Recap | Box Score | USATSI Gallery

Villanova, Pa. -

Head Coach Jay Wright:

Opening statement: It was a really good win for us against a very good Xavier team. We made shots in the second half. In the first half, both teams really defended well. Kris hit some key shots in the second half to really open it up. Xavier is a really good team, we know we have to face them again. We have great respect for them, but it was a good victory.

On the mentality of the team when the game goes back and forth and Kris hitting threes: Unfortunately, it lifts us a lot. Sometimes we rely on that, because when he hits a lot of them, they are deep. Tonight it was the end of the shot clock and then he just hit them. He's bailed us out a lot during his career doing that. When he does that and we get six defensive rebounds, then were pretty good. If we just rely on him bailing us out or Josh bailing us out, were not as good. I thought we did a good job in the second half defensively.

On playing so many ranked team in the BIG EAST and being satisfied where they are now: It's funny, we never think of it that way. I wouldn't even answer that, we just think one game at a time. We never think where we are and where we'll be or what the schedule is. Sometimes you lose to a team you shouldn't lose to because you're thinking of somebody next. I do know this, anyone in this league can beat us. You saw what St. John's did to Syracuse. You saw what Xavier did to St. John's. I know anyone in this league can beat us and we respect them all. We know we have a tough battle every night.

On the first half being sluggish and what turned them around: We did, and I'm concerned about that. We've got to get back and watch film and talk to our leaders, Kris and Josh. We did not start the game with energy and they did. They're comfortable coming in and they're a tough team. They've won a lot of big road games. They came in ready to go and we were not. We got down and I think again Kris hit some shots early in the first half to keep us in it. About halfway through the first half, we got our defense going and I thought Donte DiVincenzo and Eric Paschall, coming off the bench in the first half, defensively sparked us and that's what teams do. Some nights some guys may be down, and other guys will pick you up, I thought those two guys did a great job getting our defense going in the first half.

On what Donte has done to earn trust and confidence: It's been since day one. Last year, he had our confidence. He was playing great early and then he broke his foot. The way he handled his injury and coming back to practices, he built everyone's confidence. In our program, it's not so much my confidence, it's the confidence the players have in him. I'm always watching how the guys play off to him and respond to him. They have great confidence in him and what he does every day. He comes in humble, it's incredible. He's got a great future ahead of him.

Forward Kris Jenkins:

On how he's seen the conference grow and change: I mean the conference has always been tough, so you know we added a couple new teams and the conference is still tough. Like coach said, we can lose to any team in this conference any night. We treat each game as our most important game as our next one.

On what is it about league play that raises his level of play. I have to give credit to my teammates. They do a great job in practice and translating it over to the game. All the credit goes to them.

Guard Donte DiVincenzo:

On his transition into this year: It was a challenge last year coming in as a young guy, still a young guy this year, but I'm just bringing it every single possession. You can't take one possession off where the other team will explore that you're weak.

On his mindset being defense when he came into the game: I mean, luckily we hit shots, but that's not our focus. We focused on defense and rebounding and for me, coming off the bench, I just wanted to bring energy. If the shots weren't falling, just let it go and get back on defense.

Xavier Head Coach Chris Mack:

Opening Statement: I'm going to give Villanova all the credit in the world. Villanova is really good, that's no secret. We have to be better. It has nothing to do with the Pavilion or the place, it has to do with the guys in the place. It's playing against a team who's won so many consecutive games and having so many All-American candidates. We didn't play very well in the second half. I thought we fell in love with the three point shot a little too much. We fell in love with the three point shot because it was difficult to get into the lane. We tried to shoot our way out of trouble, which isn't the recipe for our team.