Quote Center: St. John's Postgame vs. Providence
COURTESY OF ST. JOHN’S RED STORM ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE
St. John’s Head Coach Chris Mullin:
On the team’s overall effort…
“Coming in, the first thing on the board was physicality and that is them trying to run the flex, posting us up, get us in the paint and team rebounding. We weren’t horrible in the post. When you get a stop and then you don’t get the ball back, it demoralizes your offense and defense. [Providence] had 16 [offensive rebounds]. Some of them were actually after some good defensive possessions late in the clock. … Offensive rebounds just spread you, and then they kick out for threes and things like that. … “I didn’t think we had much pace offensively either. I’d have to say it was there physicality and their offensive rebounds that stuck out to me.”
On how hard it was to adjust without Mustapha Heron in the lineup…
“A game like this, where they are going to play a lot of zone, having another shooter is a big factor. We still gave up 16 offensive rebounds. … The goal was to match their physicality, when we do get stops, get some clean rebounds and get out to the open floor to get some flow into the game. [Mustapha] is one of our best players. Of course it had an impact.”
On what the team needs to improve on…
“Rebounding. The games we won our defense has been solid, and the other parts, turnovers to assist ratio is fine, but if we get stops and then give them the ball back and give them more chances, then you are going to lose that game. The other parts of the game are still important, but when you give them 16 extra [possessions] that’s going to cost you.”
On Josh Roberts off the bench…
“I thought he did a great job. His energy stuck out, which is what we need. A part of playing sports is playing with passion and energy. That’s not extra, that’s a prerequisite. Then the other stuff will fall in place, but yes, I thought he stuck out, so that is a good job of him. I don’t think he should have been the only one with that energy.”
On the differences between home and away games…
“I have to look at each game individually. The last two road games we played really well and the last two home games we haven’t. I’m not quite sure if the building had a huge affect, it is just how we played. Tough one to figure out.”
Redshirt Senior forward Marvin Clark II:
On playing without Mustapha Heron…
“[Mustapha Heron] is one of our better scorers, but the game wasn’t won because we didn’t score the ball. The game [was lost] because we didn’t rebound well enough.”
On what went wrong…
“They rebounded the heck out of the ball on the offensive end and that’s where we went wrong. Those offensive rebounds that we should have taken away that leads to transition buckets and leads to the energy from the crowd. … I want to tip my hat off to them. They did a great job of coming in here and making the game physical, slowing it down, crashing the glass and they came here and stole a win.
On the team’s home struggles…
“We’re not hurting anybody but ourselves. Like I said, I look myself in the eye and then when I’m talking to my teammates, we all have to look each other in the eye and we have to string something together or we’re just going to be another talented St. John’s team.”