St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John's vs. Providence
3/5/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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St. John's Head Coach Chris Mullin...
On coaching Durand Johnson, Ron Mvouika and Felix Balamou:
"The whole season has been pretty tough. Losing is not fun, but those three guys really helped myself and the younger players stay somewhat grounded and focused in our daily approach. I'm thankful of them for that."
On sophomore guard Jalen Lindsey:
"I think he was 7-for-8 in the first half. We didn't want to leave him open, but Kris Dunn and Ben Bentil are their top two guys ... He got hot and made some shots."
On his memories of the BIG EAST tournament:
"What I really remember is '83 was the first time it came [to Madison Square Garden]. We were fortunate enough to win it and I guess it went well because it hasn't left since. It's a special place to play here and it's a great site for the BIG EAST tournament."
On using the Syracuse and Seton Hall performances as motivation:
"It's a matter of putting two halves together. Some nights we play 30 minutes, some nights we play 35 minutes, but we have not been able to sustain a consistent effort [for 40 minutes]. We have enough good performances to let us know we can hang and give ourselves a chance to win. We need to get back to the fundamentals."
Graduate Student Guard/Forward Durand Johnson:
On what Senior Day means:
"It meant a lot to me, Ron and Felix. To have been through so much adversity on and off the court, the ups and downs we faced this year, this day was special. Give them credit, Providence came out and executed."
On establishing the foundation for the future:
"Regardless of how many losses we have this year, I feel like the younger freshmen learned from us older guys on and off the court -- how to never give up, how to come in everyday and compete. I felt like we definitely led them in the right direction so those younger guys know what it takes and how important every game is."
Junior Forward Christian Jones...
On the problems in the first half:
"Maybe it was our focus on other players such as [Kris] Dunn and [Ben] Bentil because they're good players. We left shooters open and good players knock down shots. It's hard to stop that person once they get rolling. It was hard to get back to our flow that was the biggest problem."
On how the program can take a step forward:
"We're all young so we still have a lot of improvement. The freshmen we have now are pretty good. Being that they're young, they are going through adversity. I'm sure they're going to get over that hump and everything will be fine at St. John's.
