BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 10, 2005

Randy Foye

Curtis Sampter

Jay Wright

COACH JAY WRIGHT: That was, you know, I was an assistant coach in the Big East in the late '80s, and that was one of those old-school Big East games. That was a blood bath. We couldn't run offense. We defended well. They got into us. It just took some great players making great plays for us. That's what it was, it was Randy and Curt just stepping up big-time. That's what great players do at this time of the year. I just think that was the difference. They have them, too. We have great respect for their program. They've been to the finals four years in a row in this tournament. We knew it. If you're going to get there, you have to go through a team like that. We really respect them. They play so hard and physical, and we do, too.

COACH JAY WRIGHT: Yeah, we try to build our program. All the great teams in the BIG EAST do that. As I said, in this league, that's -- you're playing against great players. You have to be able to stop them. We have good individual defense. Randy obviously did a great job on Krauser in the second half. Kyle, we had Kyle Lowry, Nardi and Randy in the second half. I thought Curt did a great job on Troutman and as a team, I thought we played great team defense.

COACH JAY WRIGHT: Well, I think that's what that game was, a test of will. As I said, we have great respect for those guys. Their last two games they've been on the road, beat two outstanding teams handily, physically. We knew that was coming, and it came. They never gave up. That's why I have great pride in these guys. These are our two leaders in everything we do, defensively, in terms of our character and attitude on the court, these two did a great job.

CURTIS SUMPTER: I believe so. That just shows the hard work that everyone on the team put in in the off-season. Last year we came here, we played pretty well but we lost in the semis. Over the summer and the preseason, throughout the season, you know, we just kept working hard. We knew we wanted to be here at this point in time, ready to play. That's what we did.

CURTIS SUMPTER: Winning the game. It showed us all year long, he showed us last year when we was here at the BIG EAST tournament. If you play defense and rebound, you're going to win games regardless of how well you shoot. Like Coach said, that's the foundation of this program, we want to play defense and get stops. That's going to help us with our offense.

RANDY FOYE: Pitt is a real tough team, man-to-man defense. Like Carl Krauser, Chevy Troutman, everybody. Like when they play you one-on-one, it's hard to get by. I just try to drive the ball and kick for extra shots to my teammates.

COACH JAY WRIGHT: Well, we have to earn that. That's what we're trying to do, you know. We're still in early stages of our development. We have to prove ourselves. That's what we're trying to do here. It takes playing against a team like that. It's not like Pitt came in and didn't play their game; they played well. They're tough. We just -- it does. It makes us know where we are and I think our guys have always believed in it. You just got to go do it. I think that's what this game proved to, you know, to our guys, that they're ready to step up at this level and play this defense and rebound like this in a big game like this.

COACH JAY WRIGHT: This is going to be a tough game for us because we played them so long ago, we played them I think our first BIG EAST game. I'm going to be honest with you, we didn't get to see them a lot on TV. They're not the kind of team when you're scouting the opponent you watch them a lot, because they play so differently, you know? We got a lot of work to do. I mean, obviously we know they run outstanding offense and they shoot the ball extremely well. But we have a lot of work to do to prepare.

COACH JAY WRIGHT: You know what, we didn't go in with that mindset because we really didn't think that was possible, to be honest with you. I just think he's so good, he does find ways. He gets 10 rebounds and gets to the foul-line for 10 attempts. But we knew, you know, in big games, he's going to step up, Krauser is going to step up, Taft, we know end of shot clock, end of the game, those guys, they're great players. We know you have to concentrate on them. We have great respect for them, especially him.

COACH JAY WRIGHT: Yeah, I thought that was a big -- I thought that was a big accomplishment for us in that game. We had our two point guards with two fouls, moved Randy to the point. Randy can play the point, we know that. He's just so good at everything else. We didn't want to waste him at the point guard spot. He rebounds, can post, he does everything. It showed the resiliency of our team that Randy just moved over, we played big, and continued to play our game. We didn't lose anything in our system. That was big for us. That's never happened to us this year.

CURTIS SUMPTER: It really doesn't matter to us. We tell ourselves what we have to do is just win by one. You can score 20 points in the first half just as long as our opponent has less than us. I mean, we're fine with that. We try to play good defense.

