UConn 73, Villanova 56
THE MODERATOR: Coach.
KYLE NEPTUNE: My credit goes to UConn. I was proud of the way our guys came out and competed, especially in that first half. They turned their intensity up, made it really hard for us to score and then started to get loose offensively. They made it tough for us. Especially I thought midway through that second half and went on a run and we just couldn't recover.
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Wooga's dunk made it, like, 45, 41, 14 minutes to go or something like that. You made, like, two shots the rest of the game. What was UConn doing defensively so well?
KYLE NEPTUNE: They were just intense. They made it hard for us to catch, made it hard for us to get to our sets. They just came after us.
Q. To either of the players, is it difficult to -- do the previous losses where you guys had leads or were in the game late, you know, do they kind of rear their head either psychologically, emotionally, anything like that in a situation like this?
JORDAN LONGINO: No. We come out every game with the same mindset. That's pretty much it.
Q. Early on through the first 25 minutes of the game, what was going so well for you?
WOOGA POPLAR: I wasn't really thinking about myself early on. I was just trying to win the game. I was more so thinking about my team. Yeah, I wasn't really thinking about myself. I was just playing basketball, trying to come out with the victory.
Q. This could go for both of you. You're both one of a large group of seniors graduating this year. Could you talk about the bond between the senior graduating class and how you felt that in this game and in the Big East Tournament in general?
JORDAN LONGINO: I mean, I think all of us seniors create a bond in the summer to the fall and up until now. It's been a long season. It's been a long year. Obviously, today, we didn't get the outcome we wanted, but that bond will last forever. That brotherhood will last forever, but right now can't really think about too much with what just happened. That's pretty much it.
Q. Coach, what were you able to do specifically? Dixon has been a force for his entire career, and tonight just kind of seemed, couldn't really get anything to fall, but I thought UConn also did a good job of making him look a little more uncomfortable.
KYLE NEPTUNE: I thought he missed some shots that he normally makes. That happens. Yeah, he's had a lot of great games throughout this season, his career. Missed some, but they're going into the game. You've got probably Hall of Fame coach game-planning to stop him every game. It makes it tough on him.
Thank God we got these other guys that stepped up and made some plays, but he just has guys coming at him every game doubling him, making sure that he doesn't get deep touches. They just make it tough on him.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports