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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: PHILADELPHIA

March 19, 2009

Jay Wright

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

Villanova Â– 80
American - 67

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Villanova student-athletes and coach Jay Wright. Coach, if you would make an opening statement, please.
COACH WRIGHT: I'd first like to say what an outstanding team American University is, and we were, trust me, it wasn't that we took them lightly at all. We expected that. They execute as well as anybody in the country. They've got outstanding shooters. They were extremely well-coached. I think we just -- I was on the other side because I coached at Hofstra. I think in the end we had bigger, stronger athletes. But they were probably better prepared and executed a little bit better. But we just had stronger guys that wore them down at the end.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes, please.

Q. Dwayne, what was the difference in your defense in the second half? It seemed like their guards were able to penetrate against you.
DWAYNE ANDERSON: We just have great defenders that focus in, especially Reggie Redding. He has an assignment, he takes that personal. He did a great job chasing Carr. Carr had a great first half. He played well in the second half also. But Reggie was just on him non-stop, kind of wore him down a little bit.

Q. Dwayne, with 11 minutes left in the game, Jay went up and down the bench and told you guys to drive the basketball. Seconds after that you followed up Scottie's miss with a dunk. Talk about the difference that made, not settling for the perimeter shot.
DWAYNE ANDERSON: Definitely, we want -- they were in foul trouble, so we wanted to be aggressive and drive. Of course, Scottie Reynolds, he's a wonderful guard. He drove. One of the coaches came to me on the sideline and said, You need to get some offensive rebounds because I usually have more rebounds. Next play I had an offensive rebound. That's something our guards take pride in. They like to be on attack at all times.

Q. If you could just choose one or two words to describe what you thought of the way they shot in that first half.
DWAYNE ANDERSON: Perfection. They didn't miss (smiling).
DANTE CUNNINGHAM: You know, yeah, their first half, it was amazing. Every shot went up, it was good.

Q. Dante, coach talked about the fact that you guys didn't take them lightly. What, if anything, was said by you or by the coach at halftime?
DANTE CUNNINGHAM: You know, just stick to our game plan. You know, they were shooting the ball well. We just had to limit their open and easy looks. It really wasn't any drastic changes that we did. We just buckled down a lot more and not let them get such easy looks at the rim.

Q. Did you guys feel like, when they were making pretty much everything, you were pressing at all in the first half, any pressure?
DWAYNE ANDERSON: Before we even stepped on the floor on the Selection Sunday, we said we're going to take a road attitude approach. Of course, it's great to have your fans here cheering for you and everything. But when we step on that floor, it's just us.
We took pride in that, and it helped us at the end.
DANTE CUNNINGHAM: Yeah, it was just 94 by 50 feet. We really don't worry about anything that's going on outside the lines.

Q. Dante, did it seem like the Monmouth game a little bit?
DANTE CUNNINGHAM: Actually, it did turn for a little bit. But that's something that I don't think any of our players actually noticed. We were just out there, we were just scrapping, you know, continuing to play hard.

Q. Was there any point maybe before the game or when you go into halftime down 10 where you say, This could be the last time I'm out there at Villanova and felt a sense of urgency?
DWAYNE ANDERSON: Before we step on the floor, we always take that approach. Of course, it's the NCAA tournament, you're one-and-done. That's in the back of your mind. We have older guys that have been there and they know what it takes. We never say, Let's go, this could be our last game. We say, We know what needs to be done. We need to play for 40 minutes. That's our objective before we step on the floor.
DANTE CUNNINGHAM: We play every game like it's our last. That's never a thought that we're worried about or anything like that.

Q. Granted you did go out with the road mentality, but how much did you feed off the crowd during that run that gave you the lead?
DANTE CUNNINGHAM: You know, it's nice when you are making a run, they are with you, it's nice to hear them get loud. That's something that you try not to, as a basketball player, play for the crowd and everything. But you can definitely feel the electricity in the air when we started making our run.
DWAYNE ANDERSON: They definitely bring energy. It's great to have your fans in the background yelling and screaming and going crazy and everything. So that's something that we enjoy. We'd like to have it the next game also.

