La Salle Explorers vs Saint Joseph’s Hawks
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Tom Gola Arena
Postgame Quotes
Dr. John Giannini Opening Statement
The healthier team won today and we played well. I knew they would make us earn it. I thought they played really well at VCU without Fresh (Lamarr Kimble) and really had a chance to win against a great team in a tough environment, so even without (Kimble) we had a lot of respect for them. So we obviously played pretty well up until the last ten minutes. Our defense was better in the first half, getting Pookie back is huge. He did what he normally does, he scores, gets assists, and doesn’t turn the ball over, he plays good defense. Some teams, like Villanova in the Big East and Dayton in the A-10 seem to be able to absorb injuries. Most of the rest of us, it affects us. You’d like to say "next man up" but that’s not easy for a lot of teams. Amar had another great game, six assists, Jordan passed the ball well, we played well. Our defense wasn’t great the last ten minutes, but other than that I was pleased with everyone else.
On Opportunities to Improve in the A-10 Standings
Amar Stukes: This is a huge opportunity for us. I’m very confident in the team, in our coaches, I think we can win out the rest of our games and it's really important for us to do that. The league is so tough, every game matters, so we just gotta get the next game, gotta get ready for Rhode Island.
Coach Giannini: That’s our goal all year, to be a postseason team, to someday win an A-10 championship. It’s not going to be a regular season championship this year because we did fall too often, but like everyone in the A-10 you hope you can win the tournament. Seeding is critical for that. We know Rhode Island is a heck of a challenge, they come in here with so much motivation and with a veteran, really talented team. So it’s gonna be a real battle Tuesday night.
On Ball Movement Offensively
Coach Giannini: There was one possession we had where B.J. made a three that I said was our best possession all year, it was a thing of beauty, but still like a lot of teams, we just want to be more consistent. There were some great possessions in there.
On Momentum Going into Postseason
Coach Giannini: You know, that’s still two weeks away, I think we’re all obsessed with Tuesday. The seeding is important, I know the seeding is important…you could find examples of momentum and examples of teams that didn’t play well late. I really hate to be boring, but it’s really about the next game and the seeding.
