St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s at Villanova
St. John’s Head Coach Mike Anderson spoke with the media following Tuesday’s 81-58 loss to Villanova
St. John’s Head Coach Mike Anderson
Opening statement…
“On the road if you don’t shoot the ball well, the chances of winning are pretty slim to none. You have got to do some extraordinary things to overcome that. We didn’t shoot the ball well and I thought our defense suffered at that same time. Of course, Jay [Wright], he is going to have his team ready, and I thought that they were ready to play. They came out shooting the ball well and we shot 3-of-23 from three and we had some good looks. Again, let’s give the credit to [Villanova], they played an outstanding game.”
On if the team’s struggles tonight were reminiscent to the beginning of the season…
“I think that we were playing one of the top teams in the country and at their place, so they are going to come out swinging and they did. Even to get it to 17 points at halftime, I thought we still had a chance to come back and cut that margin down and we did. ... We missed some layups and some free throws. A lot of things that could go wrong did go wrong. But let’s give [Villanova] some credit. They have a veteran basketball team over there. They were playing one of their last few games at home and they were much better than us tonight.”
On the team having lost three of its last four games…
“I will tell you what, one thing our guys do is leave it all out on the floor, even until the last second of this game. We just have to regroup and hopefully we can get to playing the winning basketball that we have been playing over the last three or four weeks.”
On whether the players felt the pressure of this game…
“They came out with the right mind set, but you have got to give credit to Villanova. They came out and we left them open. They didn’t make those shots at our place, but they made them at home. Unfortunately for us, we had some of those same shots at home and we can make those shots or make the right decisions.”
On why the team has struggled to score off turnovers of late…
“Some of the decisions we made and if you go back to the DePaul game same thing took place. We turned them over 20 or so times and we didn’t cash in on it. That’s something as you talk about the last three weeks, our guys have been really good at that. So I think that those are the detail things we have to iron out again. We were creating some havoc defensively, but were not making teams pay for it at the other end. … So those are some things we have to work on.”
Opening statement…
“On the road if you don’t shoot the ball well, the chances of winning are pretty slim to none. You have got to do some extraordinary things to overcome that. We didn’t shoot the ball well and I thought our defense suffered at that same time. Of course, Jay [Wright], he is going to have his team ready, and I thought that they were ready to play. They came out shooting the ball well and we shot 3-of-23 from three and we had some good looks. Again, let’s give the credit to [Villanova], they played an outstanding game.”
On if the team’s struggles tonight were reminiscent to the beginning of the season…
“I think that we were playing one of the top teams in the country and at their place, so they are going to come out swinging and they did. Even to get it to 17 points at halftime, I thought we still had a chance to come back and cut that margin down and we did. ... We missed some layups and some free throws. A lot of things that could go wrong did go wrong. But let’s give [Villanova] some credit. They have a veteran basketball team over there. They were playing one of their last few games at home and they were much better than us tonight.”
On the team having lost three of its last four games…
“I will tell you what, one thing our guys do is leave it all out on the floor, even until the last second of this game. We just have to regroup and hopefully we can get to playing the winning basketball that we have been playing over the last three or four weeks.”
On whether the players felt the pressure of this game…
“They came out with the right mind set, but you have got to give credit to Villanova. They came out and we left them open. They didn’t make those shots at our place, but they made them at home. Unfortunately for us, we had some of those same shots at home and we can make those shots or make the right decisions.”
On why the team has struggled to score off turnovers of late…
“Some of the decisions we made and if you go back to the DePaul game same thing took place. We turned them over 20 or so times and we didn’t cash in on it. That’s something as you talk about the last three weeks, our guys have been really good at that. So I think that those are the detail things we have to iron out again. We were creating some havoc defensively, but were not making teams pay for it at the other end. … So those are some things we have to work on.”