Quote Center: St. John's Postgame vs. Maryville
COURTESY OF ST. JOHN’S RED STORM ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE
Head Coach Chris Mullin:
On the importance of exhibition games:
“I think anytime you step on the court for practice, games, shootaround, you have to approach it as a competition and with the right attitude. Everything we do counts.”
On takeaways from tonight’s game:
“I thought Maryville was a great team. Great energy. Great hustle. Unselfish. They shot the three ball tremendously. From our standpoint we have a long way to go. It looks like a hyped up team, not a team. We have to become more like a team. I think that there is a lot of hype around this team. Preseason hype, whatever it may be. I don’t really pay attention to any of that but we have a long way to go.”
On managing the hype:
“You manage it with your play. That’s what you manage. Have to bring effort, energy and preparation. That’s what you manage. It requires all of that.”
On team’s chemistry this early into the season:
“If the team plays hard, it will help the process of building the team chemistry in the long run.”
On LJ Figueroa:
“I liked LJ’s energy. I thought he was one guy who brought a lot of energy and was anxious to play. You could see his energy was ok. His decision-making and execution was not on point, but it will improve.”
On team’s effort tonight:
“In general, I’m very disappointed by our effort and energy. It was a big issue tonight.”
Redshirt Senior Forward Marvin Clark II:
On preparation for today’s game:
“We take the same approach heading into every game. Hats off to Maryville. That’s a great shooting team. Tonight we tried to make some shots fall. We couldn’t make shots fall early on, but we allowed our defensive rebounding to get our offense going.”
On the team chemistry:
“This team is definitely different and this was our first game playing together. We definitely got to build up our team chemistry, as far as figuring out what our best lineups are. We also have to figure out how to get Mustapha [Heron] back into the rotation. It’s definitely a big piece of us gelling together. That only comes by playing together.”
On dealing with expectations:
“[Expectations] are something that we definitely block out. We don’t really pay attention to all of that noise. At the end of the day, all of the hype is hype. The results we had last year were negative results. At the same time, it’s on us to figure it out. I think we’ve got to gel as a team. These next three practices before our matchup with Loyola will be key for us.”
On positives from tonight’s game:
“I would say rebounding. … Of course they were a smaller team, but I feel like we definitely gang rebounded tonight and that’s going to be a big key for us when it comes down to the BIG EAST season.”
Sophomore Guard LJ Figueroa:
On offensive struggles:
“We go out there and play hard every single game. We didn’t make as many shots as we wanted to. ... When we do play a real game in the BIG EAST, it’s going to help us figure out how to fight hard to come away with wins in the end.”
On the team chemistry…
“I’ve never played with a team like this with some of its talent. Being on the court with great players makes the game a lot easier. Getting the team chemistry up is going to help us down the road.”
Maryville Head Coach Marc Stricker:
On tonight’s game:
“First off, a big thanks goes out to Coach Mullin and his staff for giving us this game. It’s not easy for Division II teams to get games like this and when our guys found out we had this game, they were ecstatic. I really appreciate St. John’s, they have been first class the whole way, and hospitality has been great.”
“The St. John’s folks are going to have a lot to root for this year. One of their most talented guys didn’t play tonight but their length, athleticism and toughness, they are going to win a lot of ball games this year, and I’m excited to watch those guys progress throughout the year. As far as our team goes, we did okay. I’m happy with the way we played. We got into so tough spots but dug out of them, and we found a lot of things we have to get better at rebounding the ball and taking care of the ball.”