Bucknell-Villanova Postgame Quotes

Dec. 7, 2005

Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright
On playing at Bucknell..."This is a great college basketball atmosphere. I'm so proud of our team and their mental toughness and the ability to handle this atmosphere. I have so much respect for this Bucknell team. They are extremely well-coached and talented. They have Big East caliber players on that team. They're not beating the teams they beat without great players and being extremely well-coached. We won by 19, but at times, it felt like it was a one-point game. "

"It's a different atmosphere than what we're used to playing in, I was trying to explain to our guys that this the atmosphere was going to be different and that the fans were going to be on top of them, right from the beginning."

On the leadership of his seniors... "The advantage of having good seniors is that we just know that Allen [Ray] and Randy [Foye] will make big plays out there, both of them do that."

On defending Bucknell... "What makes them a good team is that they have a lot of options. Chris McNoughton is just an outstanding player. Our guards did a great job defending their guards, and sometimes McNoughton was left open, but he is a great player."

Villanova guard Allan Ray
On his offensive effort... "I felt that I was getting good looks, and as the game progressed, I started knocking down shots."

Villanova guard Randy Foye
On the atmosphere... "This was a tough place to play in. It was really loud and it seemed as though the fans were right on top of you. The fans were rough, but we knew we were playing against the team, not the fans. We just tried to stay together and keep tight as a family."

On the Bucknell team... "We weren't surprised at all that Bucknell came back and made a run. We knew they were a tough team, just from watching game film. We knew they would make a run."

Bucknell Head Coach Pat Flannery
On playing Villanova... "This is a special environment for our program. I thought we played very hard, they're a tough team when they get up on you. They defended the three-point line very well. Once they get up on you, you are really fighting uphill because of the way they can play you one-on-one and break you down, they are always going to get on the line and take shots.

On the Bucknell effort... "We fought hard and got back into it and had our opportunities, I don't know if we just ran out of gas, or played a lot of minutes against a quality opponent, but it just looked like we couldn't finish just a couple plays that would have kept it interesting, but we learned a lot that is going to makes us stronger and Villanova is certainly a very good basketball team that is very well coached."

On what he learned from this game... "We're fighters and we are scrappers. No one ever gave up. With 10 minutes left to go, we thought we had this game. I couldn't be more proud. The men battled and never took a play off."

On Charles Lee... "They were so fast, and times when they got by him, where normally he could catch-up and get back in his spot, but he was playing [Randy] Foye at one time, and Allan Ray the next. When his offense wasn't going, I think it affected his defense a little bit."

Bucknell guard Abe Badmus
On defending quick athletes... "I've been playing quick people all my life, this team was nothing new. This was a very quick team that could shoot well."

Bucknell center Chris McNaughton
On being down by 19 and coming back to within three... "Obviously we were down by 19, but we fought back and gave it all we had. It was tough to fight from behind the whole game. They took a lot of long shots from the outside and the rebounds were long, so it was tough for us to have a presence on the inside."

"We all learned that we can play with these guys, but there are some things we need to work on."

Bucknell guard Kevin Bettencourt
On the game... "We were right in it with them, we got it down to within 10."

"It was a great atmosphere today, the whole team was jittery and excited all day, it felt great to play at home. We played a great game, but came up a little bit short, but we all learned a lot from this game."

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