BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2021

Mike Anderson

St. John's Red Storm

Madison Square Garden

Postgame Media Conference

Seton Hall 77, St. John's 69

THE MODERATOR: Coach, if you would like to make an opening statement.

COACH ANDERSON: First of all, congratulations to Seton Hall for advancing in the tournament. Obviously it's a different season. And you could just tell how they came out, the sense of urgency you've got to play with this time of year. But they had more of it in the first half than we did. We were fortunate to be down one at halftime. But I thought we gathered ourselves, and the game went back and forth.

Their rebounding, I think, was a big difference in this game. Of course with rebounding we foul them, now you put them on the free-throw line, and there's a discrepancy where they had more free throws than we did.

We didn't shoot the ball particularly well. I just thought we were not quite in sync. We had some spurts there where our defense was really engaged. But when you don't shoot the ball well -- you look in the overtime we got the game to overtime with a stop there at the end. I don't think we even make -- I think we have two field goals in that time. 2-for-9, 0-for-5 from three-point land, and we had some good looks that didn't go down. They were able to go down, cash in on the free-throw line.

So hats off to them. That's some experience we can chalk up that our guys get a chance to learn about Big East basketball.

Q. I thought Lenn Robbins put it well, "It was like a rock fight." It was such a competitive ballgame in that regard. What was it like to be back in the Garden to play a game like this with so much on the line with the Big East Tournament?

COACH ANDERSON: It was great, but it was kind of unusual. When I walked in there, I said man, we're back home. But when you go out and play, it's just a different type of environment.

But it was good to get back and see all the people here that make it such a great place for us. But again you're in the Big East Tournament. You've got to be able to survive and advance. We didn't.

And the game was at their pace was, I thought for the most part. When we sped them up it tended to go in our favor. We had a bunch of shots that we didn't knock down. But our defensive time was relaxed in the first half. But I thought in the second half we were much, much better. But you're right, it was a grind, is what it was. And this time of the year you're just trying to find a way to win.

But our guys have nothing to hold their heads down. They played against a very good Seton Hall team. We just played five days ago. Familiarity, we know who they are.

If you look at what took place in the game, who are the guys who stepped up for them. Guys who have been in this tournament for many, many years, Sandro, Rhoden and Cale and of course obviously Reynolds runs the show. He never panics.

Q. If you guys are invited, will you go to the NIT?

COACH ANDERSON: We'll continue to play. We will continue to play. I think these guys, right now the only thing on our mind right now is we just lost a game. So our guys are hurting.

We'll get back to the hotel and kind of meet and see what our plans are. But if given the opportunity, I think it would be beneficial for this team here. It's a new basketball team. And a lot of people, a lot of guys that are coming back.

Q. When you look at the experience, you mentioned the experience factor, Julian is a sophomore, and Posh is a freshman. Their best players are juniors and seniors. How much of a difference did you feel that was in the second half and in overtime?

COACH ANDERSON: I thought it was. They never panicked. They had a calmness about them. And they made plays, they did. They got all the lose balls it seemed like. There were some shots that went up and all we had to do was come up with a rebound. Seemed like we just couldn't get it. And Sandro, him posting up, obviously he draws a lot of attention. Sometimes they made the right play out of that trap.

But no question about it. You can tell they've been there. That's why I say the sense of urgency and just how they played going down the stretch.

Q. The first question is about Moore. Do you think that their size, do you think he could have made a difference for you today? I know that he only played three minutes on Saturday. But given the way that they blocked shots and things like that, do you think Moore would have made a difference?

COACH ANDERSON: Without a doubt. I think his versatility. What they did today was just clog the lane up, switched a lot, mixed their defense up. We did a good job of attacking. You have to have someone finish it. They ended up with ten blocked shots. I think his versatility, his grit, the basketball IQ, opens up the floor. Not only that, he's one of our better rebounders as well.

Q. About Julian, he hasn't had very many off-shooting nights where he's not very good the whole way through. And do you feel like this is just something that they did to him, or do you think he just had an off-night?

COACH ANDERSON: Just gotta go through it. He played a lot of minutes. You think about that. I think he got tired. He had some great looks out there. He just couldn't knock them down. Of course, their playbook is going to be to make him work for everything that he gets. And early on he was making shots for us, making plays for us. But it's just one of those nights where it didn't happen for him.

Even, like I say, over time we're down two, he has one of the greatest looks he normally catches going down the stretch. It just didn't go in. You have some of those nights. But he's had an unbelievable year. Great year, great young man. And we'll just continue to get better.

Q. Josh Roberts only played 11 minutes. Was there a reason he didn't play as much as others would anticipate?

COACH ANDERSON: Obviously with that team they were packing the lane. And they just -- just got set in the lane. We had to draw them out so we could get some attacks to the basket. So it's just the way the game was going. Josh, I thought he played as hard as he can. And as hard as he could. He picked up some quick fouls, I think, in the second half. Got his third foul really quick early on.

Q. Have Rasheem Dunn and you talked about what his next potential move is for the next upcoming season? Have you and Rasheem Dunn talked to each other about what's going to happen to him and his situation?

COACH ANDERSON: We're in the season right here. We're in this season. So no, we haven't talked about it.