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NCAA MEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: LOUISVILLEMarch 24, 2016Kris JenkinsJalen BrunsonMikal BridgesLouisville, Kentucky Villanova - 92, Miami - 69 Q. We're joined by Kris Jenkins of the Wildcats. Advance to the Elite Eight with a 92-69 win over the Miami Hurricanes. Kris, talk a little bit, both teams come out in the first half, everything is getting knocked down. You guys took such great pride in your defense? What's your mindset when just everything seems to be going in the basket? KRIS JENKINS: We've just got to stay the course, stick to our defensive game plan. They hit some tough shots and we wanted to get the ball out of Rodriguez's hand and make the other guys make some plays and make some shots. In the second half, we were able to do that. Q. Josh picks up two early fouls. You guys have been through this before. Mikal comes in. Talk again about the depth. You've got Darryl Reynolds tonight, Phil again. Talk about the depth and what it means to your ball club. KRIS JENKINS: I mean, it's what our team is about. Next man up. Josh set the tone for us, picking up two fouls and everybody elevated after that. We thank Josh for that, because without him setting the tone, who knows what the outcome of the game would have been. Everybody stepped up. That's a part of Villanova basketball. Q. Kris, as you obviously get ready, have a chance to go to the Final Four on Saturday, you're a Maryland kid. Obviously, Maryland is in one of these games. Talk about the opportunity to play Maryland. KRIS JENKINS: We'll just take it one game at a time. If they win, they'll get all our focus. If Kansas wins, that's where our focus will go to. We're just going to enjoy this win, go back tonight, get ready and watch this, learn from it and come back, ready to go. Q. Talk about being in a zone. KRIS JENKINS: I mean, we're just all being aggressive. That's what we do. We catch to shoot and make plays after that. Everybody on our team has the freedom to make the right play and be aggressive. Q. The one had to be 35 feet. I mean, I know you think they're all going in, but what made you take that shot and how did it feel? KRIS JENKINS: The shot clock was running low. I had the ball. I was wide open. It was going up. Q. I mean, that's not a normal shot. What do you think that does to an opponent when you're burying a 35-footer? KRIS JENKINS: It was a tough shot. The shot clock was running low so I really didn't have anything else to do but give us a chance. I put it up there, and it went in. Q. (Indiscernible)? MIKAL BRIDGES: After practice, you have to go in the treadmill and run. That's a heartbreak if you have to go and run. So I know it was hard. And I'm just -- he worked his butt off for that. Where he's at now, just call him Slim Jim now. He's slim. Proud of all the hard work he did. It's paid off for him. Q. What was your guys' role in supporting him during that? Did you guys sort of cheer him on? Did you have a story of doing that yourself? MIKAL BRIDGES: He's on the road with me so I look out for him on the road. So I look out for him, make sure he's good. They just does what he do. He's healthy. He drinks a lot of water. And him just working hard is the main thing. But we all look after him. Q. He has such an ease that he plays with. It's nothing that he gets a shot off. He doesn't shy from the big shot. Is that him? Is he like that all the time? MIKAL BRIDGES: It's just confidence. He's always going to come up when he needs it. Like the confidence he has in himself is unbelievable. He comes in the gym, he knows that they're not going to be able to guard him. Even on defense, he knows that people who want to go mismatch or iso him, he knows he's going to get his chance to play defense. He knows that. He has confidence on both end of the floor, and that's what I love about him. Q. On Saturday, who would you rather play, Kansas or Maryland, and why? MIKAL BRIDGES: It doesn't matter. We're just ready for anybody. We're just going to wait for that game to end and then prepare for them and play them Sunday. Q. (Indiscernible)? JALEN BRUNSON: I think it's our preparation. Whatever we do individually before a game, we stay consistent with that. As a team, we really just give each other -- really just try to focus on what we're trying to do, make sure we're all doing the little things. And then we do the little things, we play good defense, the offense is going to come. Q. What is a little thing today that really worked, you emphasized that played out on the court? JALEN BRUNSON: We just had good ball pressure. I think we just played good one-on-one defense with the help, the isos and playing off on each other. Playing with each other, playing together. Q. What do you know about Kansas and who would you rather play on Saturday? Kansas or Maryland? JALEN BRUNSON: Well, Kansas is a great team. So is Maryland. So it doesn't really matter to us. I know that whoever wins, it's going to be a really good game. We're going to have to be prepared for it. Q. What do you know about Kansas? JALEN BRUNSON: I know Kansas is just a winning team. They win so much. They haven't been a 4 seed since -- been anything less than a 4 seed since Bill Self has been there. So they're a really good team, and we've got to prepare for them. Q. Are you worried about them? JALEN BRUNSON: Yeah, a little bit, yeah. Q. Kansas? JALEN BRUNSON: Um-hmm. Q. What do you remember about that experience? Did you make an official visit? JALEN BRUNSON: No, I didn't make a visit, no. Q. Got a few calls from Bill, maybe? JALEN BRUNSON: Yeah, I just know that they're a great program, good tradition, just great players. They play well together and they play as a team. Q. You guys spent some time at No. 1 this year. Kansas kind of turned No. 1, I guess, now. The idea of maybe possible co-No. 1s with the right to go to a Final Four kind of an exciting proposition? JALEN BRUNSON: Yeah, it's definitely exciting. But I know that as our leaders, our senior leaders, they're going to focus on whoever wins, we've got to prepare for whoever wins. They're both well-coached teams and they'll be ready for us as well. Q. Jalen, what can you say about Kris's shooting tonight? Everything he threw up there was going in. JALEN BRUNSON: Oh, yeah. Kris is just a tremendous shooter. I think Kris takes smarter shots. At the beginning of the year, we had a lot of shooters taking bad shots. Kris is getting smart with the shot, knowing what they're flying at him. Sometimes when he takes a bad shot, it still goes in. But I know Kris is just a tremendous shooter with a tremendous work ethic, and he works on that. Q. He's almost at the point now where it's surprising when they don't go in? I mean, surprised when he misses? JALEN BRUNSON: Yeah, you can say that, yeah. I mean, we expect whoever's shooting -- we expect it to go in just because of the work ethic, because of how hard we work, how hard we practice and the confidence we have in each other. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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