Jan. 9, 2010
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Villanova head coach Jay Wright...
Opening statement: We played a great first half they played a great second half. "You've got to give them credit. We didn't stop playing hard. They played basically seven guys we played 10 and their stamina is incredible. They were hitting shots at the end. This is BIG EAST. I never expected to be up 20 and then when you're up 20 and you never expect it to be two. It's the BIG EAST. I was trying to look at things as a positive. I never thought we'd be up 20, but I thought we could have a chance to win. Then when we got up 20 and you think OK, we're going to hold on to it, but you learn better.
On surviving a game like this in conference play early: It's big. We're going to learn a lot from this game. We made mistakes defensively in the second half but it was because they are so good moving the ball and finding your mistakes. The first half defensively we probably played our best half of defense that we played in a long time. In the second half they kind of wore us down defensively. We were just a step behind our rotations and they just found the extra man every time. You have to give them a lot of credit.
On taking more time off the clock in the last three minutes: No, we want to be aggressive- we do. Especially on a team like that. If they were a team that sat back and let you run your stuff we would have, but they get in you and are so physical defensively that you can't make passes. You have to drive the ball and they speed you up. That is what makes them so good. They speed you up on offense and then they slow you down when they have the ball on offense. They are a very good team.
Villanova seemed extra active in the first half: We just really played well. I learned something. We played great defense, but we may not be ready to play for 40 minutes condition-wise. They hold the ball down to 10 seconds, so you have to play 25 seconds every possession. We did a great job. Even at the beginning of the second half we did a great job. Got it to 20, but they just started finding the open guy. We were a step slower on our rotations and I think that they just wore us out a little bit.
On Corey Stokes being back this game: I thought he was great. I was a little worried about him today because I was afraid that he wasn't going to have confidence. That is an injury that you don't want to go real hard because you're afraid, but he came out hard. I was really proud of him.
On Lazar Hayward having two points and two rebounds at halftime: He is amazing. He got in to some foul trouble in the first half that made him a little less aggressive and we tried to go at him early. We went inside to Antonio and he did a great job defending. He played with three fouls for a lot of the second half. He is a great player. I said that a week ago the last time we played them, but he is a very impressive guy.
On looking forward to Monday night: I haven't thought about it yet. Big Monday at Louisville. That is a great place to play. I think in '06 we played Big Monday down there. It is a great atmosphere. We'll be fired up to play. It is fun. It's easy. It's easy to get your guys fired up. It's like the NBA. We get on a flight tomorrow. Get down there, get a little shootaround in and get ready to play. They like the games. This should be fun.
Junior guard Corey Stokes...
On playing and being back from hamstring injury: I felt good. I've been getting treatment every day. My teammates just told me to come out with confidence and so did Coach Wright. They got me the ball and confidence in me and I knocked down shots.
On playing a game like this: Every game in the BIG EAST is a battle. You're going to see this every night. Every team is tough. We're just going to prepare and practice for the next game.
Senior guard Scottie Reynolds...
On what he will take out of this game: Like coach said that is a team that we can beat in the first half scrambling like that and playing defense like that and holding our opponent to 30% shooting. That is a team we can beat. There is no limit on our team if we can do that for 40 minutes, but we are not capable right now of doing that as a team for 40 minutes. That is our goal. When we get t o that point we can be something special.
Why they are not capable: I think it is some of the situations that we are in- we're young- so when we get up, we don't have the same mentality like it is a two-point game. I think we kind of learned that in the DePaul game- I learned it myself- Just always being on the attack and never taking any possessions off. If you can continue to do that every possession that will lead to Villanova Basketball.
On impact going to the foul line had on the game: In the first half they were doing a great job on me, Cubillian and Acker were guarding me and our guys were getting to the basket. In the second half I don't think they were doing that so much. I knew I could get to the basket, second cutting, passing it to the three to get to the basket. Trying to get my team a spark and letting them know that we had to finish this thing out.
