St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s vs. Marquette
St. John’s Head Coach Mike Anderson
Opening statement…
“Obviously, congratulations to Marquette. ... They established how they wanted to play. … I thought we did a pretty good job early on, but [Markus Howard] had 19 points at halftime and you’ve got to pay attention to him. Then they had some other guys that had some pretty good performances. But it comes back down to free throws. ... In the second half, I thought we lost our composure. … Again, tough loss for this team here because I thought they came here with the intention of coming out with a win.”
On Markus Howard…
“He’s pretty clever. I think he kind of picks his moments and can spread the floor. … I thought we guarded him for the most part, but when he got to the free throw line he shot more free throws than we shot. So, there you have it. But he’s pretty clever.”
On the team’s amount of three-point attempts…
“I’ll take more than they gave us. I thought there were some that were probably ill-advised, but we had some open looks. ... We just didn’t knock shots down, some timely shots.”
On focusing too much on defending Markus Horward…
“We just wanted to make sure that [Markus Howard] wasn’t doing all of the damage. He’s smart enough to move the basketball. I thought they made the extra pass. They made some shots early on, but I thought there were some times our rotation was late. Real, real late. You saw that they got some timely offensive rebounds and when that takes place obviously we start fouling. We were right there in the game with a chance and then we fouled [Howard] on a three-point play. ... But they made shots and that’s what good teams do.”
On his team’s matchup zone in the second half and trying to guard Markus Howard…
“I thought we did a good job of just knowing where he was in the zone and making them shoot jump shots. … We just tried locating him and cut out the dribble penetration. When we did it, we did it well. I thought that got us back into the game. Then we had some mishaps where they were getting the ball down to the baseline and then they started making some shots. But again, [we were] just trying to change the rhythm of the game.”
Opening statement…
“Obviously, congratulations to Marquette. ... They established how they wanted to play. … I thought we did a pretty good job early on, but [Markus Howard] had 19 points at halftime and you’ve got to pay attention to him. Then they had some other guys that had some pretty good performances. But it comes back down to free throws. ... In the second half, I thought we lost our composure. … Again, tough loss for this team here because I thought they came here with the intention of coming out with a win.”
On Markus Howard…
“He’s pretty clever. I think he kind of picks his moments and can spread the floor. … I thought we guarded him for the most part, but when he got to the free throw line he shot more free throws than we shot. So, there you have it. But he’s pretty clever.”
On the team’s amount of three-point attempts…
“I’ll take more than they gave us. I thought there were some that were probably ill-advised, but we had some open looks. ... We just didn’t knock shots down, some timely shots.”
On focusing too much on defending Markus Horward…
“We just wanted to make sure that [Markus Howard] wasn’t doing all of the damage. He’s smart enough to move the basketball. I thought they made the extra pass. They made some shots early on, but I thought there were some times our rotation was late. Real, real late. You saw that they got some timely offensive rebounds and when that takes place obviously we start fouling. We were right there in the game with a chance and then we fouled [Howard] on a three-point play. ... But they made shots and that’s what good teams do.”
On his team’s matchup zone in the second half and trying to guard Markus Howard…
“I thought we did a good job of just knowing where he was in the zone and making them shoot jump shots. … We just tried locating him and cut out the dribble penetration. When we did it, we did it well. I thought that got us back into the game. Then we had some mishaps where they were getting the ball down to the baseline and then they started making some shots. But again, [we were] just trying to change the rhythm of the game.”