Q. Dwayne, talk about the relief for lack of a better word or excitement of getting through this one, as tough as it was, with a win.
DWAYNE ANDERSON: It definitely was a relief because we have seniors that have given their all - on the court, off the court, ups and downs. Dante Cunningham is just unbelievable. We have Frank Tchuisi and Shane Clark. He does everything for you. It's definitely a relief to advance.

Q. You cut it to one with three minutes to go in the first half, then they immediately came right back. Did that reinforce that you were in for it all night?
DWAYNE ANDERSON: We definitely knew we was in for it, because they're a great team. Last year they played Tennessee to the wire, NCAA tournament. Last year we went in the same situation against Clemson. So we knew it was going to be a long game. We knew we had to play till the last very second.
DANTE CUNNINGHAM: I mean, we know every team that steps out there is going to, you know, take it to us to a whole 'nother level.
It's never, you know, they're hitting shots, it's going to be a long game. It's they're hitting shots, all right, buckle down, don't let 'em get looks.

Q. Dwayne, can you talk about Garrison Carr's ability to make shots over you guys, five, six, seven inches taller than he was.
DWAYNE ANDERSON: He has a very quick release. He's a great shooter. We've played plenty of players like that in our conference. That's why the Big East Conference is so great. He reminds me of so many players.
If you let him go for a quick second, he'll come behind the ball and he'll knock it down. So that's something we definitely had to adjust in the second half.

Q. Dante, it seemed they were defending you between Nichols and Lumpkins. How did you change your game depending on who was guarding you?
DANTE CUNNINGHAM: Honestly, I didn't try to change anything. If they doubled me, I'd kick out. Regardless of who it was, I was just doing my move and going up with it strong.

Q. You guys got down by 14 early in the second half. It seemed like they were making every shot. What was it that you never seemed to panic, what enabled you to come back?
DANTE CUNNINGHAM: I think it's just our experience. Between me, Dwayne and Shane on the court, our experience, our mental, never allowing it to, get to us. You know, there's always time on the clock. There's always time for us to come back.
DWAYNE ANDERSON: It's just mental toughness. You never crack under pressure. That's something that these guys, they do night in and night out. That's something that takes us a long way.

Q. Is this a nice close game to have in a first round as opposed to a 50-point blowout that UConn had, gets you into the flow of the tournament?
DWAYNE ANDERSON: It could be a disadvantage and an advantage. For UConn, they can rest guys at the end of the game. And for us, it could also be an advantage to be in a close game because you're getting that game-like conditioning. Of course, you can practice all you want. But it's nothing like game-like conditioning.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys. We'll continue with questions for Coach Wright.

Q. You said yesterday three years ago the game against Arizona, if it hadn't been here, you probably wouldn't have won it. How would you characterize tonight as far as if it weren't here?
COACH WRIGHT: I think this game was more just us having bigger, stronger athletes at the end. In the end, they were getting some good shots still. I think they were a little worn down. We were getting more rebounds. We were driving the ball better, getting to the foul line. It was nice. When the crowd was getting it going, it was nice. But I don't think this one affected as much as that Arizona game.

Q. Can you talk about the defense in the second half on the guards 3 and 5. Looked like you put some different guys out there. Talk about how you handled that in the second half.
COACH WRIGHT: You know what, I hope I'm not wrong on this, I got to see a tape, I don't really think we did a bad job in the first half. The shot that Gilmore hit to take it from 7 to 10 at the end of the half, we did everything we wanted to do. We had Dwayne Anderson in his face. I remember seeing it. Dwayne was it seemed to me over the ball going by him, he still drilled it. That's what we talked about at halftime. We lost Carr a couple times in transition. By us scoring in the second half, they didn't get out in transition as much.
I think they just missed some, especially Gilmore. He missed some with Dante just wearing him down. Carr was still really tough. Him getting in foul trouble was big. We made a good run when he was out of the game. He's scary, man. He's as good as any guard we've played against.

