St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John's vs. Xavier
1/7/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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St. John's Head Coach Chris Mullin...
On taking Xavier out of its game plan:
"I don't know if we took them out of their game plan. [Xavier] had a pretty good lead, but we battled and competed. We didn't give up. I keep telling my guys that we're going to play through and keep competing, practicing hard, keep our mental focus and don't let anything distract from that. When we won games we had the same approach the next day. When we lost games we also had the same approach. I'm really proud of my guys tonight."
On the team's development:
"There has been tremendous improvement across the board. We're not here to get a workout, we're here to win. That's part of the reason we practice hard to set that standard of work ethic and accountability. I let these guys know how much they are improving; it's been a lot, individually and as a team. We're light years ahead of where we were a month ago."
On Federico Mussini's potential playing with another ball handler:
"Some players don't play better with better players; he's a type of guy that will. He has a high IQ, great basketball skill and some limitations. When you put the right pieces around, you can hide limitations and play to your strengths. All of this experience is going to be good for him. [It is] going to make him better."
On keeping the team focused after a loss:
"For the most part, we usually go through the clips of the game to show some good things they did and some things they can do better, and then we move on and work hard on the court. Ultimately, [we tell our kids to] play to your strengths and stay away from your weaknesses. For our group, the biggest thing is having a strong, positive mental attitude and they've been good with that."
On playing ranked teams tough:
"I don't really anticipate whether a team is ranked or not ranked. If you keep working each and every day over the long term things will work out. I can't dictate whether it's going to change, but I do know the things we're doing are working because there's been improvement."
On the frustration of losing:
"I'm upset for [the team]. I thought they played well enough to win, not statistically, but as far as effort, energy and desire. As far as frustration, yeah I want to win, but there are some things we didn't do well enough to win."
Graduate Student Guard/Forward Ron Mvouika...
On the loss:
"It's bad every time we lose, I'm not going to lie, but that one hurts a little more. We're close though. There's just a wall right there and we have to break through and keep coming every single day. I'm proud of my guys, I thought everybody played hard."
On where the game went wrong:
"I don't think the game went wrong. There was a minute left and Carnesecca was loud. We we're right there. It comes down to a couple plays, we'll look at that on film, but we fought from the beginning to the game."
On Federico Mussini's future:
"He's going to phenomenal ... I can tell. There are not a lot of [19] year olds who can come from another country and can run a big team in the BIG EAST for 35 minutes as a point guard. He's going to make mistakes, but we're here with him. You saw the shots he made today? That's what he does when he plays with confidence. I'm very proud of him, very impressed and he's going to keep getting better."
Freshman Guard Federico Mussini...
On the technical foul late in the game:
"I was upset with myself because I didn't box out the way I wanted so they got the rebound. I didn't think about it, I just threw the ball. I immediately asked [the referee] who the technical foul was on because I didn't really expect it. I'm upset at myself because without it we probably would've won this game."
On the growth of the team:
"We practice hard every day and we're seeing the results. While we still didn't get a win, we're improving everyday and the game today showed it. It was a tight game against the 10th ranked team in the country. I think we're going to be really good, but we have to keep [playing] this way."
Xavier Head Coach Chris Mack...
On his team's play tonight:
"I thought it was an odd game. I told our team that I thought early on, despite our lead, we weren't playing very well. Defensively we gave up 12 offensive rebounds in the first half, several of which were in the first six minutes of the half. We've been a much better defensive rebounding team all year so I thought that really set the tone for our team. In the second half, give St. John's credit for coming back. I thought we played poorly."
On being ready to play:
"I felt even though we were up early, we just gave up several offensive rebounds and several second chances. We weren't talking defensively. It's a smaller gym so you can either hear your players a lot easier or not hear them. I think that set the tone for our team and that eventually caught us. For whatever reason we didn't play very well and St. John's had something to do with it."
On tying Skip Prosser on Xavier's all-time win list:
"Skip meant a lot to me. I'm half the coach that Skip [was]. I mean that in all sincerity. His way with people [was] special. Sometimes I get too into the basketball part and he was an unbelievable person, mentor, and coach to his players, and to the other coaches on his staff. He used to say it all the time and I firmly believe it: coaches don't win games, the players win the games."
On Chris Mullin as a coach:
"This league is a monster. It's so early into Chris's tenure that I'm sure he's going to put his stamp on the program as a coach as time goes on. He's already done it as a player. I thought his kids battled. He's got some inexperienced players, a couple fifth-year transfers, some freshmen, some international players, and that's difficult. He could have won the game, so I'm not going to sit up here and act like we have all of the answers because his team almost beat us."
On Myles Davis:
"A lot of times after games I'll single out a player and talk about them giving a great effort and talk about them in post game press conferences such as this. A lot of times I'll sort of not mention Myles because I've come to expect the way he played down the stretch each and every game. There were so many things going wrong. He's been a point guard over the last couple of games. He's played the two primarily all year. He's trying to get players organized in the right spots. He's able to keep a calm and cool head, get to the rim and hit a floater, come up with a loose ball, get fouled and make his free throws. He was a closer tonight and we don't win this game if it's not Myles and [Trevon] down the stretch with their free throw shooting and their ability to make clutch plays when the game was on the line. We had some other guys that looked like they were playing with blindfolds on."
