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Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright

Opening Statement: You've got to give all the credit to DePaul. They had a really good game plan. They got Billy Garrett in one-on-one situations and he just made shots and plays. Same thing with Eli Cain. They do it in a really well-conceived way, and it forced us into that game with us just going one-on-one and our guys trying to go one-on-one against them. That's their game plan, and they're smart about it. It's not ours. That's why you've got to give them credit. That's what you try to do, try to get a team to play your way. They did, and they are good at that. We're not as good at that. Josh Hart at the end went one-on-one and made plays. We were lucky enough to have a great player to win it for us at the end.

On how Villanova was able to pull out a win: We made more one-on-one plays at the end than they did. Billy Garrett made a heck of a play to get off that shot. He could have hit that three, and it could have been a different story. I think we made one more great one-on-one play at the end than they did. We had a great player make it. If you look at all the plays down the stretch, they made a one-on-one play, great play. We made a one-on-one play, great play. That's kind of the way the game went. That's a game plan for them, which is a smart one.

On how they have been able to win close games this season: Having three seniors really helps. I always say about Jalen Brunson - he's an old soul. It's like having another senior out there, even though he's only a sophomore. We do have veteran guys that are not going to be impacted by the moment or the pressure. They actually thrive on it. We're really lucky in that way.

On what this game says about his team: I'm always proud of them. I'm always proud of our guys. They're never going to quit, and I know that. They're never going to be afraid to take the big shot. Jalen going to the foul line, how many times has he done that? Josh hitting the big shot, we've seen it so many times. I'm never concerned about that. We've been very fortunate to have great players here who are smart players and have good character. At the end of the game, if you're confident in yourself, you're going to be fine.

Senior Josh Hart

On if he felt a sense of urgency toward the end of the game: I just wanted to be aggressive. Coach puts me in that position. My teammates put me in that position. I just wanted to go help our team. There were a couple of plays when the defense collapsed, where I probably should have kicked it out. I just wanted to be aggressive.

On the team being able to withstand pressure: We're not easily rattled. We're very tough-minded. It's been that way for the past couple of years. We know the position that we are in. We like that position. We'd rather have it that way than the other way around. We've got to keep getting better, and that starts with us, the three seniors. We've got to go back to work tomorrow and get better.

Sophomore Jalen Brunson

On the plays he made on offense toward the end of the game: Just always being aggressive to score is what coach preaches. Catching to shoot, always being in attack mode, always being aggressive, and playing what the defense gives us.

On what he expects this season in the BIG EAST: Every team is good. Obviously, we have a target on our back because of last year. As a team, we're just going to have to get better every day - listen to our coach, listen to our seniors, and really keep grinding and getting better.

DePaul Head Coach Dave Leitao

Opening Statement: I come from a place where basketball has built me, and hopefully our team, into competitors. In our 14^th game, we've been inconsistent in that competition. When you are competitive, losing stings really bad. I don't know if I've gotten used to it. Playing Villanova on their home court - number one in the country, haven't lost since the BIG EAST Tournament, all of those things - was a daunting challenge. I thought for the most part that we met the challenge and made our fair share of mistakes. It was a one possession game at the end, and Josh Hart, the All-American that he is, scored 10 points in the last three minutes. He got himself to the line, got an easy basket, and made a big-time three. That kind of hurt us a lot and carried them over the top. That's what veterans are about. That's what seniors are about. That's what All-Americans are supposed to do. We've got to regroup and get back to Chicago and play this weekend. Hopefully, as a result of learning something about ourselves today, we can benefit down the road and to our further BIG EAST play starting on Sunday.

On the game plan DePaul put in place for the game: It was more attention to detail on what we thought their tendencies were and try to force them into a second choice. If a guy likes to go right, take his right away. If he likes to catch and shoot, take that away and force other things to happen. We were by no means perfect at it, but I thought we did a decent job at it. It started to slip away. They got up by 12 in the second half. Our guys showed great heart, and sometimes we get fortunate and disrupt a team's rhythm with three-quarter court pressure. I thought we did a little bit of that. Our half-court defense got us back into the game. It got us easy baskets. Tre'Darius McCallum and other guys got into the paint. It was just a matter of scouting report defense and trying to force them into things that they're not as comfortable doing.