Jan. 30, 2006

Recap | Box Score

Head Coach Jay Wright
On the game
"We're pretty defensive minded and when you look at Louisville's shooting percentage and the threes they hit, you just feel terrible about how you played. But then you look and we hit fourteen threes, its unbelievable. That was just an incredible college basketball game with two outstanding offensive teams drilling big shot after big shot. We were really concerned coming into this game having been on the road the last two games and coming back late Saturday night. We were concerned about being mentally fatigued but Louisville was in the same situation coming from Rutgers. For both of those teams to play that way shows great mental toughness on both teams' part. I was proud of our guys' mental toughness, we did everything we could from Saturday night to game time today to not over prepare. These guys have been through so much travel and tough games and it might have showed in our defensive performance but our guys had a lot of heart."

On out rebounding the Cardinals
"We had a big group in there in the first half with Dante Cunningham, Will Sheridan and Shane Clark and we got a lot of offensive rebounds with that group. When you are playing small and they're shooting a lot of threes there are a lot of long rebounds, you can rebound those."

On nine lead changes in six minutes during the first half
"It was crazy. We're a defensive team and take pride in that but we just couldn't stop them. If we took away the three they drove or went inside. I just give them a lot of credit. I've never had that feeling where you just couldn't stop somebody no matter who we put in."

On Louisville
"I think if a team can play like that after being on the road at Rutgers and coming here the next night, they'll be in the tournament. They're a good team, a very good team, and they're playing a lot of people and I think that's going to pay off down the stretch. It's one of the things we're trying to do. I think you see a lot of teams in our league maybe wear down in the end because these games are incredible. I'm tired and I don't even do anything. That's why it was great for us to get our freshmen in there tonight playing. We're going to need those guys down the stretch and I think Louisville getting their guys ready too."

Mike Nardi
On his part of a 13-0 run
"My teammates were finding me, in transition I was coming behind the basketball when Kyle (Lowry) was penetrating and just letting it fly. Every shot felt good and it was the right shot so it made me feel even more comfortable and it went in. I just kind of got going."

On fatigue after a road game on Saturday
"Yeah, the average human being would be but we try to be different as a team. We take pride coming out every night no matter if you have three games in a row or tens days off. We're going to play forty minutes of Villanova Basketball and that's what we tried to do tonight. Early on they were hanging around but later in the game I think we picked it up."

Allan Ray
On twelve threes during a series in the first half
"We came out and hit a lot of shots early. Once you do that you gain a lot of confidence as a team and we all feeding off when Mike (Nardi) hit a shot or Randy (Foye) or myself. It just builds confidence, but at the same time Louisville was doing the same thing. They were coming down and trading baskets. Both teams at that point had confidence."

On what it took to get the win
"Just having the will to win. Just wanting to go out there and get a stop when you really need it. When it really counts going out there and grabbing that rebound. Like Randy (Foye) chasing a guy down from behind and getting a big steal at the end of the game. Big things like that."

Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino
"It was a very entertaining game, it wasn't for us at the end but I think that was as well as we've played. We got our tempo back and that's what we were trying to do more than anything else. There's a point where if you just keep walking the ball up the floor you're not going to shoot a good percentage when you run the type of offenses we run. We wanted to get our tempo back and run with them, pressure them back. Our guys did a great job tonight. They had 19 assists 73 points, they shared the basketball. Believe it or not the only place we didn't execute, we gave up ten or 12 points on underneath our of bounds plays which was the difference in the game, ten points. That's something that should never happen. I told our guys I was very upset at Rutgers because we played a slow tempo, we made some mental mistakes that cost us the game but it we play a high tempo we do a lot of good things. Passing the basketball, distributing, going inside to out so we played this team twice tough and they are a great basketball team. Our goal going on this road trip was to win two out of six on the road and sweep four at home. That puts us at .500 and we go to the Garden, get a game or two and we think we're right there. We are not at all thinking negatively. The glass is more than half full for us. When you play Connecticut and Villanova twice, teams like Pittsburgh without Taquan Dean you struggle a bit. We've got him back now and are very optimistic, staying positive with positive energy."

On Villanova's shooting
"Villanova makes a mockery of everything I try to do defensively. They just make shots. They get up so high, even if you challenge it, they just make shots and they make them at the NBA range."