St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s vs. Creighton
St. John’s women’s basketball Head Coach Joe Tartamella and guards Qadashah Hoppie and Alissa Alston spoke to the media following the team’s 63-58 win against Creighton on Sunday.
St. John’s Head Coach Joe Tartamella
Opening statement…
“It’s a great win for us. We’ve struggled against them here at home over the last couple of years. Not a lot of points throughout, a typical defensive battle and I thought [Creighton Head Coach] Jim [Flanery] did a great job with his team and what he had on the floor to be able to put them in the position that they were in at the end of the game. I thought we did enough to manage ourselves through. To get to the fourth quarter and to now have two games in a row where we’ve been able to finish, it says something about where we are moving. These are games where the fourth quarter and getting stops becomes huge and critical. Defensively, we’ve been better in these two games, which I’m really pleased with because that was an area where we needed to be better. It was a great fight. I’m pleased with the effort and we’ll try to get a little bit of rest as we gear up for our travel partner [Seton Hall] on Sunday.”
On Alissa Alston…
"I thought Alissa was locked in the whole game. She really steadied us throughout and she’s been terrific."
On Alisha Kebbe and Qadashah Hoppie…
"Alisha played her butt off today. Then you look at the stat sheet for Q[adashah Hoppie] and I don’t think she played that well, but she had 16. The team picked her up in the way she was having a tough time throughout the beginning of the game, but she made some of big shots at the end and that’s what great players do."
On defense…
“Defense has been something we’ve been talking about for weeks. I pride myself on defensive activity and how we guard. We haven’t done that at a level that I think we are capable of. I still think our best basketball is ahead of us as we continue to get better as a team, defensively, especially late in games. I think we had a lot of slippage today that we’ve got be better and they aren’t an easy team to prepare for really quickly. I’ve been pleased with the way they have attacked their preparation and at the end of the day, you’ve got to make a play and that’s what it has come down to in many of our games this year. When we’ve been successful, we’ve done that and at other times we’ve had some slippage, to see us do it back-to-back like that is great.”
On tonight’s game…
“They have had success here, we’ve had success there at times. You’re playing another opponent in the BIG EAST and you know each other inside and out. Since the first time I coached against them, and I was an assistant when we had to play them in the NCAA tournament and we had to win at the buzzer, Jim [Flanery] has done a great job there. He’s a great coach and they do a great job as a program. No matter what it is, whether you’re here or there or the BIG EAST Tournament, they are going to play hard and they are going to be well-coached.”
On All-Access game versus Seton Hall…
“We’ve moved a game up because of TV so we’ll be on Sunday at 6:30 p.m., mic’ed up and all-access so get the popcorn ready. It will be a lot of fun and I thought it was great for the game. To be apart of the first one ever as [Seton Hall Head Coach] Tony [Bozzella] and I were, is pretty cool to be able to do it again.”
On mentality for Seton Hall…
You don’t want to take your foot off the gas especially after you get two wins and you are trying to get after it. We’ll continue to prepare, keep ourselves sharp, and get healthy most of all we had some players banged up.”
St. John’s guard Qadashah Hoppie
On tonight’s game…
“A lot of my shot selections early wasn’t good and it led to some bad plays, but my teammates kept encouraging me the whole game. I started to attack the basket little bit more instead of settling as much. Thanks to my teammates and my coach for continuing to encourage me throughout the game."
On team’s dynamic…
“The dynamic was team defense. Creighton is a team who cuts a lot, curls a lot and flares a lot so it was going to be a team defense problem today. We made sure we were locked in from the jump and that we were communicating a lot and that’s what we did."
St. John’s guard Alissa Alston
On defense mentality…
“Poise and energy. Coach has been pounding that into our brain for the last week, especially with the short turnaround that we’ve had to keep mental focus coming into this game."
