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Head Coach Jay Wright

Opening Statement

"A good next step for us. Two really contrasting fouls in our first two games in which we play a Princeton style team in Columbia which was hard to guard and then we face a team that scored 111 points in their first game. They have a lot of former division one players that can play really well and I thought we handled it well. It's a hard style to play against but I thought we had great leadership and good energy by Mikal (Bridges) and Donte (DiVincenzo) and we almost did it for forty minutes which is hard to do this early in the season."

On defensive play so far

"We are nowhere near where we want to play on defense. We are a team that needs a lot of work. This is a young team for us. Usually we have more juniors and seniors. We have no seniors and a lot of freshman. We have a lot of work to do. But we have the potential to be a really good defensive team and I thought you saw some of that tonight. There was more athleticism tonight and less defensive technique."

On the three point shooting accuracy

"Much better tonight. I think it came from the passing. A lot of extra passes. In the Columbia game I thought Mikal (Bridges) was getting shot passes to other people but tonight he received those passes which we needed."

On the type of shots taken

"There were guys that had good shots. It started early in the game when Eric Pascall had a good one. Someone later had a better one. Then Mikal had the best ones of the night."

Guard #25 Mikal Bridges

On scoring a career high 23 points

"That is something I don't think about. I just go out there and play the best that I can. I just try to defend and rebound. That's all that I have been trying to do since I got here. I take pride in defending and trying to open lanes."

On the defensive pressure throughout the night

"We played good defensive. We got the offensive rebounds and blocked shots which brought good energy to the team overall. That is what we should be fired up about making those great stops and rebounds."

Guard #10 Donte DiVincenzo

On the transition from year one to year two

"A lot of it was just confidence from the older guys that we had. Josh (Hart), Kris (Jenkins), and Darrell (Reynolds). They did an amazing job building me up especially when I was down and feeling upset about some performances. They brought me back up and with those three leaders being gone and jumping from year one to year two, my leadership roll has been expanding. We have a lot of weapons on this team and a lot of athletic guys so the biggest change would be taking that leadership roll."