St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s Men’s Basketball vs. Seton Hall
Head Coach Mike Anderson and graduate student forward Aaron Wheeler spoke with the media after falling to Seton Hall, 66-60, at Madison Square Garden
St. John’s Head Coach Mike Anderson
Opening statement...
“I think in any game if you don’t shoot the ball well, [we shot] 29 percent from the field, and get outrebounded your chances of winning are going to be slim. That being said, there was an opportunity for us to [win]. Even with 54 seconds left, we converted a lay-up and cut it to four. Give Seton Hall credit, I thought they played with a lot of guts. ... We missed a lot of lay-ups that would’ve given us an opportunity. If you can’t score you can’t get into your defense. I thought our defense was decent enough, but you got to have the offense to go with it. I was proud of the effort of Joel [Soriano], coming off the game he just had. I thought he played well for us. Aaron [Wheeler] continues to play at a high level. Again, they’re a good basketball team, we feel were a good basketball team but we didn’t put that on display today. I’m proud of the fans that came out and supported [us]. This team has a quick turnaround and we have to get ready for Seton Hall at their place.”
On the areas the team can improve…
“We have to continue to work, grind and get better. We need to clean up the little things. Free-throws, lay-ups and rebounding has been our Achilles [heel]. Some of that falls on me, I have to find out the right combination of guys that can put us in a position to win.”
On a quick turnaround playing at Seton Hall on Monday night…
“It’s a quick turnaround. [We have to] have a short-term memory going into their place. In tournament play [teams have another game this quickly], but you play different teams you never play the same team. … We’ll be ready.”
On how he’s looking for players to step-up…
“We have to have someone that can come in and absorb some of the pressure. We need somebody to absorb the pressure and knock shots down. We need to get to the free-throw line, we got there today and didn’t cash in it.”
On what they need to change offensively…
“One thing I have always prided our team on is that we have multiple options out there. Right now, those options are not doing what they are capable of. … It has to be a combination of guys.”
Graduate student forward Aaron Wheeler…
On his thoughts on the team’s performance…
“We fought until the end, but at the end of the day it came to down to makes and misses. We missed a lot of shots, a lot of easy buckets. We gave ourselves a chance to win, we were in position we just have to step-up and make shots. I’m proud of the guys, we fought to the end, we didn’t put our heads down and [we] stuck together. We definitely have to figure it out, that obviously isn’t good enough.”
Opening statement...
“I think in any game if you don’t shoot the ball well, [we shot] 29 percent from the field, and get outrebounded your chances of winning are going to be slim. That being said, there was an opportunity for us to [win]. Even with 54 seconds left, we converted a lay-up and cut it to four. Give Seton Hall credit, I thought they played with a lot of guts. ... We missed a lot of lay-ups that would’ve given us an opportunity. If you can’t score you can’t get into your defense. I thought our defense was decent enough, but you got to have the offense to go with it. I was proud of the effort of Joel [Soriano], coming off the game he just had. I thought he played well for us. Aaron [Wheeler] continues to play at a high level. Again, they’re a good basketball team, we feel were a good basketball team but we didn’t put that on display today. I’m proud of the fans that came out and supported [us]. This team has a quick turnaround and we have to get ready for Seton Hall at their place.”
On the areas the team can improve…
“We have to continue to work, grind and get better. We need to clean up the little things. Free-throws, lay-ups and rebounding has been our Achilles [heel]. Some of that falls on me, I have to find out the right combination of guys that can put us in a position to win.”
On a quick turnaround playing at Seton Hall on Monday night…
“It’s a quick turnaround. [We have to] have a short-term memory going into their place. In tournament play [teams have another game this quickly], but you play different teams you never play the same team. … We’ll be ready.”
On how he’s looking for players to step-up…
“We have to have someone that can come in and absorb some of the pressure. We need somebody to absorb the pressure and knock shots down. We need to get to the free-throw line, we got there today and didn’t cash in it.”
On what they need to change offensively…
“One thing I have always prided our team on is that we have multiple options out there. Right now, those options are not doing what they are capable of. … It has to be a combination of guys.”
Graduate student forward Aaron Wheeler…
On his thoughts on the team’s performance…
“We fought until the end, but at the end of the day it came to down to makes and misses. We missed a lot of shots, a lot of easy buckets. We gave ourselves a chance to win, we were in position we just have to step-up and make shots. I’m proud of the guys, we fought to the end, we didn’t put our heads down and [we] stuck together. We definitely have to figure it out, that obviously isn’t good enough.”