Jay Wright Game Quotations

Obviously this was an incredible Big East battle. We just said to ourselves, this is BIG EAST game No. 1 - it tells you what this league will be like...Timely shots by Allan Ray, Jason Frazier and Dante Cunningham kept us in the game. Every time Louisville made runs at us, those guys made big plays. Game number one in the Big East, that's what it's going to be like.

I don't ever think I used the word grind about a season and I found myself using it at the end of this one. There was never a time to relax and that's a positive for a great league. We never had to get our guys ready. I'd rather have it that way when every game was a big game.

I could see this playing out at the end (as a storybook McNamara ending) with the way he was hitting the threes but I didn't want it to happen at our expense. I was pleased that he had a great game and that we won.

He did that his whole high school career. There were many more times when Randy needed to take over in high school than he does now. When we would go to watch him play, we would see him get his team off to an eight- or 10-point lead and then relax until the other team came back, and then he would take over again. He did that his whole high school career. It?s been our biggest challenge with him, but it?s also what makes him such a special player. No matter what went on prior in the game, when the game is on the line, he?s ready to take over.

I find myself saying the same things about him. He is physically capable and mentally capable of doing anything to win a game for you.

We're pretty defensive-minded and when you look at Louisville's defensive percentage and the 3s they hit, you just feel terrible about how you played. Then you look and we hit 14 3s and that's unbelievable. That was just an incredible college basketball game with two outstanding offensive teams drilling big shot after big shot.

My original plan was to allow Curtis to come back, practice, see how he feels and decide game by game what he wanted to do. But this has become such a distraction to our team. There have been some national reports that, I just don't know where they're getting this information, and they're false ... so it's kind of sped up this process.

I thought it would be a good challenge for us at this point. Obviously, I wouldn't choose to do that, but it gave us a chance to play big a little bit. ... That was a good experience for us. I think this game is going to really make us stronger.

Our biggest concern was let's not let what happens at Cincinnati affect the next game. In the Big East, you can't let one game affect the next one, because if you've got any little hangover, you're going to get beat.

I was very pleased, very proud. We played every possession. We played at fever pitch and that's what put the game away early.

I think we beat them on a good night. They're great. They deserve to be No. 1. They answered everything we did, we answered what they did and that's what made a great game between two outstanding teams.

I thought we started the game really strong and were very focused, which is a credit to our guys playing at 10:30 in the morning. I thought Australia made a great adjustment in the second half by going to a smaller lineup which gave us trouble.

I thought we started the game really strong. But Australia made a great adjustment in the second half, credit to them.

I thought this was a home game for us. When they cut it to seven, (the crowd noise) shocked me.

We got beat today because they were more efficient in every phase of their game today than we were.

That was a good experience for us. I think this game is going to really make us stronger.

That was a typical tough game on the road in the Big East. It didn't take South Florida long to figure out how to play like a Big East team. ... That team is going to win some games in this league. They're good.

We really haven't had a game like that this year where we just felt like we couldn't get things going offensively. I thought that Pittsburgh, once they got a hold of the game, did a great job of just controlling the tempo and hitting big shots.

We definitely used that as something to learn from. It only takes one game and one guy.

We need to get our forwards involved. We've been working on it. Will has been defending, making plays, but not scoring as much. Tonight he took it to another level in a big game against an outstanding team, which I think tells you a lot about Will Sheridan.

What happened? I thought this was a home game for us and all of a sudden when they cut it to seven, that shocked me. Where did all those people come from?

Tonight he took it to another level in a big game against an outstanding team. And that tells you a lot about Will Sheridan.

We've got very good shooters, and I don't think it was a matter of them not being on their game. Texas just contested everything.

I wanted him to understand we ran that play for him with the game on the line.

I had mixed feelings. I wanted it to end nicely for him, but not at our expense. He had a great game and we got the win. We wanted to be focused, but there was so much going on. Our hotel looked like I spent a weekend in Scranton. My sons were wearing Gerry McNamara jerseys that the Scranton fans gave them.

I know our guys believed we could beat them and even if we lost this game they would believe it. Everyone talks about our guards, but in our locker room we know what our forwards can do.

I didn't think someone would do it this year because of the depth of the conference, because of how much every game is going to take out of you. This is real impressive for both teams. It doesn't surprise me, any of the upsets, because we knew we could get beat any night.

They were shooting over us. And you could really see them hitting the offensive boards as part of their game plan.

It kind of feels like a conference game. This just seems like a Big East game to me. I feel we're in the middle of January and we've got BC next.

It kind of feels like a conference game to me. You know each other. You know what each of you is going to do. You just have to play the game.

The league is a grind. There was just never a time to relax. Every game was a huge game, no matter who came in.