Villanova Basketball Post-Game Press Conference | Big East vs Georgetown | Martin Luther King Day

We'll go to questions

Great Biggie's game. First and foremost, really appreciate playing on Martin Luther King Day

It is something that is so special, something that we asked for

and to have it on this day, coming off of, you know, we lost four in a row

We were in every single game, close game, trying to get over the hump. This is the first time we've played with our, basically our starters

The last time we had that group on the floor together like that was December 14th at Syracuse

So we've gone through some ups and downs, and this is the rigors of the Big East, right

You know, Dixon is a load. I mean, a load. He can score in every imaginable way

I thought his last shot was going to go in, but I'm really proud of our men's resilience

Today was a resilient win. Today was a culture win. Today was a program win

And again, I've coached in the Big East for many times. I don't know how many times I've won in this building as an assistant coach

or a head coach. So to be down the way we were, wasn't going our way

For our men to fight back, I think we got nine straight stops. The defensive side of the ball

we still got to try to get to 70, right? I don't know if we had 70. Last time we scored 70

I think was against Creighton. So, I mean, our offense got to do a better job

And again, you see how rusty Tommy was. Those normally, he normally makes all those layups

And then, you know, a little bit of rust came off the apps, but it's good to have Tommy come home

and play well. and obviously PB showed some incredible leadership today. Really, really, really good leadership

But overall, just a great team win, and to do it on Martin Luther King Day

means more to me than any of you will ever understand because those opportunities weren't there for coaches, for players, for people

without that vision, without that love and compassion for humanity. So, MLK, I appreciate you, bro

Let's open up with Patrick Stevens from The Washington Post. Ed, I know you guys mixed defenses throughout the day, different folks, but what do you think kind of key closing stretch there

I thought, you know, I thought of ball pressure. You know, we purposely went smaller to try to speed the game up

They had an incredible pace, so we wanted the game to go a little bit faster

We just were missing a lot of shots. In doing that, we tried to be disruptive against Longino and Dixon

I don't know how great of a job we did, yet at the end of the day, we found a way to win

These are games like, you know, we came and stole a game, right

We really came and stole one. And that's okay. That's okay. I thought going small really helped and I thought the press really helped Marcus Washington Hey Michael You got your three shot going here at Struggle to play Just how did you kind of get off the snide and get your confidence back and

starting to get those shots? That's just constantly being in the gym, working on my shot

And then my teammates and my coaches having confidence in me every time I shoot the ball

thinking it's going to go in. And it went in today. So I'm just staying in the gym

And coach, you talked about going small. It did seem like when you went small on offense, the court sort of opened up

Yeah, yeah. Is that what you were trying to achieve out of that? Yes, yes, yes. You know, again, I have babies out there

You know, some of these guys are in diapers, right? Seriously. And, I mean, there's men we're playing against, you know

fifth-year seniors, physical bodies. We wanted to space the floor a little bit

We just couldn't go mano-a-mano. So we wanted to try to use our speed a little bit and, you know

go back and forth with it. I didn't realize Tommy would be that. but he never misses that many layups, ever, right

So hopefully it's out of his system and, you know, look forward to when he plays again this Saturday down at Providence

Let's go to Ron Bailey and then next to him and then right up here. So, Ronald, it's missed layups

How do you remain mentally plugged in? You still competed, you rebounded, you defended

even though you were missing money. Well, coming into the title outbreak, I thought I missed, like, a couple layups

My coaches and teammates just told me to stay in it, you know, find other ways to impact the game and that's what I did

P, 5.2 seconds of ball in your hand. What was going to be in your mind? How did it go forward

I mean, they called the play for me to go get a bucket and I just trusted my work

I appreciate the coaches trusting me. I knew they weren't going to help off the corner and make the bucket

Thank you. Let's go next to another. Coach, I know that everyone outside of Dixon and Lugino just sticks to me

Was your game plan to kind of try to just... It was actually the opposite way

So obviously I didn't do a really good job at that. It was actually the other way. So, I mean, those two players are really good players

Really good players. And you're not going to stop those guys. I mean, you know, this is their home

They live in here. They've taken a million shots in here. And again, he had some younger guys playing

Obviously, you know, with the, I don't know the kid's name, Publa, Pabla, right

Him out the game, they changed the whole game. I mean, he's an elite scorer, rebounder for them, older player

