COURTESY OF ST. JOHN’S ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
St. John’s Head Coach Mike Anderson
Opening statement…
“I thought the three point line was the difference and that’s what [Creighton] does. They had some momentum shots. We cut the lead to two on two occasions. … We scored twos, they scored threes and that shows you the explosiveness of their basketball team. … I’m proud of our guys’ effort. I thought our guys fought, just didn’t have enough in the tank when it was all set and done.”
On the team’s turnovers…
“To me, it wasn’t about the turnovers. They took care of the basketball. I thought our pressure wasn’t to necessarily steal the basketball. When we did get into it I thought we were disruptive. They take care of the basketball. I thought we didn’t do a really good job of keeping the ball in front of us. The defense has to be much, much better.”
On if the team used the press less this game…
“We mixed it up. It isn’t about the press, I don’t think people get that. I thought when we went into it, we were disruptive.”
On Marcellus Earlington’s three-point shooting…
“He’s a guy that works on it. … If you watch our team through the course of the year, we’re getting more guys that are starting to really get more confident in their roles with what they’re bringing to the table. I just want to see us put it all together on one night.”
On the team’s effort…
“We played competitive, we were right there. … I thought we came out in the second half and we scored, they scored, it went back and forth. Then we caught up with 12 minutes to go and it’s a two-point game. Then with 11 minutes to go, it was a two-point game. That’s when to me, our defense really had to dig in and start going.”
On LJ Figueroa…
“They paid a lot of attention to him. That allowed other guys to have pretty decent games. He’s the target. Coming into this year, he’s on the top of the scouting report and it probably did get frustrating.”
