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BIG EAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 6, 2020Harry PerrettaRaven JamesChicago, Illinois Villanova - 64, Xavier - 56 THE MODERATOR: We welcome in the Villanova Wildcats, a career high in points and three-pointers for Raven James today. A couple of notes about the Villanova Wildcats as they advance 64-56 over Xavier. They'll play No. 2 seed Marquette tomorrow night. Villanova's first advancement in the tournament since 2015. Villanova improves to 3-1 in overtime this year. Villanova has won 15 of 16 all time meetings against Xavier. We'll open it up first with an opening statement from Coach then questions for Raven. HARRY PERRETTA: Yeah, I told the kids before the game that we have to play good defense. The problem is our offense. We just don't score the ball. We pass it pretty well. We get some open looks, but we're so inconsistent at shooting the ball. I have no idea from game to game who's going to make shots. I've been on Raven like the last two weeks to shoot more threes because her form is really good. She just doesn't look to shoot the ball. So today, luckily, she did shoot the ball. Then the three-pointer at the end, we made a mistake. We went for a jab step when a two-pointer couldn't hurt us, and we gave up a three to tie the game. I was very impressed that we rebounded and won the game in overtime. I thought at that point, we might be done at that point, to be honest with you, but they did a really good job in overtime -- they made more shots in overtime than I think they may have made in some of the quarters. Things like that, you just have to work on and try to do your best. That's all. Q. Raven, Coach just mentioned it right there, that he's been on you with making -- taking and making more threes. Is that something that you really have worked on even more so coming into this tournament? RAVEN JAMES: I mean, yes, like every day -- before practice, after practice, I just try to get threes up. Like I'm always a pass first point guard, and I usually look to Maddy or Mary or even Bridget, just to get those points on the board, and I realize, like, we just need another scorer and just a chip in, whether it's five, eight, however many points. I just knew that I could be a threat from the outside if I believed in myself, and so did my team. Q. What was going through your mind with those last -- those two threes in overtime? RAVEN JAMES: Through the whole game, I just knew where the sweet spot was for me. It was on the right wing, and I just knew that off the reversal it was going to be open. If my feet were set, then I knew I could make that shot. Yeah, my teammates found me in the nice spots where I like to shoot it. They just kept telling me to shoot the ball, and I was ready. Q. Coming from a player's perspective, when Coach is talking about inconsistencies on offense and shooting and you're not sure who's going to be the star that day or what have you, how is it, and how are you able to kind of rely or take the team on your back? RAVEN JAMES: Just constantly talking to our younger players -- and we're all young -- and just said from the beginning of the season, we're all in a new position here and we're all on the same level. So just really grasping that leadership role and constantly talking to my teammates on and off the court. We said, just coming into the game today, like it was about having fun and about not giving up. Even when things went south, we just kept pushing each other. THE MODERATOR: Raven, thank you very much. We'll reset here and take questions for Coach. This is the first overtime game in the Big East Tournament since 2018, the first round, when Butler defeated Providence 73-67. It's the third overtime game in the tournament since reconfiguration. Q. Coach, you kind of mentioned in your opening statement you didn't think the team was going to come out in overtime after they hit the three. How would you describe their ability to regroup after the buzzer and come back and win? HARRY PERRETTA: I was really impressed. I've watched these kids play all year, and they don't normally do that. They play really well. They play hard, but that was the kind of game I thought was a mental game and we were kind of really out of it. I thought that three-pointer might have been the dagger to push us over the edge, but it wasn't. I really give them a lot of credit. They took their time in overtime. Raven looked to shoot the ball like she should have done. Like I said, I think we shot a better field goal percentage in overtime than we did the whole game, I'm sure. I'm sure we were under 35 percent for the game. I'm sure we took more shots than points scored, right? Yeah. Q. One more shot than points scored. HARRY PERRETTA: That's all? I thought it would be a lot more than that. Q. Coach Perretta, at what point in overtime did you kind of feel the momentum shifting for your team to come away with it? HARRY PERRETTA: I think when Ray hit the second three, that was big. Because it got us up odd, I think. It put us up five or seven. If we got the game odd, I felt like, unless we missed every foul shot we took, if we didn't give up a three, they couldn't catch us. As long as we made at least one out of two or two out of two of the free throws and not turn it over obviously. When you get the game odd like that, you know, the team has to score three field goals and then they have to foul us three times so, you know, the chances are in your favor if you can just shoot even 70 percent or 60 percent from the foul line. Q. Looking ahead to tomorrow, I know this could be a possible four games in four days. I'm sure you're looking at it one at a time, but how do you start that day? Celebrating a little bit for a second and then moving on. How do you coach that when this could be four days long? HARRY PERRETTA: We came into the tournament trying to give them a lot of rest. So they expended a lot of energy today, but there's nothing you can really do. You just tell them to get some rest and show up. You're playing on adrenaline now anyhow. I think it's more adrenaline than conditioning at this point, to be honest with you. I just think we didn't push them really hard at practice all week. We tried to bring them into the tournament relatively fresh. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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