RANDY FOYE: Just drive to the basket, make them make plays. If my jump is not falling, I look to defense, probably get a steal or something, or just get a stop on defense, and come down and take the ball to the basket.

RANDY FOYE: It's a lot of fun because we're not used to it (smiling). We're facing a lot of new things on a day-to-day basis. It's a lot of fun knowing that you're ranked and you're going out and playing great teams and you're winning.

CURTIS SUMPTER: I know it wasn't going to be an easy task. I knew I was probably going to be exhausted on offense, but I figured as long as I exert myself and give it all I got on defense, we should be fine. I know I have Randy and Allan and other guys who are going to step it up offensively. I just tried to play as hard as I can on defense, limit his touches. Every time he got the ball, I tried to force contested shots. That's what we did.

CURTIS SUMPTER: I knew he was frustrated. I just try not to let them get the ball in the post. I guess I was just moving my feet, getting around him, just playing hard, trying to out-tough them down there.

COACH JAY WRIGHT: I would give you a resounding yes on that. That was probably the most -- that was probably what -- especially when these guys were freshmen, because I knew they weren't soft, but they were just learning how to play in the BIG EAST. That really did bother us. But you got to earn that, you know. That's what is gratifying about this season, you can't talk about it; you got to go do it. You're only going to do it if you're going to do it against the Pittsburghs, Connecticuts, West Virginias. They're the tough teams. So, yeah, that was something we never want to be called.

RANDY FOYE: Yeah, we knew a lot of people thought we was soft, by how they played against us defensively, and they was really physical, they wouldn't let us get the ball. But we talked about it as a team, about going out there and being tough. But you can't talk about it, you got to be about it. I think that's what we've shown this year.

COACH JAY WRIGHT: Well, I think we're in the point in the season now where, you know, we have juniors and we're really all juniors and sophomores, but these juniors and sophomores have been through a lot and have played a lot of games. We're a pretty experienced team. Now we're at a point where big-time players are going to have to step up. We've been playing consistently, we know we're going to defend and rebound, do what we do offensively now, now big-time players are going to have to step up. It's exactly what happened today. If you look at Allan Ray, Randy Foye and Curtis Sumpter, three big-time players and they stepped up in a big-time game. Everybody on our team did what they were supposed to do and these three stepped up big-time.

COACH JAY WRIGHT: You know, our league is difficult in a sense that you got a lot of great coaches, a lot of great teams, a lot of great players. Also, there's so many different styles in our league. They make it tough on you. A guy like Pittsnogle, you got the biggest guy, you know. You play Pitt, their biggest guy, Taft, is down the block, you're battling, fighting them. Next night, you're playing their biggest guy, could be the best shooter, you got to guard him on the perimeter. It's very difficult. It's going to be a difficult transition for us here because in this short time period, preparing for their style is going to be tough.

COACH JAY WRIGHT: I thought, again, we were tough. In our press offense we were not pretty, but we were tough. Randy got open, Curtis got open, handled the ball, made free throws. That's the toughness in Allan Ray. When I think it comes to big games like this, you either have players -- you don't get in big games unless your team's good. Then you have players or you don't. We have tough players.

COACH JAY WRIGHT: That's our game. We want to play our game. As I said, we have so much respect for Pitt that we didn't want -- we didn't ever want to give them a chance to come back and get us, because they've done it. This team has always done it. When Ben was there, ever since Jamie has been there, they just never die. Even at the end we were telling the guys to drive the ball. There was 40 seconds left, we knew they could make plays, Krauser could hit threes. It was never over in our minds.

COACH JAY WRIGHT: I think they're in. I think they deserve to be in. I hope everyone else thinks that. I hope the committee thinks that. But we're going to -- you don't want to do too much with the guys. I want them to rest. I want the players to rest because they have to get it done tomorrow. Our staff will go back, watch film. As I said, you don't root for another team to win, but you know if West Virginia wins you have a lot of film to watch. We started a little bit before we got here. But we have a lot of work to do. We haven't played them since, as I said, the first game of the season.

COACH JAY WRIGHT: I think we got away with a little bit with him tonight, you know. These three days in a row was going to be tough for him. I think we got a little break. He played 21 minutes, I think he'll be fine. It's a night game. I think he'll be fine. He's amazing. He's one of the leading rebounders and shot-blockers in the league. Comes off the bench, plays 20 minutes a game, he's incredible.