In case you missed our tweet earlier this morning, Independent Philly has video of the Villanova Wildcats press conference following their OT thriller with the La Salle Explorers last night. They've disabled embedding, or we'd throw the video right here. So go give them some impressions.
Jay Wright was joined by juniors Maalik Wayns and Dominic Cheek, who were both instrumental down the stretch in closing the door on the victory.
Jay Wright
"We couldn't have played worse in the 1st half, but you've got to give La Salle credit for that. Then in the 2nd half, these guys (Wayns & Cheek) stepped up defensively and we were able to limit their 3's."
"We knew this was going to be a great foundation-builder for us, one way or the other, win or lose. That was Maalik's first time making big plays down the stretch, and Dom's first time playing the entire game. Last year, I couldn't wait to take him (Cheek) out. Tonight, I couldn't think about taking him out."
Some more select quotes after The Jump.
Maalik Wayns
"I've got great teammates. Dominic Cheek stepped up big time, Darrun Hilliard obviously got the big steal. It wasn't just me who stepped up. It was a team effort."
(On whether he was hobbled in the 1st half)
"No, not at all."
(On being a leader)
"It's a new role for me. Last year I had 3 great leaders, 3 great seniors in front of me. Now it's my turn and I'm trying to do the best job I can."
Dominic Cheek
(On shutting down Sam Mills in the 2nd half)
"We just stuck to the game plan. Everytime the ball got to his side, we denied him. So he took less shots. To get that assignment tells me that my coach and my team expect a lot out of me there."
As mentioned, the press conference video is at Independent Philly if you would like to watch.
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