On creating chances…
“I have a lot of great scorers on my team. It opened up the floor for a lot of us, especially when Q[adashah Hoppie] is in the corner, there’s not a lot of things for them to do. The lanes were open and I just attacked it."
Opening statement…
“It’s a great win for us. We’ve struggled against them here at home over the last couple of years. Not a lot of points throughout, a typical defensive battle and I thought [Creighton Head Coach] Jim [Flanery] did a great job with his team and what he had on the floor to be able to put them in the position that they were in at the end of the game. I thought we did enough to manage ourselves through. To get to the fourth quarter and to now have two games in a row where we’ve been able to finish, it says something about where we are moving. These are games where the fourth quarter and getting stops becomes huge and critical. Defensively, we’ve been better in these two games, which I’m really pleased with because that was an area where we needed to be better. It was a great fight. I’m pleased with the effort and we’ll try to get a little bit of rest as we gear up for our travel partner [Seton Hall] on Sunday.”
On Alissa Alston…
"I thought Alissa was locked in the whole game. She really steadied us throughout and she’s been terrific."
On Alisha Kebbe and Qadashah Hoppie…
"Alisha played her butt off today. Then you look at the stat sheet for Q[adashah Hoppie] and I don’t think she played that well, but she had 16. The team picked her up in the way she was having a tough time throughout the beginning of the game, but she made some of big shots at the end and that’s what great players do."
On defense…
“Defense has been something we’ve been talking about for weeks. I pride myself on defensive activity and how we guard. We haven’t done that at a level that I think we are capable of. I still think our best basketball is ahead of us as we continue to get better as a team, defensively, especially late in games. I think we had a lot of slippage today that we’ve got be better and they aren’t an easy team to prepare for really quickly. I’ve been pleased with the way they have attacked their preparation and at the end of the day, you’ve got to make a play and that’s what it has come down to in many of our games this year. When we’ve been successful, we’ve done that and at other times we’ve had some slippage, to see us do it back-to-back like that is great.”
On tonight’s game…
“They have had success here, we’ve had success there at times. You’re playing another opponent in the BIG EAST and you know each other inside and out. Since the first time I coached against them, and I was an assistant when we had to play them in the NCAA tournament and we had to win at the buzzer, Jim [Flanery] has done a great job there. He’s a great coach and they do a great job as a program. No matter what it is, whether you’re here or there or the BIG EAST Tournament, they are going to play hard and they are going to be well-coached.”
On All-Access game versus Seton Hall…
“We’ve moved a game up because of TV so we’ll be on Sunday at 6:30 p.m., mic’ed up and all-access so get the popcorn ready. It will be a lot of fun and I thought it was great for the game. To be apart of the first one ever as [Seton Hall Head Coach] Tony [Bozzella] and I were, is pretty cool to be able to do it again.”
On mentality for Seton Hall…
You don’t want to take your foot off the gas especially after you get two wins and you are trying to get after it. We’ll continue to prepare, keep ourselves sharp, and get healthy most of all we had some players banged up.”
St. John’s guard Qadashah Hoppie
On tonight’s game…
“A lot of my shot selections early wasn’t good and it led to some bad plays, but my teammates kept encouraging me the whole game. I started to attack the basket little bit more instead of settling as much. Thanks to my teammates and my coach for continuing to encourage me throughout the game."
On team’s dynamic…
“The dynamic was team defense. Creighton is a team who cuts a lot, curls a lot and flares a lot so it was going to be a team defense problem today. We made sure we were locked in from the jump and that we were communicating a lot and that’s what we did."
St. John’s guard Alissa Alston
On defense mentality…
“Poise and energy. Coach has been pounding that into our brain for the last week, especially with the short turnaround that we’ve had to keep mental focus coming into this game."
On creating chances…
“I have a lot of great scorers on my team. It opened up the floor for a lot of us, especially when Q[adashah Hoppie] is in the corner, there’s not a lot of things for them to do. The lanes were open and I just attacked it."