St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s vs. Georgetown
Red Storm Head Coach Mike Anderson and junior forward Julian Champagnie spoke with the media following Thursday’s 90-77 win at Georgetown.
St. John’s Head Coach Mike Anderson
Opening statement…
“[It] was a good bounce back game for our guys. From the start to the finish, I thought they played with great intensity. I thought we did a great job of making Georgetown play defense. … We had ball movement and player movement. We had all that stuff working. I thought our defense was great in building a line when [Dante] Harris got into the lane. Obviously, Julian [Champagnie], he got it going. I knew he would. He’s a great player. That makes us a different team. It permeates through our whole basketball team.”
On getting tonight’s win…
“Like I said, it was good bounce back game for us coming off of a tough loss. All games are big, so in that sense, it was a big game.”
On Julian Champagnie’s performance…
“We sat down and visited, and I told him he just needs to be the great player he is. I thought he came out being one of the best players, not only in our conference, but in the country. He had that mindset going out. It didn’t just trigger with his jump shot; defensively, he was active. He was talking. He was more the leader tonight.”
On Posh Alexander’s versatility…
“It just shows you how his game has continued to develop. He’s affecting the game defensively, and now he’s making other guys better as well. He has that domino effect. He’s the energizer. He gets our guys going. The one play that stands out to me was we turned it over and Posh came from one baseline, came behind and deflected the ball. We got it up the floor and we got a layup out of it. He’s been playing like that. In the Providence game he had 12 assists. He’s been doing it, and we needed him to do it tonight.”
On Joel Soriano…
“I thought our guys did a good job of getting him the ball. I thought he was involved. For most big guys, if you get them the ball, they’ll do all the other stuff. I think he’s stepping into that player that we want him to become. I thought our guys did a great job of penetrating and finding him and him finishing off shots.”
Junior forward Julian Champagnie
On what he felt during the last four games…
“I was very frustrated. Everybody could tell I was frustrated. Shots weren’t falling. I couldn’t really help my team on that end of the floor. I felt like I was letting them down. That was the biggest thing. I felt like I let my team down a bunch of times.”
On his emotions after a 27-point performance…
“I’m feeling a little better. One game is one game. We have to move on the next one and build. The ultimate goal is to win. If I played well and we lost, I would be very upset right now. We turned the tide, obviously. Hopefully, there is a carryover to the next game.”
On how he felt after his first basket went in…
“It’s a confidence builder. When you’re a shooter, you have to see one go in early in the game. It starts to build [that confidence]. It builds comfortability. After that, I felt like, ‘Alright. It’s time to play.’”
On the team’s mindset at this point in the season…
“At this point in the season with the games we’ve lost and the hard-fought battles, it’s really a next-game basis. We’re not thinking about tournament this or tournament that. That’s for everybody else to talk about. What we’re focused on how we’re going to take care of Butler on Saturday. That’s what we’re worried about. Our focus is definitely on the next game, because that’s all we can control. We can’t control what happens ten games down the road. We have to take it one by one and continue to build.”
Opening statement…
“[It] was a good bounce back game for our guys. From the start to the finish, I thought they played with great intensity. I thought we did a great job of making Georgetown play defense. … We had ball movement and player movement. We had all that stuff working. I thought our defense was great in building a line when [Dante] Harris got into the lane. Obviously, Julian [Champagnie], he got it going. I knew he would. He’s a great player. That makes us a different team. It permeates through our whole basketball team.”
On getting tonight’s win…
“Like I said, it was good bounce back game for us coming off of a tough loss. All games are big, so in that sense, it was a big game.”
On Julian Champagnie’s performance…
“We sat down and visited, and I told him he just needs to be the great player he is. I thought he came out being one of the best players, not only in our conference, but in the country. He had that mindset going out. It didn’t just trigger with his jump shot; defensively, he was active. He was talking. He was more the leader tonight.”
On Posh Alexander’s versatility…
“It just shows you how his game has continued to develop. He’s affecting the game defensively, and now he’s making other guys better as well. He has that domino effect. He’s the energizer. He gets our guys going. The one play that stands out to me was we turned it over and Posh came from one baseline, came behind and deflected the ball. We got it up the floor and we got a layup out of it. He’s been playing like that. In the Providence game he had 12 assists. He’s been doing it, and we needed him to do it tonight.”
On Joel Soriano…
“I thought our guys did a good job of getting him the ball. I thought he was involved. For most big guys, if you get them the ball, they’ll do all the other stuff. I think he’s stepping into that player that we want him to become. I thought our guys did a great job of penetrating and finding him and him finishing off shots.”
Junior forward Julian Champagnie
On what he felt during the last four games…
“I was very frustrated. Everybody could tell I was frustrated. Shots weren’t falling. I couldn’t really help my team on that end of the floor. I felt like I was letting them down. That was the biggest thing. I felt like I let my team down a bunch of times.”
On his emotions after a 27-point performance…
“I’m feeling a little better. One game is one game. We have to move on the next one and build. The ultimate goal is to win. If I played well and we lost, I would be very upset right now. We turned the tide, obviously. Hopefully, there is a carryover to the next game.”
On how he felt after his first basket went in…
“It’s a confidence builder. When you’re a shooter, you have to see one go in early in the game. It starts to build [that confidence]. It builds comfortability. After that, I felt like, ‘Alright. It’s time to play.’”
On the team’s mindset at this point in the season…
“At this point in the season with the games we’ve lost and the hard-fought battles, it’s really a next-game basis. We’re not thinking about tournament this or tournament that. That’s for everybody else to talk about. What we’re focused on how we’re going to take care of Butler on Saturday. That’s what we’re worried about. Our focus is definitely on the next game, because that’s all we can control. We can’t control what happens ten games down the road. We have to take it one by one and continue to build.”