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Men's Basketball Quotes 12-31-15 vs Xavier

Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright Opening Statement

"We played our best game of the year, we had a great home crowd, and they lost Edmund Sumner. He kind of drives their engine. We'll all be praying for him. That was scary and I'm sure that affected them. We played well and they had to play without one of their best players."

Wright on Villanova's defensive pressure

"When you take out their starting point guard, pressure works really well. I don't want to take anything away from our guys, our guys gave great effort but Edmund is a big part of what they do."

Wright on Villanova's three point shooting

"We really took good threes tonight. We've been saying all along that we're a good three point shooting team we have just taken some bad shots but we took good ones tonight. Arch took a couple of crazy shots, but he was feeling it, there's a difference. You want a guy to have the freedom to do that."

Wright on injury early in the game to Sumner

"We were close to him on our bench and we were all very concerned. When we were in the huddle we were all looking over to see if he was going to be alright. After we knew he was alright I was concerned with our guys and I said we've got to continue to play hard. I think it affected everybody."

Wright on Arcidiacono stepping up with 27 points

"I always know he going to give us whatever we need on that night. I didn't say a word to him. I didn't have to. I know he was going to step up like that. That's what makes him special."

Arcidiacono on Jalen Brunson out of the starting lineup with illness

"I knew I was just going to have to come out aggressive and make plays for everyone, not just myself. After I hit a couple threes I took a couple of crazy shots but we settled down and played well as a team, both offensively and defensively.

"This could happen for anyone on our team. Anyone could go off for 27 or 30 points and shoot the ball really well. We played our best 40 minutes of Villanova basketball."

Arcidiacono on getting a big win starting conference play

"Honestly, it's just the next game. Our prayers are definately with Edmund. That shook up a couple of us. We didn't get up for this game more than the Penn game or more than we'll get up for the Creighton game."

Ochefu on Arcidiacono's big game

"It's definately up there with his best games but it's not a surprise to anybody in our program. That's just Arch. I didn't see a difference, even when he started making shots it was just regular Arch."

Ochefu on making his decision to come to Villanova


"The fans are amazing here. I wasn't worried about the arena when I was making my decision. I was worried more about the values of the program, the type of coaching staff we had and the type of guys on the team. I made the perfect decision coming here."