St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s vs. No. 7/5 Creighton
St. John’s Head Coach Mike Anderson and sophomore guard Julian Champagnie spoke with the media following Saturday’s 97-79 loss to Creighton.
St. John’s Head Coach Mike Anderson
Opening statement…
“Creighton is a team that can obviously shoot the basketball well and they got off to a pretty good start. I thought we did a pretty good job of just hanging in there, going back and forth there. They had one of those spurts right before the half, so our defense seemed like it was a step slow in terms of getting to where their shooters were and they did a good job of attacking outside. Again, a lot of effort from our guys in the second half. They got down big and then pulled within eleven with an opportunity to score. But again when you play against a Creighton team you have to be able to defend.”
On if St. John’s gave good enough effort…
“I just thought that at times effort was good. … It seemed like every loose ball we were right there, but you got to battle for them, you got to play with that desperation, I thought that they played like they wanted it a bit more than we did. But again I can’t knock the effort of our guys, I just thought some balls went their way and of course they are playing with a lot of confidence right now.”
On if being on the road for the second straight game had an impact on the performance …
“Well, I don’t know what it was, but I just didn’t think we had the key contributions that we need to get from certain guys. I think I said last time that we need to get contributions from a guy like Greg [Williams Jr.], [he’s] a guy that can give us double figures. I thought that Marcellus [Earlington] gave us a boost off the bench and I thought Dylan [Addae-Wusu] came in and gave us everything he could. Of course we saw Julian [Champagnie] was the one carrying us. ... But more importantly on the defensive side of the ball, the help side was not in place and you have to give Creighton some credit now as they knocked shots down.”
On if the team deferred too much to Julian Champagnie on offense…
“What we did today wasn’t too much about offense, I think it was about our defense more than anything else and that’s what we really trying to make sure we understand. We may have forced somethings, but for the most part it was the defense. Then of course we had some bad turnovers. … So again, it seemed like the rhythm is not there defensively.”
Sophomore guard/forward Julian Champagnie
On the team’s feeling after dropping two straight on the road …
“Mentally we are staying locked in, that’s not going to change even if we were winning, were going to stay locked in and go back to Queens today and practice tomorrow and the next day. It’s rough and it sucks when we lose, but were not done yet, not going to lay down, were doing alright.”
On if the long break between games has had an impact on these last two games…
“It’s not an excuse, it doesn’t really matter if we had a layoff. ... I think it’s just us coming down and being productive, that’s what it comes down to.”
How would you characterize the team’s defensive performance…
“Today, I feel like we were doing good on defense, we were cutting into the lead and then we had spurts where we weren’t. From a team stand point we just got to be better, we can’t have lows and mishaps on defense, especially when playing on the road at the seventh ranked team in the country. Defensively, I feel like we were there, but not all the way there, so it was half on and half off.”
On the team’s defensive effort this season not meeting expectations…
“We have to get a better defensive mind set. I don’t think we go into games and say were not going to play defense today, we go into games and say we are going to play defense and we are going to lock up, but sometimes there are mishaps. I can’t really tell you what it is, but I can tell you that were not going to stop working at it, were going to keep working at it every day at practice. We are going to work at it every single day.”
Opening statement…
“Creighton is a team that can obviously shoot the basketball well and they got off to a pretty good start. I thought we did a pretty good job of just hanging in there, going back and forth there. They had one of those spurts right before the half, so our defense seemed like it was a step slow in terms of getting to where their shooters were and they did a good job of attacking outside. Again, a lot of effort from our guys in the second half. They got down big and then pulled within eleven with an opportunity to score. But again when you play against a Creighton team you have to be able to defend.”
On if St. John’s gave good enough effort…
“I just thought that at times effort was good. … It seemed like every loose ball we were right there, but you got to battle for them, you got to play with that desperation, I thought that they played like they wanted it a bit more than we did. But again I can’t knock the effort of our guys, I just thought some balls went their way and of course they are playing with a lot of confidence right now.”
On if being on the road for the second straight game had an impact on the performance …
“Well, I don’t know what it was, but I just didn’t think we had the key contributions that we need to get from certain guys. I think I said last time that we need to get contributions from a guy like Greg [Williams Jr.], [he’s] a guy that can give us double figures. I thought that Marcellus [Earlington] gave us a boost off the bench and I thought Dylan [Addae-Wusu] came in and gave us everything he could. Of course we saw Julian [Champagnie] was the one carrying us. ... But more importantly on the defensive side of the ball, the help side was not in place and you have to give Creighton some credit now as they knocked shots down.”
On if the team deferred too much to Julian Champagnie on offense…
“What we did today wasn’t too much about offense, I think it was about our defense more than anything else and that’s what we really trying to make sure we understand. We may have forced somethings, but for the most part it was the defense. Then of course we had some bad turnovers. … So again, it seemed like the rhythm is not there defensively.”
Sophomore guard/forward Julian Champagnie
On the team’s feeling after dropping two straight on the road …
“Mentally we are staying locked in, that’s not going to change even if we were winning, were going to stay locked in and go back to Queens today and practice tomorrow and the next day. It’s rough and it sucks when we lose, but were not done yet, not going to lay down, were doing alright.”
On if the long break between games has had an impact on these last two games…
“It’s not an excuse, it doesn’t really matter if we had a layoff. ... I think it’s just us coming down and being productive, that’s what it comes down to.”
How would you characterize the team’s defensive performance…
“Today, I feel like we were doing good on defense, we were cutting into the lead and then we had spurts where we weren’t. From a team stand point we just got to be better, we can’t have lows and mishaps on defense, especially when playing on the road at the seventh ranked team in the country. Defensively, I feel like we were there, but not all the way there, so it was half on and half off.”
On the team’s defensive effort this season not meeting expectations…
“We have to get a better defensive mind set. I don’t think we go into games and say were not going to play defense today, we go into games and say we are going to play defense and we are going to lock up, but sometimes there are mishaps. I can’t really tell you what it is, but I can tell you that were not going to stop working at it, were going to keep working at it every day at practice. We are going to work at it every single day.”