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NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FINAL FOUR

March 31, 2018

San Antonio, Texas

Villanova - 95, Kansas - 79

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Villanova head coach Jay Wright and student-athletes Omari Spellman, Jalen Brunson and Eric Paschall. Coach, an opening statement.

COACH WRIGHT: Well, that was just one of those nights. Man, we made every shot to start the game. And when you do that, you get up 22-4, if you're a decent free-throw shooting team it's tough to come back on that.

Actually, it's happened to us. I feel bad for Kansas. They're a great team; we just made every shot. And that happens sometimes. And you just can't depend on that.

We're just fortunate it happened to us tonight. We shoot them up and we sleep in the street. Sometimes they go in. Sometimes they don't. This is one of those nights where everything went in.

Q. I want each of the players to answer this: Presumably you guys work with little kids at kids camp, yes? That's true, right? What piece of advice do you give all of them if they want to be a great shooter? And it would be great if you each had a different thing to say.
ERIC PASCHALL: I would say just keep shooting. Work on it every day. Shoot with technique as well. Just doing that every day will make your jumper consistent.

JALEN BRUNSON: I don't want to sound repetitive, but just being in the gym every day, being a gym rat, just consistently just working on your game, your form of shooting, things like that. Just having confidence in yourself and knowing it's nothing magical. It's all in the work. It's all in the work.

OMARI SPELLMAN: The aspect that I would like to add is just being open to coaching and critiques on your own shot. And just always looking to improve. And, like they also said, just repetition and just staying in the gym.

Q. Coach talked about the 3-point shooting. That was very obvious to us. But can you all speak to what you all were able to do defensively to take them out of rhythm tonight?
ERIC PASCHALL: Just playing team defense. I mean, that's what we pride ourselves on, and playing 40 minutes of Villanova basketball. Just doing that every night consistently for each other.

JALEN BRUNSON: Just it's the same thing. Just whenever we're not making shots, we've got to focus on defending and the rebounding. Even when we are making shots we've got to do the same thing.

Obviously we're very talented offensively. We have a lot of weapons offensively, but when it comes to us staying together on defense, that's what makes it special and we're going to keep getting better and keep getting better tomorrow and be ready for Monday.

OMARI SPELLMAN: I think those guys summed it up really well. Just doing what we do, defending, rebounding, playing hard and together. We try to just guard and get a win and play as hard as we can.

Q. Jalen, did the difference in the style of defense, the more open style of play, how much did that contribute, do you think, to the flow you guys were able to get into offensively, the way you guys were able to shoot the ball compared to what you saw against Texas Tech and West Virginia previously?
JALEN BRUNSON: I just think we did a good job being ready to catch and shoot. Everyone was making plays for each other. We were all ready to catch and shoot. And like Coach said, it was one of those nights where we were able to make shots. And that's what the lead looks like.

But if we weren't making shots, I feel like we would have grinded that game out, maybe win by one or two possessions. But it was just us playing off each other and just the way they played defense, we tried to make sure we were playing together offensively.

Q. Eric, you didn't shoot the 3 ball particularly well last year, you were like 4 percent the first eight or nine games this year. Since then you're somewhere around 45, 46 percent. Was there anything for you that clicked or changed at that point, and what's been working well for you the rest of the year?
ERIC PASCHALL: Just working with the coaches. Just them staying in the gym as well. They did a great job of just staying with me, knowing that I was struggling. And I didn't really think about it.

If I don't make shots I know I'm able to play defensive and rebound for my teammates. I just stayed in the gym, but it really wasn't a big thought.

Q. Omari, how do you guys keep this edge for Monday night?
OMARI SPELLMAN: Just coming out, ready to compete and defend and rebounding and continue to do what we do. We don't pride ourselves on shooting the ball well. We pride ourselves on defending and rebounding, and that's our true measure of success in playing Villanova basketball. So we're definitely going to look to come out and do that on Monday.

Q. Jalen, on Tuesday Jay said you guys got better in practice. On Thursday I think it was Ashley said you guys got better in practice. And on Friday I think you said you guys were still getting better. Is this the product of that, and do you think you can get even better than what we saw tonight?
JALEN BRUNSON: I think this is definitely a product but not the finished product. We use the line every day -- let's see where we can be by the end of the year, be best the team we can be by the end of the year.

