“It is what it is, Jerry, there’s nothing you could do about it. I thought the guys out there gave great effort and we had our chances. We had two good chances, and you’ve just got to give them credit. They really hit the glass in the second half, and I thought that was the difference.”
On preparation:
“We’re not practicing right now. I have eight guys. We dummy offense, we lift, we watch film and we just walk through it the best we can. You can’t play the guys this many minutes and expect them to practice. It’s not what we’re doing.”
On Ike Obiagu and Tyrese Samuel:
“They’re not back until after Butler.”
On mental and physical preparation for nine games in January:
“The only tough stretches are, I think, the Johnnies, the Johnnies, and Marquette. I think that’s the way it goes. To be honest, I haven’t looked at the schedule. Like I said, there’s nothing anybody can do about this, we just have to kind of deal with it, stay positive and move forward, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
On frustration of losing two Big East games:
“We’re still in a good spot. We’re still a very good basketball team. Losing two games is not going to change that when you have eight guys. When we get back full strength, we’re just going to have to work on getting back into the rhythm that we were in, and I’m going to be extremely patient. I know most people won’t be, but I will be.”
On playing as hard as Seton Hall has:
“I think that’s just the type of kids these guys are. They have a lot of pride in their games, they play extremely hard. Under difficult circumstances, I think they’re showing their true colors.”
On Jamir Harris:
“Yeah, I think the one he made at Providence in the second half kind of relaxed him a little bit. I thought he came out and was aggressive. The issue I’m having right now is with our lack of size, trying to play Jamir and Bryce at the same time. It’s really difficult because, as you see what happens when they’re both out there, we just get — we can’t rebound very well. Not that they’re not trying, not that they’re not boxing out, it’s just the amount of switching we do just led to offensive rebounds.”
On Villanova's Brandon Slater:
“Brandon Slater’s one of those guys that reminds me of Myles Cale, just one of those guys that when you watch film, you’re like, ‘oh, you know, he doesn’t shoot it great, he doesn’t this great,’ and then all of a sudden, you look at him and he’s plus-14 every game. He’s just tremendous and he does everything they ask him to do. He plays the three, he plays the four, he guarded our best player at times tonight, he guarded the ball at times tonight. I think that’s what I love about Jay’s players, he always has guys that understand their role and embrace their role.”
On the locker room mood:
“We talked about it, Jerry. You’re dealing with life, everybody’s dealing with adversity, it’s not always going to be smooth sailing. You’re going to lose some games in this league, and when you’re missing a 7-foot-1 guy and a 6’11 guy on two big, physical teams, to give the effort they have, I’m still as positive as I was after we beat Rutgers. Nothing’s changed. I know where we’ll be at the end of the year, and I’m not worried about these two games.”
On playing good defense but still coming up short:
“I think that’s where the players are frustrated more than anything, because I thought our effort on the defensive end, forcing them to have 17 turnovers, that’s almost impossible to do. But again, it’s kind of a lack of size. You’ve got Tray Jackson out there, usually it’s Ikey and Tray or Tyrese and Lex. You’re taking away a 7-footer and a 6’11 guy who are two great rebounders, and they’re a very good offensive rebounding team. They always have been, and where they punish you more than anything is they get threes off their offensive rebounds, and that’s what happened tonight.”
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