Notes and quotes from Jay Wright's Tuesday press conference.
On handling the intensity and competition in the Big East and dealing with getting every team's best shot each night...
“I don’t feel like we’re handling that well this year. We’ve had a lot of bad starts. The St. John’s game we started well and it was the reverse. I just don’t think we’ve had that consistency of understanding the level we have to play at every night. I don’t feel like we’re understanding the intensity with which teams come at us as well this year.”
We’re struggling this year playing Villanova basketball consistently. On the defensive end, rebounding, taking care of the basketball and some nights we’re really good, some nights we’re not. Different opponents have affected us different ways. Normally it doesn’t matter the opponent, we have a consistency. I just feel like we haven’t had that this year.”
However, Wright credited his team for being able to overcome that inconsistency and struggle approaching each game the way they need to...
“I think it says we’ve got really good leadership, we’ve got talented players."
The latest on Bryan Antoine...
“He’s getting better every day. He’s playing on an experienced team. He’s like a freshman, he’s learning our stuff. We’re happy with him. We’re actually really proud of how he’s handled all these injuries and setbacks. I can’t tell you honestly when you’ll see him on the floor.”
On Eric Dixon...
“He’s getting there. If we would have practiced in the summer and the fall this dude I think would be a killer right now. But we’re trying to win games and we’re trying to hang in games and he’s still behind some. He has been incredible at fighting through all of it and I need to get him in there more and I do think he’s going in a great direction.”
Wright noted that the quarantine/pause had a particularly tough impact on Antoine and Dixon, Antoine because what he really needs right now is reps and Dixon for the same reason and also because the layoff affected his conditioning a bit. As we're seeing with some of the one-and-done reliant teams, development and cohesiveness are hard to come by this season and while Villanova has been fortunate to be a relatively experienced team and so has been able to navigate some of those challenges better, no one is escaping the circumstances unscathed and Antoine and Dixon in particular are players who have been negatively affected by the disrupted schedules and loss of practice time.
On handling the intensity and competition in the Big East and dealing with getting every team's best shot each night...
“I don’t feel like we’re handling that well this year. We’ve had a lot of bad starts. The St. John’s game we started well and it was the reverse. I just don’t think we’ve had that consistency of understanding the level we have to play at every night. I don’t feel like we’re understanding the intensity with which teams come at us as well this year.”
We’re struggling this year playing Villanova basketball consistently. On the defensive end, rebounding, taking care of the basketball and some nights we’re really good, some nights we’re not. Different opponents have affected us different ways. Normally it doesn’t matter the opponent, we have a consistency. I just feel like we haven’t had that this year.”
However, Wright credited his team for being able to overcome that inconsistency and struggle approaching each game the way they need to...
“I think it says we’ve got really good leadership, we’ve got talented players."
The latest on Bryan Antoine...
“He’s getting better every day. He’s playing on an experienced team. He’s like a freshman, he’s learning our stuff. We’re happy with him. We’re actually really proud of how he’s handled all these injuries and setbacks. I can’t tell you honestly when you’ll see him on the floor.”
On Eric Dixon...
“He’s getting there. If we would have practiced in the summer and the fall this dude I think would be a killer right now. But we’re trying to win games and we’re trying to hang in games and he’s still behind some. He has been incredible at fighting through all of it and I need to get him in there more and I do think he’s going in a great direction.”
Wright noted that the quarantine/pause had a particularly tough impact on Antoine and Dixon, Antoine because what he really needs right now is reps and Dixon for the same reason and also because the layoff affected his conditioning a bit. As we're seeing with some of the one-and-done reliant teams, development and cohesiveness are hard to come by this season and while Villanova has been fortunate to be a relatively experienced team and so has been able to navigate some of those challenges better, no one is escaping the circumstances unscathed and Antoine and Dixon in particular are players who have been negatively affected by the disrupted schedules and loss of practice time.
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