Feb. 19, 2007

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Marquette

Head Coach Tom Crean
"I think the win can completely be contributed to the players deciding to wear the white jerseys."

"Our respect for Villanova is incredible. They have game-breakers on their team. Wright is a great coach and they brought it, but so did we. A great reward for a group of guys who have been working hard for the last 50-plus hours."

"Our goal tonight was 34 free throw attempts. The worst thing we could do after Louisville was dwelling on it."

"The four keys for us tonight were our free throws, holding them to 38 percent from the field, only having a couple turnovers in the second half and coming back to out-rebound them. They are as physical as any team we have played and are very strong, aggressive and quick."

"We don't play the way we did tonight with out what Lazar did tonight."

On Lazar Hayward's progression...
"He cuts, moves, slashes, can spot up, has played great defense and his moving without the ball has gotten better. When you have someone that can space the floor, it can make other things so much easier like attacking the rim, what we want to do."

On rebounding from the loss to Louisville...
"I am really proud of their resiliency. We have a young group, and we are playing some teams with some veterans and I am really proud of the way the team bounced back."

"They do a great job of getting to the rim and we had to be very conscious of getting back and playing defense near the rim. Stopping the ball was important, but they get to the rim like we do. We had to get back and draw the charges and got a few. Everybody getting back in transition was crucial. We had to get back and find the ball, and no necessarily our man, but a man."

Lazar Hayward
"Coach always tells me the good thing for me is to keep a lot of movement, and I think I progressed that very well today."

"It was a great crowd out there tonight and they helped me gain my confidence as did my teammates."

"Rebounding helps me a lot, that and getting defensive stops. I've always had a knack for the ball."

On what he need to do to continue to play at this level...
"I need to continue to come out and give the same effort day in and day out."

Dominic James
On making the second half adjustment...
"We knew we had to play a lot smarter basketball. We Gave up a lot of second chance opportunities and execute on offense a little more, slow the pace and execute better screens."

"We had to remind ourselves to refuse to lose. Great teams always respond to adversity. We have a great team that is capable of stepping up in crucial moments. We had a great fan base tonight and we need to continue to have that home court advantage."

On going 31-for-35 from the free throw line...
"We had confidence tonight, just knowing we could go out there and make them. We had confidence n one another and just went out there and knocked them down."

On working to get the first round bye...
"The bye would be great, to go out there and have the one game off. In the style of basketball we play, we can really benefit from that. Right now we are just going to control the things we can control and let the seeding take care of itself."

Villanova

Head Coach Jay Wright
"That was a tough BIG EAST road game. They made a big run at the end of the first half and got themselves back in it. They hit their free throws and there was no doubt in my mind they would come hungry after losing a few in a row. We just couldn't match them offensively."

"We go through droughts where we can't score. We just struggled after we get hot early. There are too many times where we get up and then hit a drought and cant get out of it."

On the play of Lazar Hayward...
"I thought their guards did such a great job driving the ball and making us rotate. He did a great job of getting to an open area. He was always there to catch a pass or in a great location to grab a rebound."