BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2004

Tim Welsh

COACH TIM WELSH: Well, tonight was, from the get-go, I saw that Villanova had a hop in their step and they were going to be on the attack like they were last night. I thought they played as well as they played all year last night. Jay's had them close, in such a young team, sometimes one win gets their confidence level over the edge. Last night, I think, certainly carried over for them tonight. As far as our team goes, we just could never get comfortable out there on offense and into a rhythm. In the second half, we got a little comfortable and we let them get comfortable, we let them get the ball inside too much. Had a period of time where Fraser, they got the ball inside to him, you know, at will. He was just getting dunks and layups. I think they had five or six straight possessions where they had a dunk or a layup. That's just something, obviously, our zone, we tried to make some adjustments. Obviously, the two threes really killed us when Foye hit the one three, then we didn't get out quick enough to Nardi and he buried the big one. We had the lead. Kind of sucked a little wind out of our sails when that happened. But, you know, there's a lot of disappointment in our locker room, but they have to understand that you can't give up 61 percent in a half, in tournament time, on defense and expect to win. Defense has been our staple all year long. We've played well on nights where Ryan doesn't score, and we've been able to win by our defense. Our defense, the last three games, really has let us down, giving up 69 points tonight and just a high percentage that we gave up was really disturbing. But we got in some foul trouble, we had to make some adjustments with our interior defense. I think then we got a little soft with our interior defense as well. We had all our big guys with either four, then Sanders fouled out with five, Kotti had four, Douthit had four. They drove to the rim late. We didn't have that normal aggressive action inside. But I told our guys that it's a hard thing to understand right now, but there's, hopefully, bigger things ahead for us. But we've got to get better. We've got a week to get better, to get back on track and play again next weekend. We're happy we can play again. We're disappointed we're not playing farther this weekend because we thought we could obviously match up and do some damage in this tournament. We lost to a very good team, and when you play a team that's very good, you've got to play very good. At times tonight we didn't play good enough, which is why we lost.

COACH TIM WELSH: He played 13 minutes out of 20. I mean, it's not like he played six or seven. I think he sat out for a little bit, but he played 33 minutes out of 40. He's a good enough player to not let that affect him. I don't think that affected him.

COACH TIM WELSH: Yeah, I just think that, you know, we're not getting to the ball in good spots. They did a good job on him tonight. They did a good job. They did a good job on him in Providence, but he stepped out and made five threes. Tonight he couldn't step out and get that look from the perimeter. They gave a lot of help. They really attacked him when he had the ball. Other people have to step up as well. He'll find his way. I mean, he's in just a little bit of a slump right now. It happens. It's just happening at the wrong time, but he's a great player and he'll find a way to snap back out of it.

COACH TIM WELSH: I don't know. Nothing makes me think it could right now except the season that we have. I have to look at the total season. Obviously, we're not playing very well right now, but I'm not going to say we don't have a chance. We're in it, which means we're a good team. We're going to be in the tournament. That means we've done something worthy. I've seen other teams in the past go through late season slumps and snap out of it and go on a run. You just need one good win to kind of make yourself feel better. But in order to get that win, you have to play better. This week is an important week to get better, and mentally. I thought we had a good week of practice coming in, but just didn't happen for us tonight.

COACH TIM WELSH: Well, I mean, you look at the league, you talk about six teams ranked in the top 25 in the RPI. We're as good as anybody in the country. I think that's been proven all season long. We're a great league. Villanova's been on the cusp of beating most of the top teams all season long, they just have so much youth that, as I said before, they just need one win to kind of get them over the hump. They got that win last night. They kind of rolled with the confidence level in tonight's game.

COACH TIM WELSH: Yeah, usually when he scores like that, we're automatic W. He didn't have any help tonight really. He was the only guy in double figures. We scored 66 points. Normally, that should be enough to win. But tonight it was our defense. But Sheiku had a great game. He played with a lot of heart, he played tough, did everything I asked him to do. He played like a senior should out there. I mean, really single-handedly almost willed us to the win, but it just didn't happen.

COACH TIM WELSH: I'm not sure I understand.

COACH TIM WELSH: Right.

COACH TIM WELSH: I don't know. We were in such foul trouble tonight it was hard because it kind of didn't let us get into our rotations properly. You know, Ryan sat out enough where I think he was fine, but Rob got his fifth foul-out in 23 minutes. That wasn't positive. We're in good shape. We've played with seven guys all season long, we've played in a physical league all season long. We're just going to have to get better for next weekend.