That definitely played into, you know, the game as well. You know, him not there, hopefully he's okay

You know, I don't know what happened in that there, you know. But, again, it's the biggies, and you've got to be prepared for stuff like that

You discussed your own experiences here at the FN, but your door down this is your first win as a program at the FN since 2011 or 2012 What does that mean for the program to get away from there It means we developing right We a long way to go but we come a long way right

When you look at all of our Big East games, every single Big East game we've played, we've been right there

I mean right there. So we're not there yet, but slowly but surely

we're trying to climb that mountain to build sustainable success, not just a flash in the pan

And that's culture, that's character, that's program development, that's relationship with administrators, alum, formal players, community, right

That's what, you know, when you come on and take over a program, it's not just the players, it's the whole community

It's the family aspect of a program. And that's what we're trying to do. Quick one, you got the Commander shirt on

It looks like you got them this weekend. You know, growing up in New England, obviously being a Patriot fan

but the energy that's in the district right now for the commanders is just

it's addictive, right? And, you know, there's some personal relationships I have there

and any time I could rep them, come on, baby. Who are they playing

It's all love, baby. All right, let's come up here. We'll go in two and three

Okay. Coach, congrats on the win. Thank you. Two-parter. Malik Mack only had three points

but just had that one key basket down the stretch. And this reminded me, and the second part

this reminded me a lot of the game against Seton Hall earlier this year

It was a very smash-mouth game in the 60s. And that seems to end outcome similar to this

very much a smash-mouth defense. You know, I mean, when the ball's not going in the basket, it gets hard on the officials

They always want to see the ball go in. When it's a 59-58 game coming down the stretch

But I like ugly. Man, do I like ugly. It feels good getting in the mud a little bit

and your elbows are rubbing, and bodies are bumping, and people are cussing at you. That's what the Big East is all about

Big East is ugly. No, no, no, no. The Big East is beautiful. It's beautifully ugly. Gorgeous

Lovely. But when you get to the court, you need some brass knuckles

You need a couple of nunchucks. No, I'm only joking. Sometimes the ball don't go in the basket

In these games here, most whoever has the ball last normally wins

Right here, over here. Thomas, two questions for you. First of all, what happened with Wuga there

Just a couple of players getting into a little scuffle. And I was just trying to back my teammate up

You probably see that took it the wrong way. I wasn't worried about it as much

Second part is coming back to Philly What was it like being back and what was this whole experience like for you So you know it just felt great you know seeing all my old high school friends high school teammates you know

high school coaches, you know, family members just all coming out to the game

and coming to support me. You know, I thank all of them for coming out as well. But I just try to, you know, continue to play my game, you know

show them what I can do. You know, I haven't seen a couple of my family members that were at the game today

So it was kind of fun playing. I can tell all you here in Philadelphia, this kid represents y'all in an incredible way

He's one of the nicest, humility people I've ever been around. To be this young, he's 19 years old

He has a 50-year-old soul, right? And the 50-year-old layups he took today

But he represents y'all well. I promise you that. At a high, high character level

Incredibly high character level. Coach, you mentioned how today was a program win, a culture win for you guys

And so much has been made of your defensive improvement, your program improvement in general

How big are these two guys in doing that? These guys are called contract extension guys

Right? When you defend, you win. Bottom line. Right? Because the ball's not always going to go in the back

But if you can continue to encourage you guys to be the tougher one, first to hit, first to the floor, care, share, love

these guys are elite I think he's one of the best defenders

I've ever coached, maybe the best defender I've ever coached, on the ball, off the ball

right, he guards the rim, we have a pretty good tandem defensively, we have our little guys

I call them Tattoo from Fantasy Island, Jaden and Jaden and Malik

you're too young to know that, you don't have no idea what I'm talking about he has no idea

we're talking about a tattoo, right so we coach it pretty hard

You know the length that we have a little bit with Burks and Caleb and Curtis that helps a lot and

Proud of our staff for picking those players to try to help Georgetown

Certain were you were you gonna be able to play? I wanted to play

Had a feeling in my heart. I just had a feeling in my body And, Mike, just how galvanizing can a win earned this way be for a team

I think this one is big for us, and we're going to just build off of it

going into Providence, and win this game. Go, come. That's our next game

Interesting. I appreciate you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Have a great time