Tomorrow we'll get better in practice and watching film, just making sure we're all on the same page. And we'll try to be the best team we can be on Monday night. That's all we've worked for is to be the best team we can be by the end of the year.

Q. Eric, you didn't play two years ago. How tough was it to be on the sidelines for the title run? And tonight how much fun were you having out there, and did that have anything to do with your performance?
ERIC PASCHALL: Two years ago, it really wasn't a problem. I had great teammates that just always talked to me. I had great coaches that always worked with me and kept in contact and always made sure I was fine.

And tonight, just playing with my brothers is always a blessing. We get another opportunity to do that and I look forward to it.

Q. Eric, you know when the opposing coach sets up his defense and says, here's the guys we have to stop and puts the name on the blackboard, your name is probably not the first one up there. It's probably some other guys. Do you find that might help you as the ball swings around looking for a home, that you're that third or fourth option that by the time it gets to you they haven't adjusted to where you are?
ERIC PASCHALL: No, not really. I mean my teammates do a great job of finding me. We play together as a team. And that's what we did tonight.

Q. Eric, you guys have won in very different ways the last three games. How much confidence does that give you knowing the different, all the different things you guys can do? And when you have a night like tonight, what's that feel like?
ERIC PASCHALL: I mean, we definitely won it different ways, but I feel like we've done good defensively. I mean, just playing together, looking out for each other, having each other's back all the time.

And, like I said, tonight was just fun. Playing defense and rebounding with them it's great.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. Obviously it's a veteran group, but when the shots are going in like that, how much do you find yourself harping on the other end to make sure it doesn't get into a back and forth, and did they pass the defensive test in your mind?
COACH WRIGHT: Yeah, that's something that we were doing early in the year. We've had some nights like this early in the year. But when we got leads, we relaxed defensively. And that was something that I was -- and our staff was really trying to keep an eye on. But they did a good job. They stayed pretty focused.

If you look at the numbers, we held them to 45 percent shooting, got to the foul line 20 times. It doesn't look great, but against that team -- that averages 80 points a game is very, very talented offensive team, very well-coached -- it's actually a pretty good job. We were pleased defensively, especially having a lead.

Q. We all know what kind of player Eric was at Fordham. To go from being the guy -- he scored 31 points his first game -- to sitting out and then being a role player, what's it say to his character that he's kind of made that transition and obviously has excelled at it?
COACH WRIGHT: That's exactly what it is, character. When we recruited him, he said, I want to be a part of a team. I want to be part of the family. He liked that at Fordham; he just lost his coach, but he felt they were family. And that's what he were looking for.

He never said, I want to be the leading scorer, I want to get a certain number of shots. The other thing that's really amazing is he's become our best defensive player and one of our best rebounders also, from being a scorer.

And I know he didn't agree with the question, but he is the third or fourth option sometimes. And it's helping him in games like this. But he's going to be really good when he's the go-to guy, too. And there are times when we know people are taking away the other guys and he's a go-to-guy for us.

Q. Your offense is setting all kinds of records -- offensive efficiency, number of 3-pointers this season. Tonight, a record for the number of 3-pointers in a Final Four game. How does this offense compare to other teams that you've coached or other teams you have seen?
COACH WRIGHT: It's our best offensive team. We've had some good ones. This is definitely our best. And, like I said, our challenge has been that we were so good offensively earlier in the year that we got lazy defensively. So it was hard to get to this point where we are.

I really am proud of these guys. There was a Creighton team the first year we were in the Big East with Doug McDermott that lit us up twice, just like this, that's why I say -- when I say I've been on the other side of this, trust me, in our league, I have. And Creighton, with Doug McDermott, and a gentleman by the name of Wragge, they lit us up. Worse than this, twice.

Q. Coach, I've seen you play now three times in the last two years in a dome, in an elevated floor in the Final Four situation. You've lit it up three straight times. Is there a secret?
COACH WRIGHT: No, not really. Just that I think in '09 we played in Ford Field and we didn't get a practice. It was the first year that they put the court in the middle of the field, and we didn't get a practice on Thursday.

