“I don’t know. When I get to the locker room, I’ll see. I don’t know. I think Femi’s in a boot and something with Sanders, I think he strained his groin or something like that. Story of our season so far.”
On his message after the game:
“Yeah, I’m not very happy right now. I’m not going to say too much because I don’t want too much to come out. I’m not very happy. If you want to be a good team, you can’t finish games like that, you’ve got to be able to take the next step. I’m disappointed because we’ve got a bunch of older guys, but we’re still very immature. We’ve got to grow, we’ve got to watch this and grow from it, and get ready for Saturday. But if you guys got some other questions, I really don’t want to answer questions about things I said to them in the locker room, we can talk about the game.”
On Dre Davis:
“It’s good to have him back. He brings another older guy that’s been through it, that could score, could pass, could shoot. It’s good to have him out there, plus he helps the rotations.”
On Kadary Richmond’s defense:
“I think he’s got spurts. Sunday, he had like, seven steals, but tonight, I thought he was not very good on defense. Like I said, that’s being mature. These guys gotta start looking themselves in the mirror. But he’s growing, he’s growing.”
On Tray Jackson:
“I’m happy for him. He’s been in a little funk, I’ve been trying to get him to get out of it, trying to move him around a little bit. He’s gotta play the position, we really don’t have anybody else, it’s almost because he’s 6’10”, right? You’ve almost got to play that position, but I’m kind of moving him around on offense a little bit, not rolling so much, having him pop, and it’s good to have him hit a couple of shots because we need him. We need him to score, I need his confidence, I need him to be upbeat, so I think tonight was a good stepping stone for him.”
On Jamir Harris:
“I think he’s pressing a little bit, right? I think he’s pressing. Jamir’s going to be fine. He’s a sixth-year senior, he’s been around. He’s just gotta see one or two go in, but he’s pressing right now, he’s living and dying with every shot, and I told him, ‘you can’t do that. Go get a couple of layups, get to the free throw line, see the ball go through the basket.’ And I think once that starts happening, he’s going to be fine because he’s a worker. He works hard.”
On the non-conference season and Saturday’s Big East opener against Providence:
“It’s going to be a tough game. (Providence is) very well-coached, they play hard, they’re scrappy. I know we came out of the non-conference 7-4 and it looks bad, but to me, it’s really not bad. I thought 8-3, we could go 9-2. I think that Siena loss really kind of stings a little bit, but if you take that loss away, now you’re what, 8-3? Now it doesn’t look as bad. And I’m good with it. After we came back from Kansas, I said, ‘we’re 4-4 and now we’re starting over 0-0.’ So now we’re 3-0. That’s how we’re kind of taking the season, that’s how I’m taking an approach. And then we’re getting ready to play in conference, the best conference in the country, against the regular season champs from last year. I’ve got to get back and see who’s going to be here, and then kind of make a game plan from there.”
On seeing Seton Hall’s identity:
“Spurts. I think we came out in the second half and I don’t think they scored in the first eight minutes, right? And then we kind of get lazy and we kind of think the game is out of hand. Everybody who knows college basketball knows if you make some threes, you’re right back in the game and the momentum could swing really, really quick. That’s what happened tonight, and that’s what I was afraid was going to happen. But yeah, spurts. You see Sunday, I thought we had a good game plan, we locked in and I thought we came out being aggressive this game, and then the second half, I thought the first eight minutes were unbelievable and we saw the last eight minutes were not really good at all.”
On positives from the first 30 minutes:
“Energy. I told the guys we’ve got to create our own energy. I knew it wouldn’t be a great crowd tonight, especially the student section. We’re in finals, so even with our guys, we’re drained right now. When you’re studying, and we haven’t been in school for a while, it’s finals time right now. So I told the guys to create our own energy. We’ve gotta play with that same passion and energy we played with Sunday. If we play with that the whole game, I think we’ll be fine.”
On Seton Hall’s resilience:
“I told you guys this at media day: Think about going into our first game against Monmouth, together we had four or five practices as a group. And I told you guys back then, it was going to be steps. I know everybody wanted it right away — I wanted it right away — but that’s not realistic. So I think for us to battle the way we’ve battled and have some tough games, for the most part, these young men are battling. I’m not happy with the last 10 minutes, but for the most part, whoever’s on the court, whoever’s practicing can give me what they’ve got and that’s all I can ask for. This is another step, you get another win at home, take care of home, then we get a couple of days to prepare for Providence and kind of go from there.”
On benefits to recruiting from beating Rutgers:
“I don’t know. You tell me. I don’t know about all that. At the end of the day, yes, that’s a very good win for us, a very good Rutgers team — especially there — but we’ve got to build on it. As far as recruiting, right now, recruiting is just completely different. It ain’t about me trying to go out and get somebody, it’s about what I can give that person. And that’s what it’s going to be moving forward everywhere. Recruiting and how it used to be, you guys need to forget about that. That stuff is over with.”
On not knowing what kind of team he has yet:
“I think we’re building, Dan. This team, we’re still going through it. Every other game, somebody hasn’t been in the lineup, right? We’ve got ten guys, so everybody’s key. Now I’ve got to go back to the drawing board tonight and be up all night and try to figure out if two guys are out, what I’m gonna do with the lineup and how I’m going to do subs and all that. That stuff is draining, man, but guess what? That’s part of the job, and I’m okay with it.”
On his relationship with Ed Cooley:
“We spoke early on. Ed is good, man. Ed is like a big brother, he’s super positive, super supportive of me, I’m supportive of him, but right now, he’s trying to take my head off. And that’s kind of what it is, I get it, I understand it, and I want to take his head off as well. After the game, after the season, I guess we’ll go back to being brothers, but right now it’s time to put that aside and play basketball. I think him and (Greg) McDermott are the longest guys in the league, right, if I’m not mistaken? Ed’s been around for a long time and everybody respects him, he’s on a couple of NCAA boards reporting back to us all the new stuff that’s going on, so yeah, you could say he’s the guy everybody looks to. But the league is experienced with coaches, and Ed’s been here, everybody respects him.”
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