foul line, and I thought that was important for us early in the second half.

Q. Jay, you like to talk a lot about the old Big East. We’re in an old Big East city against an old Big East opponent and that was an old Big East game. It might not be that the new Big East has that same level of physicality top to bottom, it’s a little more of an up-and-down game, but as you said, this is going to prepare you for what’s to come. Did you have that sort of déjà vu about this game as you were in it?
JAY WRIGHT: Definitely. As soon as I started watching film of West Virginia, I just thought, man, this — the Big East is — the new Big East is a really high-powered offensive league, a lot of three-point shooters. It is different from the old Big East.

And I think college basketball has changed a lot, too. There weren’t a lot of teams that played this way. We played Tennessee that I thought was a physical team, but not like this. So when I started watching film, I just thought, man, this is a tough matchup, number one, and if we survive this, we’re a pretty mentally tough team, and this is going to be like an old-school, grind-out game.

But it’s funny how the game has changed. It’s old-school grind-out, but it’s 90-78. That would have been 58-50 back in the day and no fouls called.

Q. There were fouls called in this game.
JAY WRIGHT: Yes, there were.

Q. Jay, I’m the guy sitting next to Hoops. Can you talk a little bit about, given we’re in polite company, what you said after you called a time-out at 60-54? Because that was a moment that could have gone either way.
JAY WRIGHT: I was all right. I really was. I knew there was a lot of time. I knew with them, the way they play, there was going to be a lot of possessions. Like we were talking about earlier, I thought we were doing some good things. We were just missing shots. They hit a couple tough shots. It really wasn’t that — it wasn’t that bad. It was kind of just — it was right before, I think, the 12:00 time-out, which we don’t usually like to do. I just thought it was really — we just thought it was really necessary at that time because they were getting on a good run. And I just wanted to make sure we kept our confidence and stayed committed to our game plan.

That’s our leadership, I just looked at Jalen, Mikal, and Phil, and I could see in their eyes we were good. We were good. If I didn’t, if I looked in their eyes and saw fear or worry, I would have maybe went a little crazy, but I didn’t.

Q. First for Jalen then for Coach, Purdue hasn’t been to an Elite Eight in almost 20 years, Texas Tech has never been there. Jalen, you have National Championship experience. Jay, of course you’re still coaching the team. What can guys like you and Mikal provide the younger guys practicing tomorrow in a game tomorrow and playing a game that Texas Tech and Purdue haven’t? And for Jay, what does the experience from two years ago give you as a coach going into Sunday?
JALEN BRUNSON: I’m sorry. Can you say that one more time.

Q. You and Mikal both played a role on the national title team. Tech and Purdue haven’t been in an Elite Eight in at least 20 years or ever. What does your experience in the last couple years help prepare this team going into under? And for Jay, being able to coach that team.
JALEN BRUNSON: I think our experience is definitely going to be able to help. Just being able to go through what we did a couple years ago and last year. It shows the highs and lows of college basketball. I just think it comes so much thinking it’s our next game. Our next game is our biggest game. Nothing changes, no matter who we play, where we play, what kind of game it is. Nothing changes for us. We’re going to go out there and stick to our core values for 40 minutes, and I think we’ve got to really take pride in that and really just stick to what we do and not worry about anything else.

JAY WRIGHT: I always say he’s the most mature guy in our program. I probably can’t come up with a better answer than that. But it’s the truth. When you’re in it, you learn that everything is going on around you, but really your experience is just the next game, and you love that more than — you know, we’ve all been fans of this and watched it, and it’s great, but there’s nothing like being in it and having that next game. I think we all kind of understand that.

And Texas Tech and Purdue are going to know it. As soon as this game is over, they’re going to know it. The most important thing is this is just the next game.

THE MODERATOR: Villanova, congratulations and thank you.

#5 West Virginia Postgame Press Conference: Bob Huggins, Jevon Carter, Daxter Miles Jr. 

http://asaptext.com/asap_media/media/83/352/transcripts/26927.pdf
http://asaptext.com/asap_media/media/83/352/transcripts/26927.html