Q. You got to the foul line 26 times in the second half after I think three in the first. Did you see something there in the second that you said, I want to take advantage of that?
COACH WRIGHT: Yeah. They just did a great job of being physical in the first half, and we kind of backed down to it. That's not fair. We didn't attack it. Every ball screen we ran, their forwards stepped out and banged our guards, and our guards kind of avoided contact instead of attacking the rim. So I think that was the difference in the second. Our guards got more aggressive. Dante was the same. We got it to Dante in the first half. But in the second half he took it stronger to the rim also.

Q. You had 11 turnovers in the first half. Did you think the guys were tight or not fully focused? What was your message at halftime?
COACH WRIGHT: I think we were -- you know, it could have been. It could have been tight. It could have been surprised by their physicalness. That's one thing we try to talk to our guys about going into the game, was how physical they play. You know, we watched their games against Army and against -- their game against Army in the semifinals was a little bit like this, where they just second half down, but they came back, kind of beat on 'em, wore 'em down. I think our guys were surprised at how strong they were on ball skills, in the post. When they doubled Dante a couple times, they just ripped the ball out of our hands.
I don't know why they didn't expect that, but they just got a lot more aggressive in the second half.

Q. When you say Villanova basketball, can you just tell me the two or three tenants of that?
COACH WRIGHT: Just to be on the attack all the time. To be aggressive and to be mentally tough for 40 minutes. I think that the third is where this group as seniors has been very, very good. They were not panicked at halftime. We don't have to yell and scream. We said that this team could do this.
As I said, besides -- Mercer hit a three in the first half. Hendra hit a three. It wasn't Hendra. Borden hit a three in the first half. We were kind of giving those good three. Gilmore hit some tough ones.
I think they're mentally tough to know we're doing what they want to do, we just got to keep doing it for 40 minutes.

Q. Would you talk about Corey Fisher's role as far as being aggressive and taking it to the rack.
COACH WRIGHT: He was a key in the second half. They did a great job on Scottie, denying him, trying to play him kind of like we tried to play Carr. He recognized that and he started attacking the rim. He did it in transition. And there was even a couple times I would have liked him to go into Dante. He took it anyway. A guy taking a shot, you go, no, no, no, good shot. I was thinking Dante, Dante. Then good job, he got fouled. That took away their aggressiveness. He got them to four, five, six team fouls, that took aware their aggressiveness, and he got Carr fouls, and he got Mercer fouls.

Q. Do you feel like there's a sense of pressure on Dante and Dwayne to step up this game and score?
COACH WRIGHT: I liked how Dwayne came out in the first half. When Dwayne's scoring, we're a pretty tough team. I really like how he started the first half.
You know, teams are doing a good job on Scottie. Scottie is not rushing it. He's letting other guys do it. That's why Fisher is getting to the rim, because they're playing Scottie like that. Dante, I hope he does feel pressure to score, because we need him to score.

Q. I guess you would prefer to have a big win. Is this still a good game for your kids?
COACH WRIGHT: It is now that it is over. It really is. You don't wish for this. You definitely don't wish for this. You always have to temper warning our players about this and then overdoing it and seeming like you're panicked. I wanted our guys to understand how good this team is. If they hit threes like they did in the first half, it could be a tough game. But you don't want that kind of game.
Now that it's over, I think it's going to be good. We were down 10 to a very good team. We came out and battled defensively. We did it with the defense. We played aggressively, drove the ball. Now it's something we have in the back of our mind for our next game.

Q. It seemed like in the first half when Gilmore in particular was getting open for his threes, AU was doing a good job of spacing your guys out. Did you change something in particular with that in the second half?
COACH WRIGHT: You know, we went to some full court pressure, which shortened the shot clock for them. They still spaced us out in the second half. Sometimes when you're coming right out of the game, it's not as clear. What I saw was we pressured them, we shortened the clock. So they spaced us out, but we didn't have to chase them for as long a period of time, and we were wearing them down some.
So I think they got like early in the second half, Gilmore got some looks, he just missed 'em. I just think it was a matter of wearing them down.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach.

End of FastScripts

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