St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John's vs. Georgetown
1/13/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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St. John's Head Coach Chris Mullin...
On the team's play during the losing streak:
"I've seen [our players] individually and collectively play good basketball so I'm going to keep pushing them. At Marquette we played a really good game, good enough to win, we just didn't make enough plays. I thought tonight [there was] mental and physical fatigue, but that happens. It doesn't take away the good performances and the progress that we've made."
On the team's late offensive spurt:
"We're going to play each team twice so setting the tone for the next game is always important. Towards the end of the game we talked about putting together a burst to set the tone for the next time we play. We dug down and did a little bit. That was a positive thing."
On moving forward:
"Deal with what happened now, learn from our mistakes, fix them and we'll go back out Saturday and compete again. I told them with the way we're playing, we're going to win some games. The only way we won't is if we let a game like this let us down."
On whether he's had trouble adjusting to losing:
"My first few years in the NBA, we lost 60 games one year, so as far as failing, I've got plenty of experiences on and off the court. That's not going to be an issue whatsoever for me. For these young kids, it is. It's always the balance of pushing them, letting them know where improvement and progress is being made and competing. We have to do all of that. We do all of that."
On St. John's-Georgetown rivalry returning to what it was:
"I think it will develop into that. Not only Georgetown-St. John's, but the BIG EAST conference itself the way it's setup now is really ideal for great rivalries."
Graduate Student Guard/Forward Ron Mvouika...
On fighting back at the end of the game:
"Well, it's always a learning process and we learn every single day. Regardless of us winning or losing, we will go back to work tomorrow, watch film and keep pushing. We aren't going to quit. Durand [Johnson] and I only have two months left in our careers and we aren't going to let this team quit. That energy we had the last couple of minutes, we should have had that energy the whole game. It's a process. You live and you learn. I still have hope and faith in our guys. I think we will still play our best basketball to come. At the end of the day there are no excuses. We will keep figuring it out and we will break through at some point, it will work out."
On teams preparing to play St. John's:
"I think we all just take it one game at a time. Teams scout us and we scout them. We just go out there and compete. There are a lot of games that we have lost lately, but besides tonight the past three or four games we have been getting better. We just couldn't close the deal. It's tough sometimes to accept that, but this team is moving in the right direction. Whoever we play, we will go out there, scout them and play hard."
Graduate Student Guard/Forward Durand Johnson...
On the difference between playing well the last few games and tonight:
"Georgetown came out and played hard tonight. Obviously we came out sleep-walking a little bit and Georgetown got comfortable making shots. You give any team confidence, they are able to make shots and that's what happened tonight. Give those guys credit, they came out and played hard, played together and made shots."
On the absence of Yankuba Sima:
"When he got injured, he had been playing very well for us. We definitely miss him and would love to have him back, but other players have stepped up like Kassoum Yakwe. We just need to keep moving forward, keep encouraging our young guys and keep fighting."
On the younger guys handling a losing streak:
"I think our young guys are handling it very well. Despite those guys being young, they still come in everyday with the will to work hard and get better with a positive attitude. They are always eager to learn. When you have younger guys like that, that are willing to work hard and want to learn, it's bright for the future. All we can do is keep working. We will go back tomorrow to work and keep moving forward."
