“We got a great stop down at the other end. We didn’t really want to call a timeout and let them set their defense up — they’re really good after timeouts, I’ve played them enough in close moments — we wanted to run a little action to try to get Sandro, they were going to switch, try to pop Sandro and then run a play where we’d get Jared coming out. I wanted either Sandro or Jared — or Shavar, really — to get a shot, and they went underneath a pick-and-roll and I thought he shot a pretty good shot. He’s made big shots and I have confidence in him to make those shots, and then it’s just a tough loose ball foul, but that’s just, you know, give credit to both teams for fighting for the rebound.”
On what Tuesday's game told him about his team:
“The same thing I’ve been saying: I like the way we’re progressing. We didn’t play well defensively early, I think the layoff hurt both teams, they didn’t play well defensively either, not the way they had been playing. But I like the way we’re progressing offensively, I like what the guys are doing. It was great to get Bryce back — I couldn’t believe I got 10 minutes out of him, I was really excited about that — so I think staying healthy and we keep on getting better, we’re progressing at a good pace.”
On preparing for Villanova after the Wildcats’ COVID pause:
“It’s what makes Jay Wright probably the best college basketball coach by far: You know exactly what he’s going to run, but you can’t stop him. He’s got great players. This is an older, veteran team, this Villanova team, so they had played nine games, you know what they’re going to do, you know what their rotations are going to be. We knew what they were going to do, they have one of the best point guards in the country in (Collin) Gillespie, and they’re a veteran team and they’re talented. So we knew what they were going to do, and they made some big plays down the stretch. I thought Jermaine Samuels played great, I thought he was really the difference-maker. If he continues to play like that for them, they’re going to be a tough out in March.”
On maintaining a positive morale after a tough loss:
“We lost a basketball game. We didn’t lose a puppy. When you’re playing on the road on a No. 3 team in the country, our third game in a row on the road going into our fourth game on the road, you’re going to win some good ones, you’re going to win some tough ones in this league. And Sandro played phenomenal. I would not have run that play if I knew we were going to have that much time on the clock. It kind of surprised me that we went to 1.9 (seconds), but we ran exactly what we wanted to, we got a good opportunity, but you’re going to miss shots. It’s having a short memory in this league.”
On his technical foul:
“Oh, I deserved it. I said a word I shouldn’t say, let’s just put it that way. I deserved it.”
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