St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: WBIT Second Round St. John's at Toledo
St. John's Women's Basketball Head Coach Joe Tartamella spoke to the media after the 72-71 defeat at Toledo in the WBIT Second Round
St. John’s Head Coach Joe Tartamella
Opening Statement…
“Obviously, great atmosphere to play in and first time out here. I’ve been doing this long enough to know the tradition here and what Coach Cullop has done. She has, in a way for me and my career, been a pioneer in moving our game forward. So, I’ve always enjoyed being around her and obviously respect everything she’s done in her coaching career. For our circumstances and everyone has different ones, for this group and the way that we’ve played all year, I’m really proud of them because you start 2-5 and you started in August when we went overseas. Our roster is down to six guys that are our normal rotation. At this time of year, you must almost be perfect on the road against this kind of team that doesn’t lose a lot at home. I thought we fought. I thought the way we started the game obviously was fantastic. I thought we did everything we needed to do. I thought we probably got a little tired. Watching [Toledo’s] games, obviously I’ve seen them go on runs when they come back and that’s what we talked about at halftime. So, I was a little disappointed with how we came out of the half. At the end of it, we were 5-for-11 from the free-throw line. As tough as it was on the glass, they did a good job exploiting us with our foul trouble. I think we had our chances at the end and credit to them for being able to execute a little more than we did today. But I’m just truly proud of the group we have, with a mixture of veteran leadership and youth. When I look at my team from last year, we had six players who graduated, we lost a ton, didn’t have a lot of expectations this year and I think we surpassed a lot of them. So, to finish third in the BIG EAST is something I will never take for granted and I told our players in [the locker room] that they should leave with their heads held high. They battled and they could have let the game get away in the second half when [Toledo] had their runs. I’m just proud of my guys, it’s a tough way to lose, especially when you’ve controlled most of it and then they did what they needed to do to turn it on.”
On the play in the post…
“When you have two players that are bigs in your rotation and they have fouls out of the gate, it’s kind of difficult. I think it was an issue and I also think we did our best, but they did a good job of exploiting it. The first missed shot wasn’t the problem it was the second one that they got. She did a good job of getting back a few times on us. So, I thought that was really where it hurt us more. Obviously, we were short bigs but we found a way to kind of mixture it but we couldn’t hang on.”
On the crowd tonight…
“Look, we play at UConn, we play in front of 10,000 people. It’s great to have people in the stands, it’s great to see the game have fans like this, I think that’s the biggest thing. I told them in the locker room, you get to play here in front of 4,000 fans instead of playing in front of 300 somewhere else. It’s why you play the game. It’s why you compete. It’s the fun part. It’s a part of growing too. For our younger players, they have to be able to handle it. I don’t mind people yelling at me, when other things go on during the game we need to be able to handle ourselves on the court.”
On what went wrong in the final five minutes…
“It was just more like an avalanche. I think we got a little tight, there’s no doubt about it. We weren’t able to get low, they prevented us from making that comeback, putting us in a tougher spot. I don’t think we executed as well as we would have liked. We were like a half a second late on certain things that we were quick with. But again, that comes with fatigue and having different lineups. I thought we still fought, and to have a chance with the ball in hand to still tie it, I don’t think we could ask for anything more in the game. Our job is to put them in a position to win, that’s how I look at it and I thought our kids really battled through it. That’s how the games go, if you watch our team, to score 71 is high for us. We had 37 at half, we probably played the best offensively we had all year these last two games. Look, we had our chance, I think we haven’t shot 5-for-11 from the line all year, so that’s tough to swallow.”
Opening Statement…
“Obviously, great atmosphere to play in and first time out here. I’ve been doing this long enough to know the tradition here and what Coach Cullop has done. She has, in a way for me and my career, been a pioneer in moving our game forward. So, I’ve always enjoyed being around her and obviously respect everything she’s done in her coaching career. For our circumstances and everyone has different ones, for this group and the way that we’ve played all year, I’m really proud of them because you start 2-5 and you started in August when we went overseas. Our roster is down to six guys that are our normal rotation. At this time of year, you must almost be perfect on the road against this kind of team that doesn’t lose a lot at home. I thought we fought. I thought the way we started the game obviously was fantastic. I thought we did everything we needed to do. I thought we probably got a little tired. Watching [Toledo’s] games, obviously I’ve seen them go on runs when they come back and that’s what we talked about at halftime. So, I was a little disappointed with how we came out of the half. At the end of it, we were 5-for-11 from the free-throw line. As tough as it was on the glass, they did a good job exploiting us with our foul trouble. I think we had our chances at the end and credit to them for being able to execute a little more than we did today. But I’m just truly proud of the group we have, with a mixture of veteran leadership and youth. When I look at my team from last year, we had six players who graduated, we lost a ton, didn’t have a lot of expectations this year and I think we surpassed a lot of them. So, to finish third in the BIG EAST is something I will never take for granted and I told our players in [the locker room] that they should leave with their heads held high. They battled and they could have let the game get away in the second half when [Toledo] had their runs. I’m just proud of my guys, it’s a tough way to lose, especially when you’ve controlled most of it and then they did what they needed to do to turn it on.”
On the play in the post…
“When you have two players that are bigs in your rotation and they have fouls out of the gate, it’s kind of difficult. I think it was an issue and I also think we did our best, but they did a good job of exploiting it. The first missed shot wasn’t the problem it was the second one that they got. She did a good job of getting back a few times on us. So, I thought that was really where it hurt us more. Obviously, we were short bigs but we found a way to kind of mixture it but we couldn’t hang on.”
On the crowd tonight…
“Look, we play at UConn, we play in front of 10,000 people. It’s great to have people in the stands, it’s great to see the game have fans like this, I think that’s the biggest thing. I told them in the locker room, you get to play here in front of 4,000 fans instead of playing in front of 300 somewhere else. It’s why you play the game. It’s why you compete. It’s the fun part. It’s a part of growing too. For our younger players, they have to be able to handle it. I don’t mind people yelling at me, when other things go on during the game we need to be able to handle ourselves on the court.”
On what went wrong in the final five minutes…
“It was just more like an avalanche. I think we got a little tight, there’s no doubt about it. We weren’t able to get low, they prevented us from making that comeback, putting us in a tougher spot. I don’t think we executed as well as we would have liked. We were like a half a second late on certain things that we were quick with. But again, that comes with fatigue and having different lineups. I thought we still fought, and to have a chance with the ball in hand to still tie it, I don’t think we could ask for anything more in the game. Our job is to put them in a position to win, that’s how I look at it and I thought our kids really battled through it. That’s how the games go, if you watch our team, to score 71 is high for us. We had 37 at half, we probably played the best offensively we had all year these last two games. Look, we had our chance, I think we haven’t shot 5-for-11 from the line all year, so that’s tough to swallow.”