NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - OHIO STATE VS VILLANOVA

March 19, 2022

Jay Wright

Collin Gillespie

Justin Moore

Caleb Daniels

PPG Paints Arena

Villanova Wildcats

Media Conference

Q. Collin and Justin, last time you guys played Ohio State, they got you guys pretty handily. What do you remember from that game, and is there anything you can take away from it leading into this one?

COLLIN GILLESPIE: Yeah, that was a while ago. I remember a little bit from that game, their physicality, their toughness. They're well-coached. They have a lot of experience. A couple guys that were on that team are still playing for them now, so we have a lot of respect for them. We know how great of a team they are. A lot of great players starting at the top and then going all the way down. We have a lot of respect for them and we know it's going to be a battle.

Q. Caleb and Justin, Jay talks a lot about the Big East being a basketball-first conference and Villanova obviously being a basketball-first school. When he recruited you guys, how much did he drive that point home? If you were considering maybe going somewhere else or looking at a bigger school -- like Ohio State has an incredible football program -- was the fact that Nova was a basketball school, did that matter to you and did Jay talk about that in your recruitment a lot?

JUSTIN MOORE: To be honest, no. He didn't really mention much about it being a basketball school. It was more about the program and how much they care about our guys and making us great on the basketball court and also off the court. It was mainly about that.

CALEB DANIELS: Yeah, pretty much just piggy-backing off what Justin said, he just primarily focused on how tight the guys are and how much of a family environment it is. He didn't really push a basketball agenda, it was mainly on us just being together as brothers.

Q. Obviously the goal is to get better as it goes along, but you go to Marquette in early February and you lose by 10. You had already lost the game at Creighton and that Baylor game. You haven't been out of a game since. What had to get better at that point from an X's and O's point of view?

CALEB DANIELS: I feel as if it was more than just an X's and O's point of view, it was more of us just staying together throughout the entire game. We just wanted to be tougher down the stretch for each other, just step it up for each other and making plays when it mattered.

COLLIN GILLESPIE: Yeah, like Caleb said, we just had to continue to do what we were supposed to do throughout the entirety of the game. I think sometimes we got a little rattled, if you want to say, and kind of got out of character and lost focus on what we were supposed to be doing.

I think just what Caleb said, staying together for 40 minutes, knowing that there's going to be ups and downs, and just maintaining a great attitude throughout the entire game.

JUSTIN MOORE: Yeah, basically just sticking to our habits. Resulting back to our habits that we build in practices will help us succeed in those games and still being tough and making physical plays offensively and defensively.

Q. Less than a week ago, Jermaine couldn't walk enough to go through a walk-through and then all of a sudden yesterday he was everywhere, he was diving into tables, offensive rebounds, all of that. How much does his hustle show to the younger guys and were you ever in doubt that he'd be able to get to full speed?

COLLIN GILLESPIE: No. That's just who he is as a player and as a person. He never wants to let anybody down, especially us as teammates and as coaches.

I think we know that he's been in those situations before. I mean, he played last year with a broken pinky the entire year, and the year before he had a foot issue that he was dealing with.

He'll do whatever it takes to be out there with his teammates and his coaches, and he'll give his body up for us. And then you know he's always going to find a way to play no matter what it is or what's going on with him.

I think that's what's special about him is that he's a team-first guy. He's so unselfish, and you can really rely on him to just go out there and do whatever is asked of him.

Q. Collin, as you look at Ohio State's backcourt, what do you see in some of those match-ups? You guys seem to have a size advantage on them. What do you make of some of those match-ups, maybe Malaki and Jamari and those guys?

COLLIN GILLESPIE: Yeah, they're experienced. The freshman is younger, but Wheeler has been in college for four or five years, I think. He was at Penn State for three years. So they're an experienced group. They've been in a lot of college basketball games, and even Branham has been in a ton of games now throughout his first year.

It's going to be a battle. They're great players, and we're going to watch more film when we go back. But we know a little bit of their tendencies now just from watching personnel this morning and kind of going over some of their film.

Q. Caleb, when you transferred over from Tulane there's obviously a transition process that goes to sort of fit in with the system. How was it for you playing with Collin and Justin, as well, with the Villanova guards? Was it ever a rough transition for you to sort of fit into the scheme and the role? Or did Coach Wright help make it easy for you?

