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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2016Jay WrightJosh HartRyan ArcidiaconoNew York, New York Georgetown - 67, Villanova - 81 JAY WRIGHT: Very good win for us. I'm very pleased with our team. That Georgetown team is a very good team. Played a great game last night and played very well again today. They have not quit on John all year, and they've had tons of injuries. They're young. That is going to be a good team next year. They've stuck together to the end, and that's why I told our guys, these guys are good. Doesn't matter what their record is. They played that way tonight. So I was pleased we could come out of that with a victory. THE MODERATOR: Questions please. Q. Coach, you had not a single double-digit score until about the seventh minute of the second half. Obviously you had three guys finish in double digits. What led you to that transition there? JAY WRIGHT: You know, teams do a good job, and Georgetown did, of trying to get at Ryan and Josh and Kris. They know who to go after. That was part of that first half. We couldn't get those guys going. We have to just continue to play defense, hang in until we can break free. I think once -- we had a couple of shots and got out to transition. Josh is I think one of the best players in the country in transition. That got us going, and we were able to get some good things in the half-court offense. Q. Georgetown puts teams on the line a lot. You didn't get a (inaudible). Did you make a concerted effort to get a little more contact and get there? JAY WRIGHT: Definitely. I thought in the first half they were very physical. Both teams were. Neither team got to the foul line. But we weren't playing through their physicality. We were driving the ball and they were kind of pushing us off our line and we were throwing shots up rather than being strong. We did, we talked about that at halftime. It was important. Getting to the foul line was important. Q. You guys were forced to go small after the injury with Daniel. Was that part of the game plan anyway when you saw the response especially when they were trying to really feed in on Arch? He seemed to thrive under that. JAY WRIGHT: Yeah. The last time we played them they pressed us a lot. So we did use the small lineup by plan against the press. We would have rather not done it tonight. But it was good that we had just played them that way and we had to tonight. Darryl gave us great minutes, but he was tired. It was good. It was good against their press. Q. Jay, at this point do you feel like you've done enough to get locked in as a 1 seed? And at this point how much pressure was it to (inaudible)? JAY WRIGHT: I know our people are tired of hearing this, we don't care about the seeds. We don't think about the seeds. We really concentrate on enjoying this moment. We really do. I know it sounds corny. It's just what we do. We love being here right now. We love that game. We are fired up about playing tomorrow. Because we're going to have plenty of time when this is over to sit around and do nothing except to listen to everybody talk about seeds. We'll do it then. There's a lot of pressure from the outside of this team to get to the second week, and there is. You know what, we just take it one game at a time. If we don't get there, it's not going to kill us. We'll be really disappointed, but we're going to enjoy every step. If we're playing to get there, we're in pretty good shape. Then we'll take it as it comes. Q. Coach, in terms of getting to that and I'm just wondering if you think not in terms of the program itself, but as far as the Big East here in year three. You guys have been the standard-bearer and representing the league in sort of a larger sense. JAY WRIGHT: We definitely let down the Big East last year. We were a good enough team to advance; we didn't do it. And we take responsibility for that, really. But you know, our guys played hard in that game against NC State. We brought it. We came all the way back to get a shot to win the game with 14 seconds, and it didn't go in. That's the Tournament. So we do take that responsibility seriously. I really would like us to get to a Final Four for the Big East as much as for these guys. I really would. Because we love this league. And we want this league to get respect. But if we don't do it, I would love Xavier or Providence or Seton Hall, I would love them to do it. I really would. For the league I would love to see that happen. I know they are good enough to do it. Q. Arch, I think it was a one-point game, 47-46 maybe, when you hit the first of those three threes from the same spot there. What is it about that spot? Is that spot -- I mean, what made you so aggressive taking that shot tonight? RYAN ARCIDIACONO: I think it was out in transition. I know I'm not going to finish at the rim. I know I'll pass that anytime I'm close to the lane, I'll give it to Josh or Phil or any of the other guys. I didn't think we had numbers, but Coach always tells me to be aggressive. We do that in practice. If I'm out in transition, I'm pretty much the only one who pulls up. That was just a product of us getting out. I think we got -- like a couple of stops is where it really turned in and I was able to get those open looks from causing turnovers, a couple of great