St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s vs. Fairleigh Dickinson
St. John’s upperclassmen Julian Champagnie, Montez Mathis and Head Coach Mike Anderson spoke to the media after an 87-74 win over Fairleigh Dickinson
St. John’s Head Coach Mike Anderson
Opening statement...
“First of all, let’s give Fairleigh Dickinson a lot of credit. Greg [Herenda] and his team came in and I thought they played loose. They had nothing to lose and everything to gain. In these kind of games if you get a lead, you have to put them away, and we didn’t do that. All of a sudden, they started making shots from everywhere. They cut it to nine. I thought we bucked down and made a couple [of] stops. We were able to get the win. That’s the bottom line; you want to find a way to win.”
On the defensive effort...
“I thought the effort was there at times. I also thought our guys looked really tired. … In both halves, when we made the runs all of the sudden there was a letdown. But give [Fairleigh Dickinson] some credit too. At times, our defense looked good. At times, we allowed them to get some wide open shots and get to the basket. In the first half, they were attacking us. We were settling, settling for jump shots. Defensively, I thought we had some breakdowns, and they made shots.”
On playing a close game with Fairleigh Dickinson...
“We were missing two of our better players [Rafael Pinzon and Tareq Coburn], guys that were key from our bench. I always think our strength is going to be our bench. We didn’t have those guys, and we didn’t have a great shooting night. Julian [Champagnie] isn’t going to get 32 [points] every night. What are we going to do then? It was good to see Montez [Mathis] get the opportunity to play two halves for a change and you saw the difference. Dylan [Addae-Wusu] is starting to get a feel for what we’re trying to do. … We were up [22] and we had three straight possessions where we were just careless with the ball. What happens then is the momentum changes, so we have to capitalize on the momentum and keep it.”
On the offense...
“I always think we can score. To me, it was the defense [that was the problem]. Coming into this game, what were our defensive goals? One of them was to, hopefully, keep them in the 50s or 60s, and we didn’t get that accomplished, but we are going to be able to score. It was good to see other guys step up and make some plays for us. I thought the guy that had the biggest impact in the second half was O’Mar Stanley. He came out and gave us tremendous effort.”
On Aaron Wheeler’s defense in the full-court press...
“Aaron plays in the lanes really well. He’s long and he touches a lot of balls. He can play in space and he can anticipate up there.”
Junior forward Julian Champagnie
On what the team can improve on despite the 87-74 win …
“There are things we can work on both defensively and offensively. We just need to pull games out, Coach [Mike Anderson] told us a win is a win. … We did have some positives along with the negatives. We are going to come back as a group to work on what we need to work on.”
Senior guard Montez Mathis
On bringing a high energy level…
“I take a lot of pride on defense. I try to get my offense going by getting stops at the other end. I try to get out on the break to get a lay-up or a dunk.”
On the team’s defense…
“I feel like it gets our offense going, especially when we’re getting steals and getting out in transition. Everybody can guard positions one through five. Everyone is long, athletic and quick, which helps us out a lot. When we pressure teams they have a hard time taking care of the ball.“
Opening statement...
“First of all, let’s give Fairleigh Dickinson a lot of credit. Greg [Herenda] and his team came in and I thought they played loose. They had nothing to lose and everything to gain. In these kind of games if you get a lead, you have to put them away, and we didn’t do that. All of a sudden, they started making shots from everywhere. They cut it to nine. I thought we bucked down and made a couple [of] stops. We were able to get the win. That’s the bottom line; you want to find a way to win.”
On the defensive effort...
“I thought the effort was there at times. I also thought our guys looked really tired. … In both halves, when we made the runs all of the sudden there was a letdown. But give [Fairleigh Dickinson] some credit too. At times, our defense looked good. At times, we allowed them to get some wide open shots and get to the basket. In the first half, they were attacking us. We were settling, settling for jump shots. Defensively, I thought we had some breakdowns, and they made shots.”
On playing a close game with Fairleigh Dickinson...
“We were missing two of our better players [Rafael Pinzon and Tareq Coburn], guys that were key from our bench. I always think our strength is going to be our bench. We didn’t have those guys, and we didn’t have a great shooting night. Julian [Champagnie] isn’t going to get 32 [points] every night. What are we going to do then? It was good to see Montez [Mathis] get the opportunity to play two halves for a change and you saw the difference. Dylan [Addae-Wusu] is starting to get a feel for what we’re trying to do. … We were up [22] and we had three straight possessions where we were just careless with the ball. What happens then is the momentum changes, so we have to capitalize on the momentum and keep it.”
On the offense...
“I always think we can score. To me, it was the defense [that was the problem]. Coming into this game, what were our defensive goals? One of them was to, hopefully, keep them in the 50s or 60s, and we didn’t get that accomplished, but we are going to be able to score. It was good to see other guys step up and make some plays for us. I thought the guy that had the biggest impact in the second half was O’Mar Stanley. He came out and gave us tremendous effort.”
On Aaron Wheeler’s defense in the full-court press...
“Aaron plays in the lanes really well. He’s long and he touches a lot of balls. He can play in space and he can anticipate up there.”
Junior forward Julian Champagnie
On what the team can improve on despite the 87-74 win …
“There are things we can work on both defensively and offensively. We just need to pull games out, Coach [Mike Anderson] told us a win is a win. … We did have some positives along with the negatives. We are going to come back as a group to work on what we need to work on.”
Senior guard Montez Mathis
On bringing a high energy level…
“I take a lot of pride on defense. I try to get my offense going by getting stops at the other end. I try to get out on the break to get a lay-up or a dunk.”
On the team’s defense…
“I feel like it gets our offense going, especially when we’re getting steals and getting out in transition. Everybody can guard positions one through five. Everyone is long, athletic and quick, which helps us out a lot. When we pressure teams they have a hard time taking care of the ball.“