A lot of Jay Wright's postgame presser after the loss to Baylor was on big picture stuff that didn't fit directly into a recap of the game, so we'll share some more of what Wright had to say here.
Coach Wright's opening statement:
"I'd like to first say congratulations to Dan Gavitt and JoAnn Scott and everyone at the NCAA. Just put together an incredible tournament and gave all of our players, all the teams in the NCAA an opportunity to play in this great tournament. The logistics were incredible what they did. And we really appreciate all their efforts in allowing these guys to play.
Second, I want to congratulate Baylor. They're an outstanding team. And Scott Drew is a great coach. And they're just a really good team, definitely a team capable of winning a national championship. And they have a lot of great teams to play, but they're definitely capable of winning it.
Thirdly, I want to say I'm really proud of our guys. Love this team, loved coaching this team. We were good enough, we were good enough to beat them. They just played better down the stretch. I think down the stretch their defense just got into us and wore us down. And it made the difference in the game."
On the challenges of this season...
"With everything that's going on, people have lost their jobs, lost lives. It's hard to complain or say how difficult this was. I just -- I think the best thing I can say is we had challenges, maybe not as much as people who are dealing with real-life situations. But our young players did a great job of dealing with every adversity that hit them. All of our quarantines, we had three of them, and our injuries, that's what you learn. As an 18-to 22-year-old in college you learn how to deal with these things with some coaching and how to respond to those challenges.
And I thought our guys did a great job. I'm really proud of it. And I looked at all those challenges as blessings for us, that we could be fazed from them, learn from them, and I think it's going to make us stronger going forward."
On viewing/treating Jeremiah Robinson-Earl as a senior...
"Yes, I did. And we used him as one. He was -- we don't take him out of the game. He does everything for us. And any adjustments we make defensively he's the guy that does it. Offensively we were trying to run the offense through him. And I think you made the point earlier, in the second half we couldn't do it.
And they just did a great job of taking him away. And he's got the maturity and the intelligence and definitely the talent. Even when we couldn't get him the ball he went to the offensive glass. He does everything defensively for us. I don't think he'll be a senior in college. So I definitely think he played like one."
On Brandon Slater getting injured...
"It really was (a big loss). He was playing great. We had a tough time, like, certain guys were struggling with matchups on their quick guards. And he was doing a great job. And I think that's -- besides us turning the ball over, that's when it turned, too, when he went out.
And you know what, honestly, I don't know where he went. They must have taken him in the back because I turned around and he wasn't there. They must have taken him in the back. And with a minute left he said, I can play, but he wasn't 100 percent."
On message to team after the game and to Villanova fans...
"Simple message to the team. I just told them I loved them and I was very proud of them and that we have to take advantage of this opportunity that we just had and learn from this.
And to our fan base, I say it's the best place in the world to play college basketball. We appreciate them sticking with this team. They're always loyal and passionate. And we appreciate -- we had great fans out here tonight. You could hear it, first time all year, really seemed like a real game. The crowd was awesome."
We'll have a little bit more from Wright postgame in the next day or two as he talked about some big picture/going forward stuff.
Coach Wright's opening statement:
"I'd like to first say congratulations to Dan Gavitt and JoAnn Scott and everyone at the NCAA. Just put together an incredible tournament and gave all of our players, all the teams in the NCAA an opportunity to play in this great tournament. The logistics were incredible what they did. And we really appreciate all their efforts in allowing these guys to play.
Second, I want to congratulate Baylor. They're an outstanding team. And Scott Drew is a great coach. And they're just a really good team, definitely a team capable of winning a national championship. And they have a lot of great teams to play, but they're definitely capable of winning it.
Thirdly, I want to say I'm really proud of our guys. Love this team, loved coaching this team. We were good enough, we were good enough to beat them. They just played better down the stretch. I think down the stretch their defense just got into us and wore us down. And it made the difference in the game."
On the challenges of this season...
"With everything that's going on, people have lost their jobs, lost lives. It's hard to complain or say how difficult this was. I just -- I think the best thing I can say is we had challenges, maybe not as much as people who are dealing with real-life situations. But our young players did a great job of dealing with every adversity that hit them. All of our quarantines, we had three of them, and our injuries, that's what you learn. As an 18-to 22-year-old in college you learn how to deal with these things with some coaching and how to respond to those challenges.
And I thought our guys did a great job. I'm really proud of it. And I looked at all those challenges as blessings for us, that we could be fazed from them, learn from them, and I think it's going to make us stronger going forward."
On viewing/treating Jeremiah Robinson-Earl as a senior...
"Yes, I did. And we used him as one. He was -- we don't take him out of the game. He does everything for us. And any adjustments we make defensively he's the guy that does it. Offensively we were trying to run the offense through him. And I think you made the point earlier, in the second half we couldn't do it.
And they just did a great job of taking him away. And he's got the maturity and the intelligence and definitely the talent. Even when we couldn't get him the ball he went to the offensive glass. He does everything defensively for us. I don't think he'll be a senior in college. So I definitely think he played like one."
On Brandon Slater getting injured...
"It really was (a big loss). He was playing great. We had a tough time, like, certain guys were struggling with matchups on their quick guards. And he was doing a great job. And I think that's -- besides us turning the ball over, that's when it turned, too, when he went out.
And you know what, honestly, I don't know where he went. They must have taken him in the back because I turned around and he wasn't there. They must have taken him in the back. And with a minute left he said, I can play, but he wasn't 100 percent."
On message to team after the game and to Villanova fans...
"Simple message to the team. I just told them I loved them and I was very proud of them and that we have to take advantage of this opportunity that we just had and learn from this.
And to our fan base, I say it's the best place in the world to play college basketball. We appreciate them sticking with this team. They're always loyal and passionate. And we appreciate -- we had great fans out here tonight. You could hear it, first time all year, really seemed like a real game. The crowd was awesome."
We'll have a little bit more from Wright postgame in the next day or two as he talked about some big picture/going forward stuff.
