St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s Men’s Basketball vs. Villanova
Red Storm Head Coach Mike Anderson, graduate student guard Stef Smith and junior forward Julian Champagnie spoke with the media following a loss to Villanova in the BIG EAST Tournament Quarterfinal
St. John’s Head Coach Mike Anderson
Opening Statement…
“Excuse our guys. It’s a really emotional locker room there and you can understand why. I thought our guys left their hearts, guts, and everything on the floor and they just came up a little short. Congrats to Villanova. They hung in there and I guess their experience kicked in gear at the end. I thought our guys, defensively, I thought we were there. We know a lead against a Villanova team in the second half, they’re going to make a run. They have been there, they’ve done that. But even with that being said, we had an opportunity to make some plays, we didn’t. They made some plays there at the end. But again, I’ve got a hurt locker room in there. But I can’t say enough. I love those guys – love each and every one of them. I thought they brought it, they brought it. If you watched the team, they just kind of rolled over the whole season. You saw a team that probably could and should have been in the NCAA [Tournament]. But this was our ticket to get in there.”
On Posh Alexander’s foul trouble…
“I thought it had an effect. I thought we had some guys that came in and gave us some significant minutes. But it had an effect from the standpoint of even coming out in the second half, how he’s going to play when he picks up the third, then you get the fourth. But I was proud of the other guys. I thought Stef [Smith] came in and gave us great minutes, Dylan [Addae-Wusu] did as well. We just started doing some things by committee.”
On the season as a whole…
“It was a team I said had a lot of question marks. We had to find some answers. Through practices and through games, we found some of the answers. And some of the answers were we didn’t come together quicker. I wish we could have come together a lot quicker in terms of guys understanding their roles. But like everyone else, you’ve got COVID and nine new players. You’ve got guys injured. Julian [Champagnie] had surgery before the off-season. Dylan [Addae-Wusu] had surgery and didn’t even go to the off-season, didn’t go to the fall practices. So we just had a lot of things that took place, adversity, and of course, I thought guys still stayed true to who they are. They worked every day and got better. We had a lot of games that came down to a play here, a play there, just like tonight. The thing I was more disappointed tonight more so was the free-throw line discrepancy. That took place here and it took place at their place. I thought our defense was pretty good. That’s the difference and then the free-throw line tonight.”
Junior forward Julian Champagnie…
On the team’s emotion after the loss to Villanova…
“I think everybody can see our faces. It’s rough. I feel like the guys, we gave it our all. … I wouldn’t change it for nothing. The guys, we played hard today. We came out, we executed on defense and even on offense. It’s just hard.”
Graduate student guard Stef Smith…
On falling on the wrong end of another close game…
“There’s been a lot of these games where it’s close and it just comes down to one play. … We’re just thinking about how we can make that one extra play. We came up short today, we didn’t do that.”
Opening Statement…
“Excuse our guys. It’s a really emotional locker room there and you can understand why. I thought our guys left their hearts, guts, and everything on the floor and they just came up a little short. Congrats to Villanova. They hung in there and I guess their experience kicked in gear at the end. I thought our guys, defensively, I thought we were there. We know a lead against a Villanova team in the second half, they’re going to make a run. They have been there, they’ve done that. But even with that being said, we had an opportunity to make some plays, we didn’t. They made some plays there at the end. But again, I’ve got a hurt locker room in there. But I can’t say enough. I love those guys – love each and every one of them. I thought they brought it, they brought it. If you watched the team, they just kind of rolled over the whole season. You saw a team that probably could and should have been in the NCAA [Tournament]. But this was our ticket to get in there.”
On Posh Alexander’s foul trouble…
“I thought it had an effect. I thought we had some guys that came in and gave us some significant minutes. But it had an effect from the standpoint of even coming out in the second half, how he’s going to play when he picks up the third, then you get the fourth. But I was proud of the other guys. I thought Stef [Smith] came in and gave us great minutes, Dylan [Addae-Wusu] did as well. We just started doing some things by committee.”
On the season as a whole…
“It was a team I said had a lot of question marks. We had to find some answers. Through practices and through games, we found some of the answers. And some of the answers were we didn’t come together quicker. I wish we could have come together a lot quicker in terms of guys understanding their roles. But like everyone else, you’ve got COVID and nine new players. You’ve got guys injured. Julian [Champagnie] had surgery before the off-season. Dylan [Addae-Wusu] had surgery and didn’t even go to the off-season, didn’t go to the fall practices. So we just had a lot of things that took place, adversity, and of course, I thought guys still stayed true to who they are. They worked every day and got better. We had a lot of games that came down to a play here, a play there, just like tonight. The thing I was more disappointed tonight more so was the free-throw line discrepancy. That took place here and it took place at their place. I thought our defense was pretty good. That’s the difference and then the free-throw line tonight.”
Junior forward Julian Champagnie…
On the team’s emotion after the loss to Villanova…
“I think everybody can see our faces. It’s rough. I feel like the guys, we gave it our all. … I wouldn’t change it for nothing. The guys, we played hard today. We came out, we executed on defense and even on offense. It’s just hard.”
Graduate student guard Stef Smith…
On falling on the wrong end of another close game…
“There’s been a lot of these games where it’s close and it just comes down to one play. … We’re just thinking about how we can make that one extra play. We came up short today, we didn’t do that.”