CALEB DANIELS: I felt as if it was never really a rough transition with guys like Collin and Justin. They made it very smooth for me. It obviously took me a while to get adjusted to a couple of things, but they welcomed me with open arms. They always tried to correct me if I was making certain mistakes, seeing how I should read things and whatnot, and also Coach coached me pretty hard throughout the process. And I'm still growing and developing as a Villanova basketball player, but they've done a really good job throughout my journey here.

Q. I'm curious, a lot of Ohio State's offensive game plan kind of revolves around E.J. Liddell and Malaki Branham. I'm curious, do you guys focus in on those two guys or kind of how does that affect your defensive game plan when it's revolving around two main players and especially E.J. Liddell?

JUSTIN MOORE: Yeah, obviously those two guys are -- you can say one of the main guys that really score the ball for them and are aggressive. We've also got to take away their three-point shots from the other guys too. The other guys make plays, as well. And when other guys are making plays besides them, they're a really great team, very explosive. We've got to be able contain all of them but also pay attention to those two guys.

COLLIN GILLESPIE: Like Justin said, E.J. and Malaki are definitely two of their more dominant ball handlers, guys who have the ball in their hands so you've got to focus on those guys but also try to take away the other things that the other guys also do. They have a lot of experience. Kyle Young has been there for so many years, so he's able to have the ball in his hands and make decisions, as well, as well as Key and the other guards, Wheeler, as well.

They're an experienced group, and they have a lot of depth.

Q. Obviously yesterday Loyola only scored 41 points, Ohio State has been a very good defensive team. What are some of the keys going to be to breaking that defense and being able to score as Loyola I think went into halftime with 19 points and getting off to a hotter start?

CALEB DANIELS: I think one of the main keys is just all of us just being a play maker. Like we've been through throughout the season. They played Kyle and Justin pretty hard, so if we all just make plays and be aggressive and be an the attack for 40 minutes, then we have a really good chance.

COLLIN GILLESPIE: Yeah, like Caleb said, everybody has just got to be a play maker, catching and shooting first and getting in the lane, jump stop and pivoting and taking what they give us. They might deny guys. No matter how they play us, I think we have to play off our concepts and our habits.

JUSTIN MOORE: Yeah, like they both said, just catching and shooting, moving out the basketball, get it moving a little bit, taking what the defense gives us and making the extra pass.

Q. Collin, I was wondering, curious about your reaction as you're watching Ohio State's defensive effort in real time yesterday and then again as you start practicing against it, what's your reaction to it?

COLLIN GILLESPIE: I didn't see it yesterday because it was right before our game, so we were preparing for Delaware who we played yesterday. I was able to see a little bit after our game and just from the film that they had showed us throughout their year and the film of the Loyola Chicago game.

But they pressure the ball. E.J. Liddell is inside with Kyle Young. They block shots, and they do a really good job of just getting in you, forcing you to drive, and then those guys are in there and they block shots. They're physical and they're tough on the defensive end.

Q. Collin, you mentioned Wheeler being at Penn State. I think there was some overlap with Dwayne Anderson being there. Does that help at all? Is there familiarity there or not really because it's been a minute?

COLLIN GILLESPIE: I know that they know each other, but Dwayne really hasn't talked to us much. He was also messed up yesterday, so I haven't really seen -- he's kind of just been laying up in his room. But I know they do know each other. They said hello right before we went out yesterday.

But we know of him through the film, and I'm sure Dwayne will have some insight when we get back.

Q. Collin, have you guys seen Dwayne? How is he doing? Was it bad on the bench? Did you talk about the team dinner last night? What's been the reaction to his injury?

COLLIN GILLESPIE: Nobody really knew what happened. He tried to catch Jermaine, and after he looked fine. And then he was kind of just bleeding from his nose, and they stood him up and walked him out, and we got to see him when we were coming in here yesterday before the interviews, and he said he was okay.

He's a tough dude, so like he said, he said he played in the old Big East, so he's fine, and he's just getting better, taking some rest.

Q. One of the questions coming into the season for you guys was going to be the interior play with the potential lack of size that you guys had on paper. How much emphasis was put on it as guards when it comes to helping with inside defense and pressure defense on the outside from Coach Wright this year?

