St. John's University Athletics
PREGAME QUOTES: St. John's vs. Georgetown
2/24/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
St. John's Head Coach Chris Mullin…
On his thoughts on the defensive play recently:
"It's just a lack of physicality; giving people space and not taking on one-on-one challenges. We work a lot on our team concepts and we do work on one-on-one defense, but there's also a part of the game where you have to carve out that individual matchup."
On the defensive play on the road compared to home:
"That's something you have to develop. I think the real good players love playing on the road maybe even more so than at home. When you get to that point, part of it is experience and part of it is confidence. Having some success and feeling how much fun it is to play on the road. It's nice to play at home and get the crowd going, but it's kind of special to shut a crowd up too. It takes time, it takes experience; sometimes it takes failing first to get to the other side. The really good teams at any level play good on the road."
On why the team is struggling defensively:
"I think its discipline. We like to put ball pressure on [our opponent] ideally full court, but also not gambling for steals and give guys free runs to the basket. It's kind of like on offense you like to get the ball up court as fast as you can and then be disciplined and find the best shot. Sometimes we have a hard time playing at two speeds."
On the recent matchups with Georgetown:
"They've manhandled us. We got to change that. They're talented. They're big. They got good guards. They can shoot it. They're well coached; run the Princeton offense which is a lot of different things you have to guard. … I thought physically they took it to us. We've bounced back before from that so hopefully we can do that tomorrow."
On the message to the team:
"At this point of the season we're in pretty good position to do some damage. We focus on one game at a time, but having good habits and going out and performing come game time. We've done that on some nights and some nights we haven't. That's why you have a disciplined work ethic so you don't have to all of a sudden gear it up. This is why you work hard every day."
On Marcus LoVett and Shamorie Ponds:
"They both have played really well; statistically for sure. We play them a lot of minutes and they get a lot of opportunity so they take advantage of that. I talked to them yesterday; as much as is given, as much is expected so we need a little more from them on the defensive end. They've both have played really well this year."
On how good Marcus LoVett and Shamorie Ponds can be:
"The key with them is going to be not only coexisting with each other but coexisting with the other guys on the floor. They've gotten off to a great start so hopefully we can keep improving with that."
Junior Guard/Forward Bashir Ahmed…
On improving defensively as a team…
"We just need to come together as one unit and communicate more on the floor, which will help us play better defense."
On what the team didn't do defensively the last two games…
"I felt we didn't communicate enough, we were scrambling and communication is very important."
Sophomore Guard Malik Ellison…
On why Georgetown has been a tough matchup…
"They have very big guys, especially in the middle. We aren't the biggest team in the BIG EAST or in the country, so they are more physical than us. The last three meetings they played against us, they really set the tone and we weren't able to punch back. The game plan for tomorrow is to set the tone early."
On motivation heading into Georgetown game:
"For me, I am 0-3 against them right now and all three games haven't really been close. Last time it was a lopsided game at Georgetown, so we want to come into the Garden tomorrow and really get to them early."
On the biggest lesson learned heading towards the end of the regular season…
"We just need to stick together as a team, because when we do that we win games by a lot. We have a lot of young guys on the team, so we have to make sure we stick together and go out there and compete each and every game."
