St. John's University Athletics
PREGAME QUOTES: St. John's vs. No. 3/3 Villanova
1/13/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
St. John's Head Coach Chris Mullin...
On playing the No. 3/3 team in the nation at MSG:
"It's a great opportunity. All the stuff that happened before and may happen after doesn't really matter. We play at noon and we're going to go there and compete, have a few good days of preparation and go play."
On having BIG EAST pride for Villanova's National Championship win:
"It was an incredible game; just great to watch high level basketball. Yeah, it's always nice for a team you play against consistently [to win a championship]. I've known Jay Wright for a long time and have a lot of connections there over the years."
On the last three games:
"I don't really look at it as three game sets and what happened in the past. Today's going to be a good day of preparation; we'll get our rest and go play. The other stuff is self explanatory. We had three great wins; that's part of sports, winning and losing. To me it's always more important with how you handle it and approach it. We're trying to use each game, the good wins and tough losses, as learning experiences. The key word there is experience and that's what it's always about."
On how the team is handling this tough stretch:
"We all want to win and a lot of us are used to winning, and when you don't, you have to address the things that are holding you back. I think we've done a good job with that. I've seen [our players] come to practice the next day and give effort, energy and attention. Winning comes with hard work; it just doesn't happen overnight."
On how the team matches up with Villanova"
"Villanova is obviously one of the top teams in the country. They have some veteran and experienced guys that have been through a championship season. They don't beat themselves. They're very solid. I don't think they overwhelm you; they just beat you the old fashioned way. They do it together, play solid defense, keep their turnovers down, get good shots and they're methodical. To me it's a really good opportunity to play against a great team and we look forward to it."
Sophomore Guard Malik Ellison...  
On playing in front of the big stage:
"It's a great opportunity for us. It's going to be a sellout crowd like you said, so having that energy from the beginning is going to be great for us as a team and we're looking forward to it."
On the difference between playing at Carnesecca and MSG:
"The Garden is very historical; it's one of the best arenas around. It's not really that much different other than it's a bigger crowd. Just like any other gym, you're shooting in the same basket."
On being an underdog:
"It's no pressure. When you go in as an underdog, it just gives you that much more grit and fight to go out there and compete. They're the reigning national champs so it's even bigger opportunity and coach always preaches about that."
Freshman Guard Shamorie Ponds...
On the crowd at MSG:
"We have to stay focused. When our crowd gets loud, they bring the energy and we fight. We build off their energy."
On the difficulty of losing:
"It's been difficult, but my teammates are helping me get past it. We're only going to get better from our losses. We can't learn a lot from our wins, but the losses that we took is motivating us to go out there and beat some tough teams."
On how losing motivates him:
"It motivates me to go out there and compete every day as far as practice and getting better so it carries over to the game."
