Jim Calhoun Shots Quotations

We've got to take away 3-point shooting and not get fatigued by the shot clock. They make as many shots under 12 seconds as any team you're going to play.

He was a difference maker the entire day. He cleaned up the middle by blocking shots and obviously scored big baskets for us.

Marcus made a mistake, like every other student on this campus. I don't feel there's any question that Marcus has profited. Some people miss shots and continue to miss shots because they don't learn. Marcus has learned a great deal.

I thought our big kids were terrific. Blocking shots does have a wear-down effect against certain teams, sure. But it sometimes hides bad defense, and that was my concern -- that Syracuse was able to penetrate.

Those jump shots were killers. In a game like that, they were killers.

Those jump shots were killers. Sheridan stepped up big-time for them and did the job. In a competitive game like this somebody has to step up and that's obviously what he did.

Those jump shots were killers. You could probably go over six, seven, eight, nine plays that changed the game.

We were 7-for-18 from the foul line. Coming down the stretch, a couple of those foul shots would have made it a one possession game and it would have been a lot more interesting.

When we're executing and blocking shots and playing defense and you don't get us in a situation where we have to create plays, we're absolutely terrific. But we're a flawed team.

We did things necessary to stop our opponents at crucial times and win games. Defensive rebounds and taking good shots in the last four to five minutes.

We lead the country in field-goal percentage defense at 37 (percent) coming in. We average 9.6 blocked shots per game. All those numbers would tell you that we did not do the things that we're capable of doing.

What Louisville needed late in the game was experience. That's what we had, some guys coming down the stretch who know what to do. We turned our defense up in the last 4 1/2 minutes of the game, we took care of the ball, took good shots and made good decisions. This was a grind-it-out game.

We're going to have to take care of the basketball; we're not doing that. We have to start blocking shots around the rim to change games. We're not doing that in this tournament. And then, just defense.

Villanova is a unique team. Villanova is going to be unique for anybody to play. No one has guard play like them. Ray obviously made some tremendous, tremendous shots from deep, deep range.

I have to give a special star to Denham. With Rudy (Gay) out the last three days (groin), Denham has been our special player. I told him he's put money in the bank - all the work ethic, all the things he's doing, he's got some chits with me now. Just all over the place, running as hard as I've ever seen him, making shots that I didn't see him make before, handling better, passing better - I'm exceptionally happy with him.

It's contagious. Once a team starts missing, everybody misses. And we're not making foul shots right now.

He plays a great game with great enthusiasm. He's dedicated himself the past year to be a starter this year. He was the difference maker today. He cleaned up the middle by blocking shots and obviously scored a few baskets for us.