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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2009Dwayne AndersonDante CunninghamJay WrightNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK Louisville 69 COACH JAY WRIGHT: Obviously disappointing loss. I thought at halftime that we were playing well enough defensively to hold them down and be able to grind one out there, but we started the second half, you know, not aggressively. Shot blocked, they come down. We don't guard Clark, he hits a three. They get another three and bank, there's the ballgame right away. We never seemed to recover from that. They did a great job coming out in the second half and getting -- just taking the lead quickly and taking control and I think it was Earl Clark was just awesome and, you know, that's what big time seniors do and we got two great ones, two, and they had a rough night tonight but they've had a great season for us and we got to take this lick and recover. It's going to be tough but, you know, right now it just hurts me. Got to get to tomorrow. JOHN PAQUETTE: Questions. Q. Coach, you have a great player in Reynolds. How could he have two points on a night like this? What was your impression? COACH JAY WRIGHT: They really did a great job on him. They doubled him every time he had the ball in the backcourt. Anytime we ball screened they iced him, forced him down the baseline and doubled him and I actually thought Scottie did a really good job of not forcing too much, you know, and they just flew out of every -- they did a great job defensively. They're the best defensive team in the country. On a night like that when they're going to put so much pressure on Scottie, our other guys have to step up because there were opportunities for other guys. We just didn't do it tonight. Q. It's pretty fresh but what do you guys take out of not just this game but these games up here that you think may pay off for you a little bit later down the road? COACH JAY WRIGHT: You know, we got to come out aggressively if we have a lead in the second half. Now, you go to the NCAA tournament, you will be playing really good teams. You don't know if you're going to have a lead in the second half. That's two games we've played great first halves and come out in the second half and just lethargic -- and that's not the right word -- not lethargic; not aggressive. That's not fair, lethargic, because I thought we played pretty hard. We weren't aggressive, defensively or offensively. That's two games in row now and you can't do that. You can't do that at this point in the season. Q. My question revolves around Dante Cunningham. With all the defensive pressure they were putting on Scottie Reynolds it made it difficult for you guys to get the ball inside. COACH JAY WRIGHT: I thought we got Dante the ball pretty well, actually. I wasn't -- you know, in the second half he got in foul trouble. When he picked up his fourth, that was a killer for us, and, you know, in the first half he did a great job of getting the ball to him. Second half, you're right, it was tougher because he was out and he had some good looks, even first play of the second half he had a hook shot coming right across the lane. We missed it and he got a jump shot blocked early that he had a good look. You know, he's had great games for us, a great first half. I think the job they did on Scottie was the key and we need other guys to be more aggressive. Fisher was and he picks up his fourth foul. That was big for us when he picked up his fourth. That's what we got to get better at, too. Q. Jay first and then for the players: You hear so much about Williams and Clark and their front line. What was your impression of their guards coming into this and now coming out? COACH JAY WRIGHT: What I think makes them the best defensive team -- they're the best defensive team we've played and we've played a lost really good ones especially in this league. I think those four guards, the pressure they're able to put on the ball for 40 minutes, full court, 40 minutes, it never stops. They get 10, 12 point lead that pressure is still there and it's still as intense as it was at the beginning of the game. That's really impressive. It is. Offensively it doesn't hurt you. McGee hit some big shots and obviously Jerry Smith was great but he plays great defense, also. So, you have four guards that can all defend like that is really impressive. Conditional page break: 2 JOHN PAQUETTE: Players respond about their guards. DWAYNE ANDERSON: They won the Big East championship so, of course, they have all around great players from the forwards and the guards. We didn't underestimate them. We just didn't come through on every little play and that's what hurt us at the end. DANTE CUNNINGHAM: You know, they had, like I say, they had four guards, you know, that was just pressure our guards, you know, for 94 feet and it was tough as far as getting the ball up the court, you know, get it inside and they just made all little plays down the stretch. Q. Jay, it seems like part of the difference in the second half, they came right out there and punched you guys in the mouth with those two back-to-back 3s that sort of just stole the momentum away from you. COACH JAY WRIGHT: It did. I think it was really important. We were playing well in the first half. They came out and jumped us and got the lead immediately. Now it's a different game. Now they're pressing and you know they're doing it with a lead. They're not behind. We can't spread them out and I give them credit. I say that's the second game we've done. It's something we're trying to work on before we get to the NCAA tournament. Q. Jay, you talked a lot yesterday about how much you love this setting and everything. How elusive is it to not to have gotten to the finals? COACH JAY WRIGHT: It's sad. Don't want to go home. Would have loved to have been here Saturday night. Friday night at the Garden is special. It's a special night to be a part of and tomorrow night would have been really cool I'm sure. We've not been here since I've been here. We really wanted to be here. I think we're good enough to be here but we didn't play well enough tonight and Louisville did play well. You could be a good team, you play a good team and one of them has got to play better that night. Louisville played much better tonight. Q. Jay, you have a veteran team. Went on a run last year. The object is to move on. How do you put this behind you and say, okay, we've got another season? COACH JAY WRIGHT: We've been good at that, Mike, this year and I think we'll be good at it but honestly, this one, you know, I thought we had a chance, we had a chance to win this, a chance. We knew this was going to be a tough when you're playing the Big East champions. I love how they play. So, we got to get over this one, there's no question. This one is tough, really tough because now you're running out of chances. I told the guys, we'll never have a chance at -- they'll never have a chance at this again, these two seniors being in the Garden, and a chance to win the Big East championship. This one hurts but we always get over them. I don't want to say it's going to be easy. JOHN PAQUETTE: Villanova, thank you. COACH JAY WRIGHT: Thanks guys. End of FastScripts |
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