St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s vs. Marquette
St. John’s Head Coach Chris Mullin and Justin Simon spoke to the media after Thursday’s loss to Marquette in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Tournament, 86-54.
St. John’s Head Coach Chris Mullin:
On what changed in the second half…
“Offensively, we struggled all night. I thought we cast up too many early and bailout shots. We never got anything going offensively. The game changed. We got off to 11 or 13 to 5 to start the half. We struggled offensively. We got some stops and got on the floor a little bit, but they got free on the open floor. We had a few miscommunications. That's the type of team they are. They hadn't done it to us this year, but I've seen them do it to good teams. They got that quick run and opened the lead up. We had no rhythm offensively, and our defense broke down. It doesn't take much for them to create separation. That's pretty much what happened.”
On Marquette’s run in the second half…
“I give a lot of credit to Marquette. I think they're a terrific team, one of the best teams in the country. I think they're a phenomenal offensive team. As far as abandoning my coaching philosophies and techniques, no. When you get beat, it's easy to look at things in one way. So in my mind, we just let the game go and clean our minds and our bodies and come back and give our best effort, whatever that may be.”
On adjustments the team can make heading into postseason play…
“I think being resilient. I think consistency comes with discipline, good daily work habits, work ethic, and a lot of those things take time. From where we came from, we're actually much better than we were, believe it or not. If you look at our conference, from top to bottom really, I think in some ways probably very underrated. Yeah, I guess it depends how you look at it. You can look at it as a loss of one or two possessions. Would I like to change them? Yeah. I'd like to make a few more free throws and grab a few more offensive rebounds, but you're talking about 33 games now of analyzation. So each game has its own personality and its own set of circumstances. We're in a position now we're taking two days off and going to come back refreshed and give it a good run.”
Junior guard Justin Simon:
On playing a Marquette team that was fresh after winning the night before …
“It's a big factor. It's a big factor for sure. A little stress on our bodies, to come out here and play a great team like Marquette. You know, they're fresh. It was tough. We knew it was going to be challenging, but we were up for the challenge, I felt. Tonight, we just let it go a little bit.”
On bouncing back from a loss like this…
“It's a fresh start, in my eyes. Coach said we're going to take these days off and regroup and get our minds and bodies right and wait until Sunday and see what happens. Just looking forward to that.”
On what changed in the second half…
“Offensively, we struggled all night. I thought we cast up too many early and bailout shots. We never got anything going offensively. The game changed. We got off to 11 or 13 to 5 to start the half. We struggled offensively. We got some stops and got on the floor a little bit, but they got free on the open floor. We had a few miscommunications. That's the type of team they are. They hadn't done it to us this year, but I've seen them do it to good teams. They got that quick run and opened the lead up. We had no rhythm offensively, and our defense broke down. It doesn't take much for them to create separation. That's pretty much what happened.”
On Marquette’s run in the second half…
“I give a lot of credit to Marquette. I think they're a terrific team, one of the best teams in the country. I think they're a phenomenal offensive team. As far as abandoning my coaching philosophies and techniques, no. When you get beat, it's easy to look at things in one way. So in my mind, we just let the game go and clean our minds and our bodies and come back and give our best effort, whatever that may be.”
On adjustments the team can make heading into postseason play…
“I think being resilient. I think consistency comes with discipline, good daily work habits, work ethic, and a lot of those things take time. From where we came from, we're actually much better than we were, believe it or not. If you look at our conference, from top to bottom really, I think in some ways probably very underrated. Yeah, I guess it depends how you look at it. You can look at it as a loss of one or two possessions. Would I like to change them? Yeah. I'd like to make a few more free throws and grab a few more offensive rebounds, but you're talking about 33 games now of analyzation. So each game has its own personality and its own set of circumstances. We're in a position now we're taking two days off and going to come back refreshed and give it a good run.”
Junior guard Justin Simon:
On playing a Marquette team that was fresh after winning the night before …
“It's a big factor. It's a big factor for sure. A little stress on our bodies, to come out here and play a great team like Marquette. You know, they're fresh. It was tough. We knew it was going to be challenging, but we were up for the challenge, I felt. Tonight, we just let it go a little bit.”
On bouncing back from a loss like this…
“It's a fresh start, in my eyes. Coach said we're going to take these days off and regroup and get our minds and bodies right and wait until Sunday and see what happens. Just looking forward to that.”