St. John’s Postgame Quotes after vs. Colgate

Opening statement…
“I thought we played efficiently. Defensively, we were really good against a team that you know is going to shoot the basketball. They made multiple threes. [Jack] Ferguson was on fire. I thought we did a better job in the second half. Our bench came to play. I always tell our guys [to] be ready. We saw Aaron [Wheeler] stay ready. He came off [the bench] and gave us a big lift. Every guy that came off the bench contributed in a great way. What it does is it allows the guys that start out to get some rest. We saw that Julian [Champagnie], from one half to the second half, played less minutes and was really effective. That’s what we’re looking for from this team, [to] get that balance where we’re playing defense and where we continue to attack on the offensive end, sharing the basketball. [It was] a good win against a good Colgate team. They were minus one of their better players in [Nelly] Cummings, but they have good players. They’re an experienced team.”

On Aaron Wheeler’s performance…
“He played well. He played like the Aaron [Wheeler] I thought would play [like]. He has a lot of potential and he brought it to the game today. That’s what we expect out of him and the key is going to be consistency. The beauty of it is it wasn’t predicated on offense. … I thought [Wheeler] got energized. I thought he got into the game. He played well.”

On the team’s progress…
“I think we are getting there. We are taking steps. Like I said, it’s a process. The three things I talked about was our defense, turnovers and [defensive] field-goal percentage, keeping that down. Rebound the basketball [is important]. We [outrebounded] at halftime. I thought we turned up a notch in terms of getting to the glass and rebounding the basketball [in the second half]. We ended up winning the rebounding war. We’re getting more guys that are contributing.”

On Rafael Pinzon…
“He’s oozing with confidence. I keep using that word: he’s got moxie. He won’t back down. He’ll screw up and make a mistake, but he won’t back down from anybody. I’ve seen it in practice every single day. He has short-term memory. When you look at him and O’Mar [Stanley], they bring a lot to the table. They got a chance to showcase. He’s got [a] good basketball IQ. He plays with a nice flair and [is] basketball savvy. … The more experience he gets, it adds to our basketball team.”

Graduate student forward Aaron Wheeler

On providing energy off the bench…
“Coming off the bench it’s important to make an impact immediately and that’s not always [by] scoring. Bringing energy is important.”

On how the bench play helps the team…
“I think the [bench] is going to be a big part of our team. The way that we play, guys are going to get tired. When [the bench] comes in we try not to take a step back. It’ll be very important to have everyone contributing. It’ll be a big factor for our team down the road.”

Junior forward Julian Champagnie

On becoming the 52^nd player in program history to reach 1,000 career points…
“It’s exciting to join a great list of guys who did that here. I do take pride in it, but it’s onto the next game.”

On the team continuing to put the pieces together…
“After the Kansas game, we knew we had to fix some things and pick it up to play the basketball we know how to play. Coach [Mike Anderson] always preaches for us to get better every single game.”

On freshman guard Rafael Pinzon who poured in a season-high 14 points…
“I was proud of him. He came out with the right mindset. … Everyone was so proud of him, that’s how we hope he plays every game. Whether he plays 17 minutes or five, we need him to come out every game and [continue to] play hard.”