blitzes. Q. What was your plan with Daniel today? And did you get more out of him than you were expected or less? JAY WRIGHT: You know what, he couldn't practice yesterday, so we didn't know. We really didn't know. The plan was let's -- we had a choice to try to let him go yesterday in practice see what he got or rest him and see what he got today. We went with today. He tried a little bit. I think it got tweaked again. He tried. He gave us everything we got. We have to try to rest him up and see if we can get him feeling better tomorrow. Q. Jay, you guys have (inaudible) teams in your team. Does the Georgetown games resonate more with them than maybe other teams? JAY WRIGHT: You know what, Josh, you should answer this, too. I don't think so. But I don't know. I don't think so. I don't know. Does it? JOSH HART: No. JAY WRIGHT: That means yes (laughter). That means he doesn't want me to want him to -- that means yes. We never talk about it, but there's your answer. Q. Jay, can you talk about your team's three-point shooting. You had that big three-pointer to end the first half and then you went on that run in the second half. JAY WRIGHT: Our threes kept us in it in the first half. Like I said, we were driving the ball. We were struggling finishing at the rim, going inside, struggling finishing at the rim. And you know, that's why we shoot threes. We have the balance where we can shoot them, and there's going to be some nights you can't finish at the rim and you have to rely on them. You can lose that way, but it gives you a hell of a chance to win. Thank God for the threes tonight. Q. Coach, can you talk a little bit more about Josh. Sixth man last year, now sort of one of your key guys and especially what he did today. JAY WRIGHT: Yeah. I'm just so proud of him. I don't really say that to him too much, because he's not even close to what he could be. You guys that have watched him since his freshman year, you've seen how much he's developed. And he can get a lot better. He can get to be a much better leader. He can get focused in a lot better. He's got a lot of room for improvement. But he's coachable. He's one of the best players in the country, I think, in transition, in terms of finishing at the rim, getting fouled, finding creases to get to the rim. He's become a really good decision-maker in our half-court offense and he's one of our best defensive players and rebounders. That's a pretty complete player. Q. You guys are veterans, but do any of your players felt starry-eyed being in the Knicks' locker room? JAY WRIGHT: We actually are a pretty young team. Jalen Brunson is a freshman. Mikal Bridges is a freshman. Darryl Reynolds is playing for the first time. Josh is starting for the first time. Kris is starting for the first time. I still think some of them get a little excited about playing here. I do. I love playing here. I get fired up. I think it's funny, some of them don't love coming to New York as much as I do. They like coming to the Garden to play basketball. New York is just another city to them. Some of them. We had a discussion about that. I thought everyone got as excited as me. Q. Both players, to follow up on that, what does this tournament mean to you? You have a pretty good resume -- you have a great resume for the regular season. The big prize is down the road. What do you get out of this tournament? JOSH HART: Obviously as players we love it. We grew up watching the Big East. We grew up watching the crazy games. I remember the '09 Syracuse and Connecticut six-overtime game. It's something that we grow up watching. We dream of playing in it. Kind of. Just to play in it is just a great feeling. It's humbling. It's surreal. And I love it. I hate New York, but I love -- I love playing in the tournament. RYAN ARCIDIACONO: There are a few players, I will say on the last question. I think a couple of people were looking for Kristap's locker. He's the sensation. It's special. Like Josh said, we all remember watching games growing up. I was a Nova fan my whole life. So I think of the buzzer-beater that Dwayne Anderson hit on the back cut against Marquette. I think of all Nova stuff in the Big East Tournament. It's special to represent Villanova here in New York. Q. Jay, you talked about the problems kind of finishing at the rim. Do you think maybe you should have forced a little bit more and not settle for the outside shot in the first half? JAY WRIGHT: In the first half? Q. Yes, in the first half. JAY WRIGHT: You have to try it. Are you saying we should have kept going to the rim? I thought we did a better job in the second half. And really, making the threes in the first half kept us in it. We were getting there. We weren't getting fouled. We weren't finishing. We do have another weapon, the three-point shot. And it was working, thank God. Q. Do you think maybe you should have pushed a little more and not settled for the outside shot? JAY WRIGHT: I have confidence in our three-point shooters. I really do. We're always going to give it get that the shot to get to the rim, to post up, but we're going to take our threes, too. I have great confidence in our shooters. Josh Hart didn't really mean he hates New York. He didn't mean that (laughter). FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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