JUSTIN MOORE: Yeah, being able to guard, you've got to be able to get down low and help out the bigs. And pressuring the ball is one thing we really focus on, not letting them get easy touches and denying the post when we get switched on to the bigs and being physical and tough and not getting them easy looks at the paint. I think that's something we're really focused on being Villanova guards.

COLLIN GILLESPIE: Just trying to help those guys out in whatever way we can, whether it's ball pressure, whether we're in there and moving in the post, trying to make it difficult for those guys to catch it, but just being solid, playing tough, being physical, and playing off our concepts. These two guys are bigger guards that can guard in there and they're physical and they're bigger, so they do an incredible job when they get in there just being tough and making it hard.

CALEB DANIELS: They covered it all.

Q. The Big East went 3-3 in the first round of games. Are you guys following the teams in your league any closer than the other teams in the tournament, and do you feel any pressure as the standard bearer of the Big East?

CALEB DANIELS: I feel as if we're not really focused on other games and whatnot. Yeah, we may see the games but we don't let those games affect us. We just focus on what we do and we lock into each other.

COLLIN GILLESPIE: I mean, we've seen the other Big East games and other teams that are playing, and if there's a game on, you might turn on the Big East game just because you know those guys pretty well.

Yeah, I mean, we feel like we play in one of the toughest conferences in the country night in and night out, so we have a lot of respect for those guys, and we know how hard they do play. Yeah, we've seen a few of the games.

Q. Jay, you're obviously familiar with Chris Holtmann, and he's gotten you a few times at Butler and one at Ohio State. What does a Chris Holtmann team do so well?

JAY WRIGHT: A lot of things. That's what makes them so good. They're very disciplined, very intelligent offensively and defensively, and very physical. That's what I would say probably the best three things, disciplined, intelligent and physical.

Q. You know you don't just flip a switch and win the Big East and be sitting here right now after the Creighton loss, the Baylor loss, and even going as far as losing a couple to Marquette. What had to get better from an X's and O's point of view?

JAY WRIGHT: Just a lot of little things. Like just figuring out our personnel like where Eric Dixon fits in, where Caleb Daniels fits in, and like a lot of teams this year. Honestly, I think Ohio State is in a very similar situation. We had things going on like injuries, I think I told you about viruses, COVID. We just never really in the season got a good rhythm going.

I think towards the end of the year we got everybody healthy. I think we got Jordan Longino going, we got our bench going. It was a lot of little things. It wasn't anything major.

But I look at this Ohio State team and they were playing really good for a while and then they got injuries to Young, to Key. Now they've got that team back together, they look like a big-time team again, and I hope we do.

Q. Can we get a Dwayne Anderson injury update, please?

JAY WRIGHT: We're checking on concussion. We're checking him, but we think he's pretty good. Nose does not look good, but -- his wife is a doctor, she says if it's broken, it's broken. Nothing you can do about it. She's tough. He'll be here today.

Q. Obviously the tournament for you guys has been in recent years, I think, six out of the last seven, you've either lost in the second round or won the National Championship. What about the second round is so difficult and what about getting over that hump kind of leads you guys to carry that momentum for the final two weekends?

JAY WRIGHT: The tournament is so much about match-ups. It really is. I get it, you guys do a good job and you have to do your job of going through those stats either second round or National Championship. We look at it more like we've just run into really good teams in the second round, and I think it's happened again.

But you can look at last year, North Texas was an upset winner over Purdue in the second round, and we faced them, so that was a little different.

Like this team, if they would have been healthy towards the end of the season -- I think they lost the last four out of five. But if they would have had their guys together, this would have been a 2 or 3 seed, I think. We just happened to run into a really good team again.

But when you're in the NCAA Tournament, if you get to the second round, it doesn't matter what your seed is, you get to the second round, you're playing a great team.

Q. Chris talked a little bit about the difference between coaching in the Big East and the Big Ten. I'm curious, and you've talked at length about the Big East being a basketball-first conference. How much do you use that, if at all, in finding the kind of kids you want to bring into your program? Is there a way to know if that matters to a kid, like a basketball-first kind of thinking in terms of the conference and the setting?

JAY WRIGHT: That's an interesting question. I think there are certain kids in the Midwest -- when we recruit in the Midwest, for instance, which we don't a lot. But Jalen Brunson, if you grow up in the Midwest, you're kind of a Big Ten guy. That's your idea of college athletics, those huge schools.

