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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2016

Ed Cooley

New York, New York

Providence - 68, Villanova - 76

ED COOLEY: Yeah, you know, very emotional in our locker room right now. Guys are very disappointed. First of all, I'm really, really proud of our group. I thought we played really, really hard. I thought we played with a purpose. We had opportunities. I think the difference between the two teams today was veteran composure, especially down the stretch. I thought we made a lot of critical mistakes that they capitalized on. And give them credit, that's the team that they had. We had critical, critical lack-of-composure mistakes with some of our young guys on the floor.

Obviously the foul trouble both ways controlled the game. Not having Ben in the game for basically the whole game, you know, we're a different team when he's not. But in saying that I thought our team gave us a chance to not just play but to win the game. And we could just never get over the hump. The two threes to start the second half was indicative of that whole second-half type of play. So coming from behind again.

But you know, give our kids a lot of credit. Give Villanova a lot of credit. They're a great team. Very composed. Well balanced. I have to pick my players up for the next tournament. Villanova is damn good. Damn good.

Q. Coach, what are some things you can take away from your three games against Villanova this year?
ED COOLEY: They're very good. I mean, what do you want me to say? They're good. You know, they are composed and they've got depth. They're good.

Q. Do you think offensively you ever got going tonight? Obviously Ben and Kris struggled.
ED COOLEY: Struggled bad. So it's a credit to -- I thought our bench played pretty well today. We just couldn't -- I thought we had decent looks at the basket.

A lot of fouls. Just a lot of fouls. The game was ugly. Could never get in any rhythm.

Q. I was going to ask you actually about that. There were so many fouls. It's bad to take a loss like this. Can you really just throw it away as you prepare for the Tournament?
ED COOLEY: Hell no. No, no. You don't throw losses away. You learn from them. You learn from them. I got 18-to-22-year-olds that are crying their damn eyes out. You don't throw any losses away. This is what we do. You're playing for something that's major.

You don't tell an 18-to-22-year-old to throw it out, babe. I'm saying nothing against your question. I'm saying you have to learn from it. We have to talk to our guys about composure down the stretch. We lacked composure down the stretch. And this is the first time all year we've played without Ben for that period of time in a critical game like this.

Q. Coach, you mentioned how tough it was for your top offensive players. Can you talk about Kris? He was in for most --
ED COOLEY: Sure. They did a really good job on him, you know? Load him up to the ball. I thought he got open for a couple of really good jumpshots. I thought he was tired at the end. You know, so I think he lacked a little bit of pop. Really showed in the last open shot he had with 34 seconds left, open three at the top. It was a deep shot, but air ball. So he probably didn't have many legs left.

Q. Coach, the time Ben was in the game, was his ankle an issue at all?
ED COOLEY: No, he just didn't have a good game today. The highs and lows of life, babe. You know? Yesterday he looked like Superman. Today kryptonite got him.

Q. Moving forward, how do you feel about your team?
ED COOLEY: I love my team. I love my team. Villanova arguably should be the No. 1 overall seed in the Tournament, regardless of the outcome tomorrow. Their body of work shown throughout the whole year how disciplined they are. And if we can compete like that in our league against them, hopefully we have a run in us.

Q. Jay was just in here and he spoke highly of Kris not only as a player but also as a leader. Does that do anything for the outside perception of other coaches of Kris?
ED COOLEY: I think just the awards he received from the peers, our counterparts in our league goes to the respect I think they have for him in our program. You're not going to play great every night. Our younger guys I thought grew up today. Really, really proud of our younger guys. I thought Drew Edwards did a decent job. I thought Jalen Lindsey did a decent job. He is leading those guys. Hopefully he can lead us to somewhere we haven't been in a long, long time.

Q. I don't know if you talked about Rodney (inaudible).
ED COOLEY: I thought Rodney grew up again today. We're going to need those guys to step up. If you would have told me coming into this game that our two First-Team All-Conference players would combine for 12 points and we would have a chance to compete at the end, I would have took that one. I definitely would have took that one.

Q. What was Villanova doing that made things difficult for Bentil tonight?
ED COOLEY: I think Ben took himself out the game fouling. I think he had some uncharacteristic fouls. Villanova played -- they didn't play him any different than they did the first two games. They do what they do. They're a team built for success on how Jay has done it. He's done a great job. I don't think they did anything special. I think Ben just was in foul trouble and could never get in a rhythm.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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