St. John's University Athletics
PREGAME QUOTES: St. John's Men's Basketball vs. Butler
2/5/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
St. John's Head Coach Chris Mullin...
On the team's play against Xavier:
"That whole performance I loved from top to bottom. We didn't win the game, but if we play like that we'll win games. That was a winning performance. Hopefully that will carry over."
On Kassoum Yakwe:
"Watching him in practice [before the season], I said this kid's ready to play. It's not like he's going to be overwhelmed. He's one of those kids that you tell him [something] once and he does it. His personality is infectious; he's a great teammate, hard worker, very grateful and a freak athlete. His effort and consistent improvement is great. It's nice to see what we have coming in the future."
On Yankuba Sima and Kassoum Yakwe's shot blocking potential:
"Those guys have a god-given ability [to block shots]. Not just with their size and length, but they have really good timing and a good feel for not fouling. They get a lot of blocks, but they alter even more shots."
On the team's mindset:
"The focus on today is having a good practice. If we have a performance like we've had in several games, we will win. I think we're going to finish up strong because of the way we've been practicing and playing."
On his message to the team after Xavier:
"I was proud of them. I felt like that was a winning performance. A few things didn't go our way, but I told them that's what I've been talking about. If we do that consistently we will win ballgames. I liked the pace, force, decisiveness and confidence in each other."
Graduate Student Guard/Forward Ron Mvouika...
On how close the team is to earning a win:
"I keep saying we're right there. We just have to keep working, stay positive and bring it. I think we deserved to win that Xavier game. It didn't go our way, but if anything it just gave us more motivation. We know when everybody is on the same page, we really can beat anybody."
Senior Guard Felix Balamou...
On Kassoum Yakwe's potential:
"I kind of knew that he was going to be great from the first time I saw him. He was athletic and he's a fighter. There is still room to improve, but I think Kassoum is going to be great. I'm not surprised at all with everything he's doing now."
On the opportunity to break through versus Butler:
"To me it starts today with practice and progression. We just have to go out there and have the same mentality against Butler like every other team in the BIG EAST. We need to do what we do and play hard. We need to play for 40 minutes."
