March 20, 2004
Recap?|? Final Stats?|? Notes
Villanova head coach Jay Wright on the win over Virginia:
"Obviously this is a very good win for us. Virginia is a good team, they were a bubble NCAA team. They are a lot like us in that they are very young, and their best days are ahead of them. This was a great test to see where we are."
"Our guys were tough and I'm proud of them. We had a good crowd. It was just a good day."
Wright on Villanova's second half performance:
"I thought we got on a great run, Curtis Sumpter was dominating the game, but then he got his fourth foul, and Jason Fraser had four, so we got in a tough stretch. Will Sheridan and Chris Charles played well off the bench."
Wright on the defense that held Virginia guard Todd Billet scoreless:
"Mike Nardi and Allan Ray chased around Billet and Reynolds all day. Billet didn't score, that's unbelievable."
Wright on Villanova's rebounding advantage:
"We love this three-guard offense, but if our guards are soft we'd get killed. We have tough guards who can rebound, and when that happens we can be a tough team."
Wright on the friendly rivalry between Villanova guards Randy Foye and Allan Ray:
"We put them against each other in practice, mainly because they are the only ones who can guard each other. But they have great respect for each other, and they know that they both have to play well in order for us to win."
Villanova guard Allan Ray:
"We wanted to come out and play a good overall game, and do the little things we needed to win."
"It doesn't matter who we have to play next (Rutgers or West Virginia), because we owe both of them."
Virginia head coach Pete Gillen:
"I'm very proud of our team. We had tired legs, and we weren't sharp early. Villanova is a very good team, congratulations to them. It's tough to come back from 13 or 14 points down, and we were playing without Devin Jones, who is our best player in my opinion."
"We didn't play smart at times, and that's because of inexperience. Today we didn't have our best, but that wasn't because of a lack of effort. We got close a few times, but we just couldn't finish the deal."
