St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s vs. Lafayette
St. John’s Head Coach Mike Anderson, junior guard Dylan Addae-Wusu and senior center Joel Soriano spoke with the media after an 83-68 win over Lafayette
St. John’s Head Coach Mike Anderson
Opening Statement…
“First off, hats off to Lafayette. They came in and did the thing that they do: shoot the basketball. In the first half, they were making shots, some of which we were contesting and some we didn’t contest. I thought, in the second half, our energy level was a whole lot different. Our energy level in the first half was ok, but I thought, in the second half, we saw fatigue become a factor. Those shots they were making early on, they weren’t making them. ... We shot 39%. In the second half, we ended up shooting over 50%. That means we came down and we executed. We had an advantage in size with Joel [Soriano], and we took advantage of that. I saw a lot of growth in this team. Posh [Alexander] is really instrumental in our basketball team. He didn’t have a ‘Posh’ first half. To me, the beauty of it is he stuck to the script and continued to orchestrate what took place in the second half. I want to commend him for staying true to who he is and continuing to be a leader for this team on the floor. It was a good team win. Dylan [Addae-Wusu] came off the bench and had a pretty good game. We saw David [Jones] continue to be a guy that can score. He gets buckets. We still have a lot of work to do. It was good to see us be in a moment where we have to figure out some things. We did a much better job in the second half.”
On Joel Soriano in the first half…
“I thought he was pretty timid, not posting up and not being big, but we talked about it at halftime. I said, ‘We’re coming to you. You have to give us a presence.’ I thought our guys did a good job of getting it in there to him.”
On Joel Soriano in the second half…
“It puts pressure on them because they start fouling. We were in the one-and-one [bonus] maybe halfway through the second half. That’s an advantage we have and we have to take advantage of it with a guy like Joel. He’s not a black hole; he’ll kick it back out. It was good to see the continuity of what we work on every day. We want to be a team that’s going to be inside-out.”
On limiting the turnovers…
“We played basketball. We took care of the basketball. That’s what we do. That was an anomaly to me the other night. That was the first game; we had a lead, and we just played to play. Tonight, we played to win. We did a much better job, but the game was at [Lafayette’s] pace. They did a good job of packing their defense. Once we established the inside, I thought it opened up the outside. Then we got driving lanes and got to the free throw line. We continued to share the basketball.”
On David Jones’ scoring ability…
“He’s a guy that can get buckets. He took what the defense was giving him. I’ve always said this is a very unselfish team and they know how to go to the hot hand. If you look at the games we have played to this point, there has been balance with the scoring. Tonight, we had four guys in double figures, and the other night it was [five].”
Junior guard Dylan Addae-Wusu
On getting Joel Soriano more involved offensively in the second half…
“At halftime, when Coach [Mike Anderson] came in, he told us we had to work on our defense and play inside-out [on the offensive end]. We put our big man to use and he’s dominant down there. Once we got it down low and he got a few touches it opened the game, the three-point line became open.”
On his improved shooting from beyond-the-arc …
“Just getting reps up on off days and being consistent. I’ve been trying to shoot the ball with more confidence”
On the team’s three-point defense…
“We were lackadaisical, I would say, and we were late on rotations. But we amped it up in the second half and made it hard for them.”
Senior center Joel Soriano
On turning it on in the second half…
“I think it was my body language and energy. I was very frustrated in the first half, wasn’t getting the looks, they are a team that packs the paint a lot. At halftime, I talked to the coaching staff and they just told me to be more aggressive, fix my body language. I just came into the second half with a different mindset.”
On his mindset after two-straight double-doubles to open the season…
“Just being consistent, I know what my team expects of me. I know what I have to do on the court, just staying consistent. Taking it day-by-day, game-by-game and playing with a lot of energy.”
Opening Statement…
“First off, hats off to Lafayette. They came in and did the thing that they do: shoot the basketball. In the first half, they were making shots, some of which we were contesting and some we didn’t contest. I thought, in the second half, our energy level was a whole lot different. Our energy level in the first half was ok, but I thought, in the second half, we saw fatigue become a factor. Those shots they were making early on, they weren’t making them. ... We shot 39%. In the second half, we ended up shooting over 50%. That means we came down and we executed. We had an advantage in size with Joel [Soriano], and we took advantage of that. I saw a lot of growth in this team. Posh [Alexander] is really instrumental in our basketball team. He didn’t have a ‘Posh’ first half. To me, the beauty of it is he stuck to the script and continued to orchestrate what took place in the second half. I want to commend him for staying true to who he is and continuing to be a leader for this team on the floor. It was a good team win. Dylan [Addae-Wusu] came off the bench and had a pretty good game. We saw David [Jones] continue to be a guy that can score. He gets buckets. We still have a lot of work to do. It was good to see us be in a moment where we have to figure out some things. We did a much better job in the second half.”
On Joel Soriano in the first half…
“I thought he was pretty timid, not posting up and not being big, but we talked about it at halftime. I said, ‘We’re coming to you. You have to give us a presence.’ I thought our guys did a good job of getting it in there to him.”
On Joel Soriano in the second half…
“It puts pressure on them because they start fouling. We were in the one-and-one [bonus] maybe halfway through the second half. That’s an advantage we have and we have to take advantage of it with a guy like Joel. He’s not a black hole; he’ll kick it back out. It was good to see the continuity of what we work on every day. We want to be a team that’s going to be inside-out.”
On limiting the turnovers…
“We played basketball. We took care of the basketball. That’s what we do. That was an anomaly to me the other night. That was the first game; we had a lead, and we just played to play. Tonight, we played to win. We did a much better job, but the game was at [Lafayette’s] pace. They did a good job of packing their defense. Once we established the inside, I thought it opened up the outside. Then we got driving lanes and got to the free throw line. We continued to share the basketball.”
On David Jones’ scoring ability…
“He’s a guy that can get buckets. He took what the defense was giving him. I’ve always said this is a very unselfish team and they know how to go to the hot hand. If you look at the games we have played to this point, there has been balance with the scoring. Tonight, we had four guys in double figures, and the other night it was [five].”
Junior guard Dylan Addae-Wusu
On getting Joel Soriano more involved offensively in the second half…
“At halftime, when Coach [Mike Anderson] came in, he told us we had to work on our defense and play inside-out [on the offensive end]. We put our big man to use and he’s dominant down there. Once we got it down low and he got a few touches it opened the game, the three-point line became open.”
On his improved shooting from beyond-the-arc …
“Just getting reps up on off days and being consistent. I’ve been trying to shoot the ball with more confidence”
On the team’s three-point defense…
“We were lackadaisical, I would say, and we were late on rotations. But we amped it up in the second half and made it hard for them.”
Senior center Joel Soriano
On turning it on in the second half…
“I think it was my body language and energy. I was very frustrated in the first half, wasn’t getting the looks, they are a team that packs the paint a lot. At halftime, I talked to the coaching staff and they just told me to be more aggressive, fix my body language. I just came into the second half with a different mindset.”
On his mindset after two-straight double-doubles to open the season…
“Just being consistent, I know what my team expects of me. I know what I have to do on the court, just staying consistent. Taking it day-by-day, game-by-game and playing with a lot of energy.”