That's the reason we don't go out there a lot, because as you know, if you think that college is Ohio State and then you come and visit Villanova, that's a whole 'nother world, right? It looks like a high school compared to that.

I think there are kids that think of themselves as Big Ten kids, and Jalen's school in Illinois was one of his final schools, but he was an East Coast kid. He was living in Chicago but he grew up in Jersey and Philly. It's more we look at kids that think of college as an East Coast private school type of experience. That's more what we look at.

Q. You mentioned the physicality about Ohio State. What are the other things that concern you about what they're able to do when they have everybody available?

JAY WRIGHT: With their team as it is now, their balance, putting Kyle Young back in there just makes everybody better. And then bringing Key back gives them depth, which makes everybody better. Everybody is more fresh. You can play bigger and play with more size when you need to.

Young allows you to do both and allows all those guards -- because he can make plays for his teammates and he can score himself, he can post-up, and he's a great defender.

I think adding those two guys just expands their depth and their bench, and it also makes everybody better at every position.

Q. How surprised have you been by Jermaine's recovery from his back spasms, or is it something that you just completely expect from Jermaine knowing how tough he is?

JAY WRIGHT: No, I'm really -- I was shocked in the tournament to see -- in the Big East Tournament I was shocked that he did what he did.

Now, I know he's had this before, so I know it's back spasms. Some of us have had that before. Once we got our chiropractor and our team masseuse with him, I thought by NCAA Tournament team he'd be okay. I never thought he'd be able to play in the Big East like he did.

Q. Going back to the second round question, one of those losses was 2015 here to NC State. That ended kind of a decent run of early tournament exits. Did you take anything from a macro sense from that and going forward, or was it kind of a micro thing with the matchup with NC State?

JAY WRIGHT: Definitely more of a micro thing. Like that team was a highly successful team during the year. They'd beaten Duke by 20, they'd beaten Carolina, they'd beaten Louisville. That was a really talented team. But they had stumbled some, so they didn't get a great seed. That was comparable -- the Ohio State team just dealt with injuries and COVID.

But that happens. It happens in the tournament. Like I said, you can't complain about that or worry about it because when it happens the other way, you don't use that as your reason for advancing.

I just look at it like when you get to this second round, you're going to play a great team one way or the other. One year we were a 1 seed in Philly and we got an Arizona team in the second round that was an 8 seed that was ridiculous. They were outstanding. I think they had four pros on that team, and we survived that one.

It's match-ups and it's how you play that day.

Q. When you lose Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, biggest player of the year and Eric Dixon is the replacement in the lineup, was there a time this year where you saw his growth and potential and you said to yourself he could be starting-caliber player?

JAY WRIGHT: Yeah, Eric has made some great strides and he continues to get better every day. He had a great game against Connecticut at home against Sanogo, their big guy -- I think he had 24 and 12. When he did that against Sanogo, you're thinking, all right, what you think is his potential is real. Now you've got to do that consistently night in and night out.

Q. Quick question about Liddell. What challenges does he provide, and it seems like there's a versatility to his game that maybe you don't really find in a lot of scores and guys that are asked to do what he does.

JAY WRIGHT: Yeah, I think that's the key word, versatility. He's as good as anybody in the low post, not just scoring but passing out of there. They actually run cuts where they throw it to him in the post and they run screening action and he's picking the cutter or the screener.

Then he can face up on the perimeter and just iso you, hit step-back threes. That's a pro. I show our guys film, like everyone says this guy is a pro, that guy is a pro. Like that's a pro. And he's a shot blocker, too, and the leading rebounder. So that's a basketball player. He's just a basketball player. He's going to be a handful.

Q. When you look at Eric and you look at E.J. and you see Eric -- I go back to the UCLA game where it seemed like he was switched on to their guards every possession, and E.J. is such an inside-outside player, can get you from both sides -- do you feel like Eric is more prepared for the inside-outside big threat rather than just the post dominant big guy?

JAY WRIGHT: God, I hope so. I hope so.

This guy, E.J., he's a rare breed. He really is. Eric has gotten matched on some guys that are really good perimeter guys and he's got to take away certain things, and then he's gotten matched on some guys who are really good post players.

I don't know and I don't mean to insult anybody, I just haven't thought -- he reminds me of Eric Paschall who played for us. I know how valuable that was to us. I don't know if he's been matched up with somebody that can take him into both spots, the perimeter and inside and still be effective.

