Feb. 19, 2012

Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery

Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright

Opening Statement
“Obviously it was a tough loss and a game you wish you never had to experience, but we have had a couple of those this year. We are paying our dues. Notre Dame made every big shot down the stretch and we missed every big shot. We got good shots, we just missed them. We struggled a lot in the second half and they did a great job pressuring Ty Johnson. I think that got the game close. We had the shots to win a close game. If you are a real good team you win that game by 16 or 18. If you are a struggling team that can make plays at the end then you can win it, but we couldn’t make the shots. They did and I have to give them credit. They executed better than us down the stretch and 20 assists is pretty impressive.”

Were you trying to go to JayVaughn [Pinkston] down the stretch since Maalik Wayns was out with the injury?
“We were really trying to let Ty [Johnson] run the offense and at the end he was cramping. We tried to keep JayVaughn at the top because we thought he could draw two defenders and he could kick it to the wings to make plays. That was what we were trying to do. It wasn’t something we have practiced, but it was something we tried to do in the huddle because Ty was cramping. We struggled as it was, so we were kind of desperate there.”

Villanova Forward/Center Maurice Sutton

Did the strong play of late from Notre Dame affect the way you guys went out tonight?
“We go out and play. That is the bottom line. We go out each game and try to play Villanova basketball. We try to play harder than each team. We don’t look at records; we just look at the next team.”

Villanova Forward JayVaughn Pinkston

Can you talk about what happened for them to come back?
“It was just the little things, the little things on defense. We have to rotate better. It was just basically the little things, on offense and defense.”

Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey

Opening Statement
“What a night. Well, I’m really proud of our group. The second half we did a better job rebounding the basketball and keeping them to one and done situations. They crushed us on the offense boards early. We had a little bit of a look in this game that we had at Louisville and at West Virginia where we were coming back. I used that as a reference point at halftime. I said let’s play like we did in Morgantown and play fearlessly with nothing to lose. We made big shots. Going zone helped us in the second half because it kept our big guys closer to the bucket and we could rebound better. I’m really proud of our group. After they beat Syracuse I talked to them about striving to be special. I told them tonight, I just think we are special. I really do. It was a great win for a great group that believes in itself.”