Recap | Box Score | USATSI Gallery

-

Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright

Opening Remarks

"It was really unusual going into this game today because I think a lot of people were saying 'you should handle them'. This is the Syracuse versus Villanova game, and it has never been anything but what we just saw. They are a good team and their three loses were to good teams. They played really well. Their freshman point guard had ten assists and Cooney is a hell of a college guard. Rakeem Christmas is a pro. That is a really good team and I think that we just have upperclassmen, mainly JayVaughn Pinkston and Darrun Hilliard that carry our team. We are very fortunate that we have seniors that carry our team and they are what made the difference today. "

On forcing a turnover without fouling at the end of regulation time

"Well we have to run a play for that and they do what we tell them to do. There is always that time where you come very close to calling a timeout or fouling or not. And that is the area right there, do you risk the foul or not? We practice those timed possessions like that and our guys did exactly what they were supposed to do."

On playing a high pressure rival game

"I am happy we got to play that game. We needed that. There are a lot of reasons but we didn't come into the game with a lot of focus. But over a season that is going to happen a couple games. It is not coming out perfect every night it is a matter of when you don't come out perfectly how do you react? That is what we talked about at halftime and then its JayVaugh Pinkston its Darrun Hilliard, I can hear them getting the guys together and agreeing with what I say 'He is right, we gotta go, let's do this.' They just do it and it is really enjoyable and it seems so simple but it's not. Even if we lost that game, the fact that we got back in it and went into overtime was something that we were really going to be able to build on and learn from."

On Dylan Ennis

"I never foresee him having a hard time, one of the things he did really well was pressuring Kaleb Joseph. He really got after him when we were pressuring full-court. He did a great job putting pressure on us during the press in the first half so we had to get out of it. Ennis was able to go out and put pressure on him one-on-one because he has the ability to do that. Dylan Ennis also made an unbelievable play at the tap at the beginning of overtime. They won the tap but he jumped so high and stole that tap and it was a huge play to give us the momentum at the start of the overtime.

On being a hardworking team

"I don't think we are there yet. We didn't play a great game and you have to give Syracuse a lot of credit. They came out much more focused and very well-prepared. I don't think we came out very prepared, the coaching staff and the players."

Senior forward, JayVaughn Pinkston

On final layup to take game into OT

"I got that past from Archie (Arcidiacono) and I flashed the ball and then made the play on the opposite side of the basket ââ'¬Â¦ It was a good feeling to take it into overtime as a senior leader."

On having big plays at the end the game

"It's doing the little things: Guarding the best player, screening, getting under people and taking shots so when it is my time I know what to do."

Sophomore guard, Josh Hart

On playing a close game

"You would love to come in and beat a team by 15 or 20 points every game but that isn't always possible. We need these types of games to get us prepared for conference games and prepared for April."

Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright

Opening Remarks

"It was really unusual going into this game today because I think a lot of people were saying 'you should handle them'. This is the Syracuse versus Villanova game, and it has never been anything but what we just saw. They are a good team and their three loses were to good teams. They played really well. Their freshman point guard had ten assists and Cooney is a hell of a college guard. Rakeem Christmas is a pro. That is a really good team and I think that we just have upperclassmen, mainly JayVaughn Pinkston and Darrun Hilliard that carry our team. We are very fortunate that we have seniors that carry our team and they are what made the difference today. "

On forcing a turnover without fouling at the end of regulation time

"Well we have to run a play for that and they do what we tell them to do. There is always that time where you come very close to calling a timeout or fouling or not. And that is the area right there, do you risk the foul or not? We practice those timed possessions like that and our guys did exactly what they were supposed to do."

On playing a high pressure rival game

"I am happy we got to play that game. We needed that. There are a lot of reasons but we didn't come into the game with a lot of focus. But over a season that is going to happen a couple games. It is not coming out perfect every night it is a matter of when you don't come out perfectly how do you react? That is what we talked about at halftime and then its JayVaugh Pinkston its Darrun Hilliard, I can hear them getting the guys together and agreeing with what I say 'He is right, we gotta go, let's do this.' They just do it and it is really enjoyable and it seems so simple but it's not. Even if we lost that game, the fact that we got back in it and went into overtime was something that we were really going to be able to build on and learn from."

On Dylan Ennis

"I never foresee him having a hard time, one of the things he did really well was pressuring Kaleb Joseph. He really got after him when we were pressuring full-court. He did a great job putting pressure on us during the press in the first half so we had to get out of it. Ennis was able to go out and put pressure on him one-on-one because he has the ability to do that. Dylan Ennis also made an unbelievable play at the tap at the beginning of overtime. They won the tap but he jumped so high and stole that tap and it was a huge play to give us the momentum at the start of the overtime.

On being a hardworking team

"I don't think we are there yet. We didn't play a great game and you have to give Syracuse a lot of credit. They came out much more focused and very well-prepared. I don't think we came out very prepared, the coaching staff and the players."

Senior forward, JayVaughn Pinkston

On final layup to take game into OT

"I got that past from Archie (Arcidiacono) and I flashed the ball and then made the play on the opposite side of the basket ââ'¬Â¦ It was a good feeling to take it into overtime as a senior leader."

On having big plays at the end the game

"It's doing the little things: Guarding the best player, screening, getting under people and taking shots so when it is my time I know what to do."

Sophomore guard, Josh Hart

On playing a close game

"You would love to come in and beat a team by 15 or 20 points every game but that isn't always possible. We need these types of games to get us prepared for conference games and prepared for April."

Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright

Opening Remarks

"It was really unusual going into this game today because I think a lot of people were saying 'you should handle them'. This is the Syracuse versus Villanova game, and it has never been anything but what we just saw. They are a good team and their three loses were to good teams. They played really well. Their freshman point guard had ten assists and Cooney is a hell of a college guard. Rakeem Christmas is a pro. That is a really good team and I think that we just have upperclassmen, mainly JayVaughn Pinkston and Darrun Hilliard that carry our team. We are very fortunate that we have seniors that carry our team and they are what made the difference today. "

On forcing a turnover without fouling at the end of regulation time

"Well we have to run a play for that and they do what we tell them to do. There is always that time where you come very close to calling a timeout or fouling or not. And that is the area right there, do you risk the foul or not? We practice those timed possessions like that and our guys did exactly what they were supposed to do."

On playing a high pressure rival game

"I am happy we got to play that game. We needed that. There are a lot of reasons but we didn't come into the game with a lot of focus. But over a season that is going to happen a couple games. It is not coming out perfect every night it is a matter of when you don't come out perfectly how do you react? That is what we talked about at halftime and then its JayVaugh Pinkston its Darrun Hilliard, I can hear them getting the guys together and agreeing with what I say 'He is right, we gotta go, let's do this.' They just do it and it is really enjoyable and it seems so simple but it's not. Even if we lost that game, the fact that we got back in it and went into overtime was something that we were really going to be able to build on and learn from."

On Dylan Ennis

"I never foresee him having a hard time, one of the things he did really well was pressuring Kaleb Joseph. He really got after him when we were pressuring full-court. He did a great job putting pressure on us during the press in the first half so we had to get out of it. Ennis was able to go out and put pressure on him one-on-one because he has the ability to do that. Dylan Ennis also made an unbelievable play at the tap at the beginning of overtime. They won the tap but he jumped so high and stole that tap and it was a huge play to give us the momentum at the start of the overtime.

On being a hardworking team

"I don't think we are there yet. We didn't play a great game and you have to give Syracuse a lot of credit. They came out much more focused and very well-prepared. I don't think we came out very prepared, the coaching staff and the players."

Senior forward, JayVaughn Pinkston

On final layup to take game into OT

"I got that past from Archie (Arcidiacono) and I flashed the ball and then made the play on the opposite side of the basket ââ'¬Â¦ It was a good feeling to take it into overtime as a senior leader."

On having big plays at the end the game

"It's doing the little things: Guarding the best player, screening, getting under people and taking shots so when it is my time I know what to do."

Sophomore guard, Josh Hart

On playing a close game

"You would love to come in and beat a team by 15 or 20 points every game but that isn't always possible. We need these types of games to get us prepared for conference games and prepared for April."

Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim

Opening statementââ'¬Â¦

"Mike [Gbinije] and Kaleb [Joseph] played pretty well. Just a tremendous effort defensively. They got inside on us a little bit in the second half and that turned the offense around. When they tied the game, we made a couple of great plays. Kaleb really made some great plays today; he played great. It was a great effort in the end of the game. For whatever reasons, we couldn't get the ball in bounds and they made a great play.

It was a great effort. Obviously, when you have control of the game at the end, you need to finish the game. And we just didn't."

On Syracuse developing into an ACC-ready teamââ'¬Â¦

Well this was a much better effort. We still have some work to do. A few more nonconference games; keep working. I thought we had a good week in practice, two weeks really. I see some progress, but Chris [McCullough] has got to realize that these are physical games; he isn't playing against nobody. He physically cannot play in these games right now. He's got to get tougher and be tougher for us to be able to play in these games, in these situations.

Boeheim on Syracuse looking good to a committee in Marchââ'¬Â¦

I'm not worried about that. I worried about playing Colgate. March is a long ways away.

Boeheim on keeping these type of games after conference realignmentââ'¬Â¦

I think it's a good game. We're going to play two nonconference games every year. The ACC, Big 10 thing. But we're going to have three of these games and then the tournament. And why should we play Illinois or Kentucky when this is a game we have always played. It's a great rivalry. Last year we played Villanova and St. John's and we won; I like that a lot better. You know, it doesn't work that way all the time. It's a great game; it's a great rivalry. I don't know, when Villanova plays somebody else here, they aren't going to get 18,000 [in attendance]. It's a great game for us; it's a great game for them. Hopefully we keep playing these types of games. We are going ot play Georgetown next year, I know that. Not sure of the rest yet. We are going to play Villanova, St. John's and Georgetown; maybe not every year, but we're going to play them. These are good games.

Boeheim on Villanova's two possessions before the Wildcats tied it...

We didn't do a good job on the first possession. On the second possession, he made a really good play, took it to the basket and made a great pass out. That was a great play, he made a great play.

Boeheim on Chris McCollough's foul trouble and play in the past couple gamesââ'¬Â¦

[Foul trouble], well that's one thing. They're going to be physical with them. He's going to have to be able to learn how to adjust to that. He weighs 210 pounds and he's got to be tough. He's got to be able to handle it. All his walks. They are going to be physical with him and he travelled. He's got to be able to work through that.

On Syracuse's turnoversââ'¬Â¦

Well it's a physical game. We made 20, they made 18. There's going to be turnovers in these games.

On Villanova running Pinkston in the high postââ'¬Â¦

[JayVaughn] Pinkston is good in there. He's very good in there. Sometimes we did a good job. Foul trouble hurt us a little bit because we didn't have our bigger guys to get out at him. But he's a good player. He's always been a good player in there, in the middle of the zone.

"They have a very good basketball team. They deserve to be right where they are. They came in here on their court and played a pretty good basketball game. We had an opportunity to win at the end which is all you can ask for when you're playing a team. We played as good as we could for the whole game. I don't think they had the lead until the overtime period. It really came down to that one play, that's what it came down to and we didn't get it inbounds. And that's what happens sometimes."