Q. Chris said he's stolen a lot of stuff from you. I'm curious who did you steal from on sort of no-floaters and things like that?

JAY WRIGHT: I've stolen a lot of things from a lot of people. That stuff, all that footwork stuff more came from watching games, watching our games, and trying to figure out what really affects winning and losing. Like what were the plays that affected winning and losing and then what do we need to do to eliminate those mistakes?

So that stuff -- I can't remember -- I just know it came down to more what we were doing -- remember our early years, we turned the ball over a lot. Like what were we doing that was affecting winning and losing, and a lot of times it was turnovers or shot selection, and how do you teach that.

A lot of the ways we teach that is footwork.

Q. Just wondering what your impressions are of Malaki Branham and some of the challenges he will present you guys tomorrow?

JAY WRIGHT: He's a stud. He's a really skilled player with great length and quickness. He's long enough that he can use his quickness to get you to the rim and score over you. He's skilled enough that if you give him too much space he'll drill a three.

Really mature as a player for a freshman. He's going to be a handful, also.

Q. Considering all the crazy things that happened in the tournament, your neighbor to the east, St. Peter's beat Kentucky, and Chattanooga almost won last night. Are there more good high school basketball players than there ever has been, and is it also a product of the transfer portal maybe?

JAY WRIGHT: I think this year the good teams are because of the transfer portal and COVID, guys staying the extra -- you're just seeing the mid-majors with a lot of older guys, and you're seeing the Big 5 programs with older guys, too. I just think it's making for a better brand of basketball all along.

I think the impact of NIL with the transfer portal is going to -- eventually when we get it all figured out is going to benefit college basketball. Because I think guys in the past that have had to leave early because they just had to do it for their families are going to be able to make money and stay, and you're going to see older players playing.

If you remember back in the old Big East -- I remember Patrick Ewing against Ralph Sampson, the Virginia-Georgetown game, and those guys would have never been in college these days. You might see that again in college basketball. I think it's going to be great for college basketball.

Q. The Big East has gone 3-3 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. What have you made of the league's performance and what's your pitch to Villanova fans who have been rooting again the Big East all season to start rooting for the Big East?

JAY WRIGHT: I love when you get to tournament time because we all root for each other. Big East coaches, we all text each other. Connecticut looked tired to me. They looked -- the Big East Tournament can wear you out. It really can. It's a blessing and it's a curse.

And match-ups. You just get the wrong matchup -- I don't mean to minimize all the strategy that goes into this tournament, but if you catch a hot team or you get a bad matchup, you're done. That's the beauty of this.

If you're lucky enough to win it, I always thought I would -- if we ever won it, I would know, okay, I got the answer. And once we won it, I realized I'm further from the answer than I ever thought because there was a lot of luck that went into this, and you never know when it's going to help you or when it's going to hurt you.

Q. Collin said on Wednesday that he doesn't actually remember much about being at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh four years ago --

JAY WRIGHT: Good.

Q. For you, he did get minutes in those first two games here and throughout the tournament on that run. Seeing him progress over the years, how much do you think he learned from that experience of being in the tournament for the first time and getting minutes?

JAY WRIGHT: Minutes in the NCAA Tournament are so valuable. It's so unique. It's the same way with the Big East Tournament. They're different.

But going through all this, the media, the practices, day before with people watching, we had to explain that to our guys in an open practice. Most of them hadn't experienced it.

I think the minutes you get in games in the NCAA Tournament are invaluable, and as you can accrue those minutes that really helps you, and that's why I think he's so valuable to us in this tournament.

Q. Got a question for you. I was thinking about what you were saying with recruiting. Obviously you recruit the DMV area well, probably so well that I'm sure the local teams would like you to stay out of the area a little bit. What is it about this area? Can you talk about why you think you've been successful recruiting and just talk about some of the talent. For instance, you have Justin and Brandon on your team currently and you've had a lot of other guys in the past.

JAY WRIGHT: It's real simple. The high school leagues -- and there's many of them -- are very well organized. The culture in the DMV area is a basketball culture. The best athletes in that area play basketball as opposed to other areas where the best athletes play football, and then some of them play basketball.

The education, there's so many great high-level educational institutions in that area, you just get the perfect mix of great student, great families, and high-level coaching. I think that's one of the most fertile areas in the country because of those three factors.