COURTESY OF ST. JOHN'S ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
St. John’s Head Coach Mike Anderson
On Wednesday night’s loss to Providence and playing on the road in conference...
"We left a lot of plays out there on the floor. Missed layups, turning the ball over early, [we] some hurried shots. … I thought our defense was good enough, but when you play on the road you have to do so many things. You have to have a short term memory in conference play. We have five out of our first eight games on the road so let’s see if we can get some home cooking, take care of the home court against a Seton Hall team that’s playing really, really well.”
On Seton Hall…
"Of course [Myles] Powell is a great, great player. The [Romaro] Gill kid is playing well, the [Quincy] McKnight kid playing the point. They just have some veteran kids. They don’t get rattled easy, so it will be a big ball game for us without a doubt. They have a lot of size. They’re one of the taller teams maybe in the country, so how do you negate that? We have to get the game obviously up and down the floor. We can’t let them just pound us on the glass. That’s something we really have to shore up, keeping them off the glass and not letting them just get inside because if they get inside they’ll get to the free throw line. We had that [at] Providence."
On Ian Steere...
"I just want to see the effort, maximum effort, that’s the biggest key. I’m an effort guy. If you give me a second, third or fourth effort then you’re going to have a chance. Just a sense of urgency. He’ll get an opportunity to play and [we’ll] see if he can bring it. … I want him to just go out and do what he can to help our team. I think he wants to and he’ll get an opportunity."
On what he likes from his team so far...
"I think the energy level has been pretty consistent. I think they fight. They fight and give themselves a chance. It’s a process when you talk about a brand new team competing and learning how to win at home and learning how to win on the road and of course the games continue to get bigger and better. Our league is really, really good and so you have to be on top of your game and we’re a team that we don’t have a lot of room for error so we have to have guys playing well. LJ [Figueroa] has to play well. Mustapha [Heron] has to play well. Our bench has to continue to impact this basketball team.”
On LJ Figueroa...
"He’s a guy that slashes to the hole and that’s what he does. He rebounds the basketball. And that’s what I said [to him], ‘get back to who you are.’ He’ll be fine. Sometimes you get caught up in it, but he’ll be fine.”
On playing another nationally-ranked team...
“I think the games we’ve played have hopefully prepared us for BIG EAST play. We played a pretty good non-conference schedule and [Seton Hall] is one of the teams that’s playing really, really well right now.”
St. John’s Guard/Forward LJ Figueroa
On getting back to being the player that he is…
“I feel like the last couple of games, ever since conference play started, I’ve been speeding up my shots a little more. Not playing with the regular flow that I play with, trying to speed things up. [Coach Anderson] wants me to take it a notch down, play my type of basketball and do what I do best. Be on the attack mode. If you’re open shoot the ball, just don’t settle and bail the defense out. Keep the pressure on the defense and always be on attack mode.”
On the transition from last season with teams focusing on him…
“It’s definitely been a big transition. … I just have to learn how to be more of an off-ball player, cut more and do more things on the offensive side that can help my teammates out.”
On providing veteran leadership to this team with Mustapha Heron…
“We just have to run coach’s system and play our type of basketball. Speed up the team’s defense and get easy transition buckets.”
On responsibilities shared with Mustapha Heron…
“As leaders of this team we got to set the standards, set the bar high and the guys will follow. The goal is to win games. We’re just trying to do whatever we can to fix that and come home with a win.”
On if Ian Steere…
“He can definitely help us. I feel like [Coach Anderson] is trying to get the best out of him. Ian is a very talented player. Our fans haven’t gotten to see him yet. His game is coming.”