Jay Wright spoke with reporters on Thursday ahead of Friday's game against Georgetown. Here are the takeaways from the session.
As far as Wright knows, no one has reached out about scheduling a game to replace the postponed game against DePaul next week. Wright said that if the Big East wants them to play a conference opponent they will do that, but if no game gets scheduled he's okay with that and thinks the break might be a positive for his team.
Wright talked about some of the adjustments he and the staff have made to the practice routine. One is that they typically like to teach in a "part to whole" manner, but because of the disrupted offseason/preseason they've been forced to take a more "whole to part" approach. He also said he's tried to make practice a "little bit" more fun as a way to ease the mental strain the players are going through between being in the team "bubble" and not seeing their families or loved ones and the rapid changes they've had to navigate early in the season. Wright said the staff has also made an effort to not be quite so demanding. “We can’t really push these guys too hard because we know what they’re sacrificing off the court," Wright said.
Mental health became a major theme of the session, so much so that we're going cover the discussion in article form later today.
Wright said playing at home in a virtually empty Pavilion might be more difficult than playing on the road. “It’s gonna be strange," Wright said. "I think that might be more difficult than playing on the road. You’re already uncomfortable on the road playing in someone else’s gym, and that’s normal. You’re rarely uncomfortable at home playing in your gym. That’s gonna be a challenge for us." Wright also noted that the team hasn't been practicing much in the Pavilion just because of the way the early schedule has worked out and that they need to start practicing in there more. Today's practice was held at the Pavilion.
As far as Wright knows, no one has reached out about scheduling a game to replace the postponed game against DePaul next week. Wright said that if the Big East wants them to play a conference opponent they will do that, but if no game gets scheduled he's okay with that and thinks the break might be a positive for his team.
Wright talked about some of the adjustments he and the staff have made to the practice routine. One is that they typically like to teach in a "part to whole" manner, but because of the disrupted offseason/preseason they've been forced to take a more "whole to part" approach. He also said he's tried to make practice a "little bit" more fun as a way to ease the mental strain the players are going through between being in the team "bubble" and not seeing their families or loved ones and the rapid changes they've had to navigate early in the season. Wright said the staff has also made an effort to not be quite so demanding. “We can’t really push these guys too hard because we know what they’re sacrificing off the court," Wright said.
Mental health became a major theme of the session, so much so that we're going cover the discussion in article form later today.
Wright said playing at home in a virtually empty Pavilion might be more difficult than playing on the road. “It’s gonna be strange," Wright said. "I think that might be more difficult than playing on the road. You’re already uncomfortable on the road playing in someone else’s gym, and that’s normal. You’re rarely uncomfortable at home playing in your gym. That’s gonna be a challenge for us." Wright also noted that the team hasn't been practicing much in the Pavilion just because of the way the early schedule has worked out and that they need to start practicing in there more. Today's practice was held at the Pavilion.