BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2021

Jermaine Samuels

Villanova Wildcats

Madison Square Garden

Postgame Media Conference

Georgetown - 72, Villanova - 71

Q. Can you talk about your guys overall performance and how things went in the second half, that there was at one point you only scored 10 points in the last eight minutes of the game.

JERMAINE SAMUELS: I thought we came out, we executed on trying to play Villanova basketball for a full 40 minutes. It just so happened that the game came down to the wire, the ball rolled in Georgetown's court. We, it's unfortunate, but I thought we battled today and I'm real proud of my team and I can't wait to be back on the floor with them.

Q. How was it to see Justin Moore back out there?

JERMAINE SAMUELS: It was everything, especially battling through injury. That wasn't easy for him. But he just, he's just a different player and his mindset is unique. We're really grateful he came out there and played hard for us.

Q. You were up 11 with eight minutes to go, what was the problems for you late in the game on the defensive end for your team?

JERMAINE SAMUELS: A couple offensive rebounds, a couple fouls, and then a couple converts. It decides whether you seal a game or you don't, and this time the ball, again, the ball didn't roll in our court and that's attitude. We got to be ready for the next challenge.

Q. Seemed like you guys were really put an emphasis on going into the post early. How much was that something that you guys felt you succeeded with and did you want to maybe do that a little bit more later in the game once they were in foul trouble?

JERMAINE SAMUELS: Yeah, any time we can get inside the post, it's great for us. We can make a lot of plays out of there. From the beginning we wanted to do that and I thought we did that.

Q. Do you feel like towards the end of the game maybe fatigue was becoming a factor? I know a couple of your guys' shots were pretty short.

JERMAINE SAMUELS: I don't think so. I think we were focusing on the next stop regardless of how our bodies felt. We were locked in together. Yeah, I don't think fatigue was a factor.