“That’s a good question. You gotta give Saint Peter’s credit, they came here, they had a good game plan, they played hard. I told our guys they were gonna scrap and claw and fight, and they did. I think for 37 minutes, that’s what they did. They outhustled us. They got all the 50-50 balls, they got all the loose balls. I think the game changed when Dylan finally started playing like Dylan, when he dove on the floor for that loose ball, he went down and scored and started playing. I need that from him. He’s gotta be our energy guy. Every team has an energy guy, he’s gotta be our energy guy and he wasn’t doing it, he hasn’t been doing it for the last couple weeks in practice, I don’t know why. But it was good to get him going, he got going and that’s how we got going, to tell you the truth.”
On Seton Hall’s captains and their production:
“Of course, but I think our young guys have to step up. I’ll be honest with you guys, I thought this game was gonna be the way it was. We haven’t been playing well and practicing well, and it’s due to a lot of things, I don’t want to make any excuses, but just getting guys back. Like I said, tonight was a good first step for us and a good building block. Like I told them on the radio, I’m taking a positive out of this, right? The positive is we’re going to get better. I think this is kind of where I don’t want to be, but if you’re peaking right now, you’re in trouble, I don’t care who you are, whatever team it is. So I think that we’ve got a lot of room to get better, and to answer the question with our two big guys, we asked our big guys the last couple games to play against 6’6 guys, guys who are 6’6, 6’7. When they play against guys who are 6’10, 6’11, I think you’ll see the type of guys that they are. I think they’re gonna be okay, they’re gonna go in there and do what they do. The last couple games, you didn’t get a chance to see what Elijah could do. He’s a skilled big guy who could shoot the basketball, Jaden needs to play hard. Once they get in shape and learn our concepts, they’re gonna be better.”
On Seton Hall’s frontcourt:
“We’re just trying to get a feel, to tell you the truth, trying to get a feel for both those guys. I thought Jaden got tired because he was working so hard, he kind of missed a couple assignments and he didn’t know a couple plays, then we couldn’t run it too much. I wanted to run some stuff for Al to get Al going, because when Al’s going, we’re a different team as you guys can see. We start making shots, we’re a different team. But it’s by committee, whoever’s playing well at that time. But they’re both gonna play equal minutes.”
On Al-Amir Dawes’ second-half playmaking:
“Well, to be honest, in the first half, we were playing selfish. No one was sharing the basketball, everybody was trying to play hero basketball and me basketball. We can’t play me basketball. Saint Peter’s, I watched them play and they come off the strong side, they come off the corner. And I was telling our guys to just drive it, they’re gonna come off and kick it. But nobody was trying to kick it, everybody was just going and they did a good job of coming together and walling up. We finally started doing that and we made shots, but guys just gotta start trusting each other, and I think that comes with experience and playing with each other more.”
On Latrell Reid, who he coached at Saint Peter’s:
“He played his butt off. I’m proud of him. He played well, he’s always been a tough guy, a tough, gritty kid — excuse me, young man — that plays his butt off. He played well tonight, he did.”
On Isaiah Whitehead being in attendance:
“It’s great to have him home safe. If we lost, I would never have him back in the building (laughs). It’s good to have Isaiah around. He comes around in practice giving me guys a lot of tips, talking to my guards, talking to Kadary, talking to Al. It’s great to have him back and I’m glad he’s back safe.”
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