clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

NCAA Tournament 2015: Villanova's JayVaughn Pinkston and Ryan Arcidiacono talk NC State

Pinkston and Arcidiacono sat down with the media in Pittsburgh to discuss NC State... and JVP notes he's never watched the '85 Championship.

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Q. JayVaughn, NC State's got a lot of talented athletes in the front court. What have you seen from those guys and what are the challenges they present?
JayVaughn PInkston: They're really athletic. They crash the boards a lot. So me and Daniel, Kris, Josh, we're going to have to stay focused on rebounding and trying to keep the ball out of the post.

Q. For both players, you guys come from a strong league Big East Conference and the ACC seems to get a lot more publicity than you guys get. Is there any kind of pride factor going into the game tomorrow for you guys as representatives of the Big East?
Ryan Arcidiacono: I want to think so. I think we're just trying to take it as the next game, no matter the opponent. We could have played an SEC team. We'll definitely try to represent the Big East as best we can. That's playing tough. That's what we try to do, try to play hard and tougher than the other team.

JAYVAUGHN PINKSTON: Like Ryan said, we're just going to try to represent for the Big East and go out there and just play hard.

Q. You guys, the NCAA, the highlights, the March Madness highlights, have you seen like those videos? Obviously, Villanova is in it and NC State. Are you aware of those things, like the shot NC State made to win it and also the end of the Villanova game? Can you talk about that?
RYAN ARCIDIACONO: Yeah, we've definitely seen both of the clips where the NC State guy air balled it and then the other guy put it in. But then the one video that always sticks out is Villanova where he's on the ground. I forget who he is, but the last two seconds, he's holding the ball. It's pretty bizarre how the game ended like that. But we've definitely seen it before.

JAYVAUGHN PINKSTON: I haven't seen them. I just saw the air ball and the guy put it back in. I haven't seen ours yet.

Q. You guys just --
RYAN ARCIDIACONO: There's a constant video outside of where we practice that you can replay the whole National Championship video and it literally, it's playing all day.

JAYVAUGHN PINKSTON: I never saw it. Be honest. To be honest, I never saw it.

RYAN ARCIDIACONO: All right.

JAYVAUGHN PINKSTON: I never really paid any attention.

Q. They were strong underneath, but they're also very good on the perimeter, obviously. You guys are just coming off preparing for another team that was a pretty good perimeter shooting team. Does that help your preparation that you guys are able to think about playing out on those three good 3-point shooters that they've got out there?
RYAN ARCIDIACONO: Definitely. We knew how of good of a three point shooting team Lafayette was. NC State is the same way. They have three really good guards, and their big men know their role on the team is to just let the guards go play defense and set good screens and get offensive rebounds. We know we'll have to defend those three as a team and not just individually.

Q. For both of you, do you feel no matter what this season will be a success, or do you feel you have to get to Indianapolis to truly call this season a success?
JAYVAUGHN PINKSTON: In my opinion, I feel like if we don't get there, I feel like I failed my team because I put it at -- being a leader, set the standard to try to get to the Final Four. So if we don't get there, it will be a failure for me. But overall, I think it was a great success for this year.

RYAN ARCIDIACONO: No, I think no matter what happens, if we play the basketball we know how to play, good things will happen. But if we were to lose tomorrow, I think we could still say it was a successful season, being that we won back-to-back regular season championships and a Big East tournament championship for the first time in 20 years. So, I mean, crazy stuff happens in the NCAA tournament so we're just going to have to go out there and play hard.