BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 9, 2000

Erick Barkley

Mike Jarvis

Lavor Postell

COACH JARVIS: First of all, I just want to congratulate the very fine Villanova team, a team that obviously did not quit. It would have been very easy for them to do so, they didn't. Somehow we found a way to win again, and, you know, and obviously make it exciting. A lot closer than we would have liked, but we will take it and look forward to tomorrow's game against Miami.

COACH JARVIS: Well, probably the same -- I'd say the same way that the guys have found the energy all year, from way down deep inside. We saw, you know, a game that we had total control of basically go out of our control, and, luckily, the guys decided that the season was not going to end tonight and just found a way. A will of the way to win, as they've done all year. As we said before, this team is very resilient and certainly knows how to bounce back and has proven that again tonight.

COACH JARVIS: Yeah, Villanova scored more baskets than we did and they had a good run in the second half when we didn't and that's why they went ahead and we went behind. Then we had a run at the end and they didn't and we won.

COACH JARVIS: I was just wondering if you were in the building.

COACH JARVIS: Tactically speaking, their offense during a long stretch of the second half was better than our defense, and they hit some shots that they were missing in the first half and I guess our guys thought they were going to continue to miss. There was a lack of, I thought, for too long a period of time there was a lack of real defensive intensity and it was almost like, you know, we got to a position I think tonight where we felt that we could probably turn it on when we wanted to because we did that a couple of times. Unfortunately, you just -- you know, you just can't do that all the time.

LAVOR POSTELL: Yeah, we're looking forward to this game again. Miami's a good team and I think we're a good team, so it's gonna be another battle tomorrow.

COACH JARVIS: Like Lavor said, they're an excellent basketball team. They're as good a defensive team as I think you'll find. They've got size, they're athletic and they're cochamps of the Big East and they did beat us less than a week ago. But it was a great game, and we thought that we had a chance to win that game and I think the fans will be in for a real good night of basketball tomorrow night.

COACH JARVIS: You know, Malik, it seems like every time they needed a big basket he made the basket. I think sometimes, you know, you look at stats and they can be very deceiving. There might be a night when a guy gets 20 and not really make the big ones. It just seemed like tonight, if he had less, it still seemed like he made some pretty big baskets against you, and I'm glad that he didn't hit the last shot he took.

COACH JARVIS: It's disconcerting at any time of the season. And yet it's also kind of nice to know that this group, even though they may, you know -- some time I wonder if they just like making things exciting, you know, since they're in New York and they maybe think that they have to keep the crowd around for the whole game. It's almost as if, you know, they're trying to make sure that nobody leaves the house. But the bottom line is they find a way to win, and I think that's the thing that, you know, I'm certainly going to continue to focus on as opposed -- on the positive as opposed to negative. If we continue to win and continue to feel that it's disconcerting in doing so, then you know what, we'll have had a great year.

LAVOR POSTELL: I don't think so. Like Coach said, they was missing shots they didn't normally make in the first half. Second half they stepped the game out. They wasn't going out without a fight. They hung around. We made some clutch backs, too, and we came up with the win.

ERICK BARKLEY: We didn't make the shots that we made the first half. They converted their shots, so, you know, that kind of turned the game around.

ERICK BARKLEY: Start the inside game I think. Mario Bland and El Tyler, I don't want to say field date but they played real well against them down in Florida. If we can control them, contain Johnny Hemsley, we're okay.

LAVOR POSTELL: Same thing really. Don't give up rebounding, control big men and keep out for Johnny Hemsley.

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