St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s vs. Butler
St. John's Downs Butler, 85-80, in Overtime Thriller
St. John’s Head Coach Joe Tartamella
Opening Statement…
"Last two games, I think we’ve shown where we’ve grown in certain areas, especially being able to be be down at half in both games and close the deal. Our players, I thought, really rallied in the second half. I told them at halftime, ‘We scored 25 points, but we would have had 47 points in other halves,’ so we needed to do something to push the pace here and get some more points on the board. I thought we did a better job of being aggressive. The free-throw line was obviously huge, whether it be down the stretch or throughout the game. In some other games, that’s where we’ve gotten hurt a bit. Great win for us and happy for our players and how hard they worked through the week."
On the BIG EAST implications of tonight’s win…
“It was critical. The fact that we have the sweep, that’s a big help. Obviously, we want to finish strong and put ourselves in position the best we can on Sunday. As far as standings in the league, every game is important. Especially home games. This was even more important just because of the time of the year."
On Kadaja Bailey’s defense…
“When Kadaja is playing at her level, she’s as good as anybody in this league and I think across the country. That’s how good I’ve felt about her since I recruited her. To watch her grow over the last year, pretty fun to watch. She can guard any position on the floor with her length and her ability. She’s came up time and time again."
On what he told the team during halftime…
“I thought that as poorly or as much as we struggled, I thought we did a good job of getting the game to be three points. We started the last two games really slow for whatever reason, so to be down three at half, the way that we had played, I was pretty pleased. So we kept it pretty upbeat knowing we had the ability to score in bunches and I thought we did that."
Junior guard Qadashah Hoppie
On finding a way to win tonight…
“We started off really slow today and it was just big for our players off the bench to carry us through that first half until everybody came together. It ended up being a really high scoring game. Almost everybody was in double-figures, so it was just those players keeping us in it in the first half.”
On finding her offensive rhythm in the second half…
“I actually sat out a lot of the first half due to foul trouble. So, coming in at the second half, I just wanted to be aggressive but also let the game come to me, that was just my mindset going into the second half.”
Redshirt senior guard Alissa Alston
On finding a way to win tonight…
“We definitely battled like Q [Qadashah Hoppie] said. The first half really wasn’t how we wanted it to go but the positive energy in the crowd, on the bench and our coach helped us to keep our energy and our poise. It was an impeccable win tonight."
Opening Statement…
"Last two games, I think we’ve shown where we’ve grown in certain areas, especially being able to be be down at half in both games and close the deal. Our players, I thought, really rallied in the second half. I told them at halftime, ‘We scored 25 points, but we would have had 47 points in other halves,’ so we needed to do something to push the pace here and get some more points on the board. I thought we did a better job of being aggressive. The free-throw line was obviously huge, whether it be down the stretch or throughout the game. In some other games, that’s where we’ve gotten hurt a bit. Great win for us and happy for our players and how hard they worked through the week."
On the BIG EAST implications of tonight’s win…
“It was critical. The fact that we have the sweep, that’s a big help. Obviously, we want to finish strong and put ourselves in position the best we can on Sunday. As far as standings in the league, every game is important. Especially home games. This was even more important just because of the time of the year."
On Kadaja Bailey’s defense…
“When Kadaja is playing at her level, she’s as good as anybody in this league and I think across the country. That’s how good I’ve felt about her since I recruited her. To watch her grow over the last year, pretty fun to watch. She can guard any position on the floor with her length and her ability. She’s came up time and time again."
On what he told the team during halftime…
“I thought that as poorly or as much as we struggled, I thought we did a good job of getting the game to be three points. We started the last two games really slow for whatever reason, so to be down three at half, the way that we had played, I was pretty pleased. So we kept it pretty upbeat knowing we had the ability to score in bunches and I thought we did that."
Junior guard Qadashah Hoppie
On finding a way to win tonight…
“We started off really slow today and it was just big for our players off the bench to carry us through that first half until everybody came together. It ended up being a really high scoring game. Almost everybody was in double-figures, so it was just those players keeping us in it in the first half.”
On finding her offensive rhythm in the second half…
“I actually sat out a lot of the first half due to foul trouble. So, coming in at the second half, I just wanted to be aggressive but also let the game come to me, that was just my mindset going into the second half.”
Redshirt senior guard Alissa Alston
On finding a way to win tonight…
“We definitely battled like Q [Qadashah Hoppie] said. The first half really wasn’t how we wanted it to go but the positive energy in the crowd, on the bench and our coach helped us to keep our energy and our poise. It was an impeccable win tonight."