COURTESY OF ST. JOHN’S ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
St. John’s Head Coach Mike Anderson
Opening statement…
“First of all, let me compliment Brown University. … They came out in the second half and I think they made five consecutive baskets and before you knew it, the lead that we had at halftime kind of evaporated. I thought the energy was good in the second half. We got tested again. As a coach, you always worry about this particular game. There are some trap games that come after the big game. … So we’re happy with the win. … Good win against a Brown team that I think is going to do some things in the Ivy League. [Brandon] Anderson was really phenomenal for them in the second half.”
On Mustapha Heron postgame after suffering an injury…
“He was good. He was happy we won. We’re getting him evaluated. Right now, I can say it’s his right ankle and we’ll have more once we get him evaluated.”
On what Mustapha Heron means to this basketball team…
“He’s one of the leaders on the team. He and LJ [Figueroa] are like the face of the program at this particular time. I think when he talks, they listen and obviously we saw what he’s capable of doing and he can he can get some buckets for us. The thing that he’s really starting to expand on is showing people he can do some things defensively. I mean the play he got hurt on was probably one of his best defensive plays.”
“He’s big for our team…We don’t have a whole lot of room for error and so with the players that we have, we got to have them playing at a high level.”
On the significance of possibly losing Mustapha Heron…
“Next man up. It’s going to be the next man up.”
On his bench…
“They’re giving us some key moments in the game going down the stretch. … Mustapha [Heron] goes down, Greg [Williams Jr.] comes in and does some good things for us. Greg makes some free throws. David [Caraher] is right there at the end. So, [our bench] continues to evolve.”
St. John’s Guard/Forward LJ Figueroa
On what to expect from the team if Heron misses time due to injury…
“Next man up. Coach holds us all to the same standards, so next man up.”
On what Heron means to this team…
“He’s a great leader. He means everything to the team. If he’s not on the court with us, he’s talking to us on the bench, being vocal always. … Everything he does, it translates to the court and followed by him and coach.”
St. John’s Forward Josh Roberts
On what Heron means to this team…
“Him and LJ [Figueroa], they’re our leaders. We follow them seeing how they play.”
On Brown mounting a comeback in the second half…
“I feel we just let up a little bit toward the end, but we stuck together to get the job done.”
On his thoughts on the game…
“We won so I don’t feel bad, but I know that we can always improve and get better.”
Brown Head Coach Mike Martin
On St. John’s…
“They turned us over 11 times in the first half and when you turn it over to St. John’s that usually leads to a two or three down at the other end. I thought that really hurt us to start. St. John’s was sending four or five guys to the paint and that’s what they do. They presented some problems with the different defensive looks.”