And when we came to Houston, they gave us a closed practice on Thursday and then the open practice on Friday. And we had Thursday, Friday, Saturday shooting here, and I think it makes a difference. I think it makes a big difference. By Saturday you feel comfortable.

Q. Similar to what I asked Eric, he was not a terrific 3-point shooter at Fordham or last year or at the beginning of this season. When did you see things start to click for him? Did he start doing things differently?
COACH WRIGHT: He was a volume shooter at Fordham where he made 3s but he took a lot of 3s, didn't shoot a great percentage. But as soon as we got him -- as soon as he came, the year he sat out -- he worked really hard.

We work with all of our guys on shooting technique. And he worked really hard. And he really became a pretty good 3-point shooter. And then he just struggled a little bit. And this summer he was a great 3-point shooter. And in the fall, great.

And when we started this season it was unbelievable. He couldn't make a shot. And I know people are saying. Why do you let him shoot it. But we knew, we had seen two years of him shooting the ball extremely well. So we just, as he said, we just said to him, just keep shooting. We know you're a good shooter.

It's like a baseball hitter. If he starts off hitting .100, you know he'll hit .400, .500 at some point to even it out. That's what we thought about him. He didn't worry about it. He's got great confidence.

Q. A lot of teams that get off to the start that you guys did, you think, okay, they can't sustain this, they're shooting too well. But you've seen it so many times this year. I guess, what's it been like knowing it can last the whole game?
COACH WRIGHT: Earlier in the year, middle of the year we were doing that and not sustaining it. It's your defense. They went zone in the first half and did a good job. We missed like three or four straight shots, and they got out in transition. And one of those in transition, Donte DiVincenzo, chased, I think it might have been De Sousa, and he missed one free throw. And then Mikal chased someone down and blocked the shot.

It was our defense that kept us going. And then we hit a couple of shots against the zone. Bill made a good move going zone, and we had missed, like, five possessions. If we didn't get stops -- it was getting back to a five-, six-point game. So our defense carries us and that's what enabled us to sustain it.

Q. When you had to be anticipating that Bill was going to try going zone, you've got to try something. Do you have to talk to the players at that time, say, hey, look for the spaces, getting inside now, as opposed to if they're going to press out on the perimeter us? Or are these guys mature enough, especially with Jalen, to know that?
COACH WRIGHT: It's both. I mean, we watched -- you have a whole week to prepare, so we watched every game. They have played zone -- sometimes when they get in foul trouble they've played zone, and sometimes just to get guys out of rhythm.

So we knew he would try it at some point. So we did prepare for it. But to your point, even if we're not, those guys are pretty good at getting to their spots and understanding how to attack a zone, how to use their shot to attack a zone. They're pretty good at that, and it does start with Jalen.

Q. I asked Eric this, but you guys have won in different ways in the last couple of games. As a coach, how encouraging is that, not just the style, but the person who is coming up big? And how difficult does it make you guys to defend because you can't key in on just one person?
COACH WRIGHT: That's what you strive for as a coach is balance. Having all these guys in double figures, and Omari scored a little bit inside and Eric inside and Jalen can post up, that's what you strive for. Sometimes you have it as a team, sometimes you don't.

This team is getting pretty good at that at the balance part offensively. And the one thing you can count on is your defense and rebounding; that's something that can be consistent each night, not your shooting.

So that's why I said, tonight we made shots. Makes everything look good. But you can look at these numbers. We made all those shots and we won by 16. If we're not shooting at an incredible clip, that's a one- or two-point game. And then you have to grind it out defensively.

Q. What does it mean to make this sort of run to this point just about six or so months removed from the passing of Coach Massimino?
COACH WRIGHT: Making this run in itself, I wish I could give you a better answer. It's so exhilarating. You don't even -- you can't say it's a dream come true because you don't even dream about it. You don't dream about getting two out of three years, you don't think about it. I don't.

So it's hard to even comprehend it. And not having Coach Mass this year, I personally miss him a great deal. And at times walking out before the game, in the hotel, I can hear when the crowd's going crazy and I know he walked in.

And having the media around him, it takes a lot of pressure off us. When we're back at school and he comes in, he just lights up the campus. I miss it a lot, personally.

We have his whole family -- I think we have 18 Massiminos here, and his grandson is on our staff. So there's always going to be a piece of Coach Massimino on our staff.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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