Quote Center: St. John's Postgame vs. Missouri

Head Coach Chris Mullin

Overall thoughts on loss to Missouri:
"They have great shooters, but we knew that coming in. I thought for the most part we had some good possessions on defense, but we have to take care of the inside-out [game]. We have to be able to contest shots… They went 14-of-27 from three, so you have to give them some credit."

On Shamorie Ponds and his game:
"Yeah Shamorie is one of our better players, and I thought he played a good game. It's kind of what he does."

On whether Missouri's zone defense bothered St. John's:
"I thought we got going in man-to-man, and they went zone to slow us down. We had some decent looks and got into some foul trouble though, so we couldn't get our ideal lineup in. We did fine, we got shots. It's not bad that they [shots] look different or that they take longer. We aren't really looking to have everything in three seconds or on highlight film anyway, so moving the ball around and getting good looks is most important."

On thoughts following 1-1 record through two games in The AdvoCare Invitational:
"Better yesterday, but today's game I thought we got off to a bad start…they pounded us on the boards. We got back into the game before the half, and went on a nice run to begin the second half…then they got hot as well. So, I thought overall it was a pretty well-played game. However, they came out on the winning end."

On playing aggressively on defense without getting in foul trouble:
"I think on defense we want to apply pressure, but not gamble. I think applying pressure will force turnovers, and sometimes when we get down we get a little over-zealous and gamble for steals. Most of the time that opens up good things, but sometimes it opens up other things. Overall I thought we played well…we played against a good team. It's not like we are going to stop them every time, and in particular they got hot from three."

On whether foul trouble for Marvin Clark II effected playing against a zone defense:
"He's probably one of our better shooters and he was on the bench, so yeah it has an effect. But, does he go in and knock down seven shots?…I'm not sure. Fouls were what they were."