St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John's vs. Binghamton
11/14/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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St. John's Head Coach Chris Mullin...
On Shamorie Ponds and Marcus LoVett starting together:
"When I saw them play together in practice, they played really well together right away. I think Shamorie is a better passer than people think. He's got really good passing skills and he's very unselfish. Small ball just didn't happen, the key is to share the ball and rebound. For the most part we did well with that. Overall, when the ball is moving and they rely on each other, we're going to be fine. I think defensively, our energy and communication was lacking, but that's something we can work on. We didn't get out in the open court as much as we wanted to."
On why Shamorie Ponds and Marcus LoVett gel:
"Marcus has great speed and Shamorie has great instincts and is deceptively quick. When they beat their man they know whether to go finish the basket or where the next guy is going to be. They have good spacing and understand their teammates. They move the ball very well. If a team moves the ball and shares the ball, the team is going to be fine. It's not so much the lineup, it's what they are doing out there."
On sharing ball-handling responsibilities between Shamorie Ponds and Marcus LoVett:
"Ideally when we get stops, either one of them can handle the ball. We want to get the ball up the court as quickly as possible and they both have the ability and freedom to do that. I thought in the first half, Shamorie was the reason we were lucky enough to have a lead. He hit a few key shots. I thought he was good defensively and he was our best rebounder."
On Shamorie's transition into the college game:
"Individually, he is ahead of where I thought he was going to be. His IQ on the court is great and he's been able to pick up different lineups out on the court and whatever else I throw at him. From that standpoint, he's been great. His passing and defensive instincts are really good. He picks things up quickly. Not that I didn't' preconceive that, but when a young kid comes in and you throw things at him in a new system, he's been impressive picking that up."
On Marcus LoVett and Shamorie Ponds playing together:
"I think they've developed some good camaraderie. When you have really talented guys, that don't play together, you're going to lose. It's a team game. The nice thing is that we have a blend of various talents. They need each other and if they don't play together, they aren't going to win. It doesn't matter how talented each guy is individually. They have to play together and rely on each other. A lot of these guys are learning our defense for the first time and they are picking it up. The more we practice it, the better this team is going to get."
On the tough schedule ahead:
"The schedule is laid out the way it is. We know that's been coming. We've been preparing well. These next games will be a step up physically. The [Big 10] is a physical conference, it always has been. We'll prepare and get ready for it. I've told this team that when you're on the road, you really need each other."
On playing with two point guards in Shamorie Ponds and Marcus LoVett:
"For the most part if you play five smalls against five bigs, five smalls are going to win. It's really about how they play. Both of those guys are unselfish, they are really talented and they know how to score the ball. But more importantly, they don't overdo it. They share the ball. Tonight, I thought in the second half they did a great job of getting their teammates a better shot. When you have guys that get into the paint and collapse defenses, and they can make great decisions with the ball, it really helps your offense out."
Sophomore Guard Marcus LoVett...
On starting together in the backcourt with Ponds:
"He and I always work well with each other in practice, so to play with each other in a real game is great. He always finds me in certain situations and I can find him the same way in certain situations. We feed off of each other. He's a lefty and anytime you get to play with another talented guard, that's also a lefty like myself, you get excited. I was happy to know he was going to play at St. John's and I'd have the opportunity to play with him."
On the energy Shamorie Ponds brings to the team:
"Shamorie is all about making those little energy plays when we need them. Whether it's diving for the ball or whatever. I feed off of that energy as the rest of the guys on this team do, and [Shamorie] feeds off me when I make plays like that as well. That's going to bring us a long way for this team."
On the tough schedule ahead:
"I definitely think we're ready for this schedule ahead of us. With our coaching staff and what they teach us, as long as we listen to their principles and the game plan on each of our opponents, we'll be fine. As long as we're communicating with each other, we'll be good."
Freshman Guard Shamorie Ponds...
On starting together in the backcourt with LoVett:
"We've started a couple of times before in practices and whatnot but today was a little different in an actual game setting. It's all about getting that chemistry down and finding out exactly how to play with each other and we're both excited about it."
On what playing with LoVett brings out in him:
"We bring out the best in each other. Each of us tries to go out there every day and lead. We may be the smallest guys on the floor but we want to make sure we have the biggest hearts and the loudest voices."
On breaking the game open:
"It was all about our energy. When we went into the locker room, [Coach Mullin] said our energy wasn't where he wanted it to be, so we just had to pick up the energy in that second half."
Binghamton Head Coach Tommy Dempsey...
On St. Johns successes tonight:
"They turned us over too many times. They have good athletes and good depth and they turned us over with their press. If you're going to come in here and try to upset a team from the BIG EAST you can't have 21 turnovers. I thought our kids played hard. I thought they played well, but overall it was too many turnovers. We held our own on the glass and did a lot of things we needed to do to win the game, but we turned it over too many times."
On playing in New York City:
"It's a great opportunity for our players. We have a lot of alums in the city; the majority of our alumni are from this area. We had an opportunity to play in front of a lot of our alumni tonight and play against a storied program like St. John's. It was a great opportunity. I wish we would have taken advantage of it but we're getting better."
On the St. John's guards:
"Those guys played great. When the game got tight, [Marcus LoVett] and [Shamorie Ponds] made a lot of difficult shots. Our defense was solid, I thought we stayed under the ball very well and forced them into some difficult shots but those guys are talented enough to make them."
