BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 9, 2023

Mike Anderson

Madison Square Garden

St. John's Red Storm

Postgame Media Conference

Marquette - 72, St. John's - 70 (OT)

COACH ANDERSON: First of all, what a game. What a game. Just proud of our guys. Proud of their effort and obviously what they accomplished up to this point. And just looking forward to -- invited to the NIT, looking forward to possibly playing some more basketball.

I love this team. I love this team.

Q. Marquette, they were doubling Soriano pretty early on in the game off the get-go. Was that something you expected?

COACH ANDERSON: Yes, we did. And I told Joel, even in the first half I think he scored one point. But he was doing his job because he was being a decoy and allow other guys to get in the lane and to make plays.

But we knew he's being getting doubled quite a bit. So we knew that. And I thought in the first half we did a good job of spreading the floor and guys attacking, making shots.

In the second half, obviously, I thought we had some lulls there, which they're a good team. They're going to make a run back at you.

But we got into overtime and we thought we had a chance to put it away. We had some good looks going down the stretch. You look at a couple shots AJ had, one in regulation and one in overtime. Even the one that Posh had right at the end.

It was a totally different game than what we had played the previous two games. It was offensive and this one here was different. The shooting was not as spectacular in terms of scoring. And maybe that's part of the defense that both teams played. But, again, Marquette is a good team.

Q. You mentioned the last shot by Alexander. Can you sort of share with us what kind of shot you were looking for and how you felt about the one that you guys got?

COACH ANDERSON: We wanted to get -- we had guys spaced out on the floor and we wanted to try to get Dylan to the hole, No. 1. He came off the screen and I thought they did a good job of jamming it up in there.

I thought Dylan did a good job of finding Posh on the wing. We also had AJ. I think we had AJ spread out there as well.

Q. You guys played a very similar game last year against Villanova in the quarterfinals. How disappointing is it that two games that mirror each other a lot --

COACH ANDERSON: I don't think they was similar. I don't think they were similar. I think it was Big East basketball, quarterfinals. They're a different team, different type of team.

But at the same time, you know, I always talk about the game being 40 minutes, not 20 minutes. And let's give them credit. I thought Tyler, I thought he took over. I thought he did a good job of making some plays for them. Got to the free-throw line.

In the first half, I don't think he had a point. In the second half, he did.

And like I said, we had our chances, and that's the beauty of March and March Madness. We're all vying for the same thing. We all want that trophy that says "Big East Tournament Champion." Because all that tells you is you're an automatic qualifier to the NCAA.

Q. Early in the year, before the year you said you thought this had the qualities of some of the your best teams and you thought it could be an NCAA Tournament team. Why do you think that didn't happen?

COACH ANDERSON: One of the things, if you go back and look at what I said, I said talent, but talent don't make a team. You've got to become a team. If you go back and look at it, that's exactly what I said. It's got to become a team.

I don't think we, between the season, between injury, guys being -- it's just a bunch of things that just didn't come together like they should have.

But I think I saw that team today. We saw that team today. We've been seeing that team here lately, as a matter of fact.

Q. You mentioned the NIT. Do you hope to be invited?

COACH ANDERSON: If there's an opportunity, our guys want to play. I'm sure our guys will want to play.

Q. Do you hope to be back as the coach at St. John's next year, Mike?

COACH ANDERSON: I just said yes, without a doubt. I look forward to this team, guys.

Q. You guys have an incredible advantage. Yesterday, yes, Manny wasn't there, but 53-29 in rebounds. Offensive rebounds were tremendous. Today, you had 20 offensive rebounds to their 11. That's a lot of points out there on the board. Terrific job. You talk about Big East basketball as far as the power.

COACH ANDERSON: We're stepping into -- that's what I said, this is the time of year you want to be playing hopefully some better basketball. I thought our guys came with everything they had. They were playing it like it was an NCAA game. That's what we did. And our backs was against the wall. We knew that coming in.

They've got a lot of heart. A lot of toughness. Like I said, I've got a locker room in there, to which you were talking about, the locker room was probably the same. It was the guys are hurting in there right now. They are. They're hurting right now.

Q. You got great production from Kolby. How proud are you of him coming to this game, what can we expect to see from him next season?

COACH ANDERSON: I think you saw flashes of it throughout the year. To see Kolby come out in this setting I think it was great because our shortage of guards. We had to give -- Posh has to get a breather. You've got Dylan out there handling the ball a lot. It was refreshing to have him come off the bench.

I thought Nyiwe, Esahia came out and gave us, and Drissa -- that's the thing I love about -- our bench was really starting to perk up and do some good things. And of course Davey, he's like a starter. But he was productive.

So I think if you look at this game here, even in the last game, I thought our bench was a huge, huge factor because you know teams are going to strategize for big Joel. They're going to strategize. And I thought the other guys, I thought they did a good job of picking up the slack.

Q. What went into the decision at the end of regulation after David Jones got that steal in the open court to not take a timeout there?

COACH ANDERSON: I was trying to call one. It happened so fast. Are you talking about in regulation?

Q. In regulation, when David Jones got the steal in the open floor.

COACH ANDERSON: We were trying to, but he made a decision to try make -- he thought he had an attack to get a foul. But we were trying to get one.

Q. Have you talked to any higher-ups at the school about your future?

COACH ANDERSON: We're talking about the game right now.