“I thought our effort was way better and I thought guys came out and played. I thought we put ourselves in position to win the game. I feel really bad for the seniors, man. I wanted to win for them more than anybody. Like I said, I thought we did everything we could do. Guys played, two guys played 40 minutes and they played their heart out, and we just came up a little short.”
On Femi Odukale:
“I thought he played good. It’s tough asking him, Al and Jamir to come and do what Kadary has done for us the whole year. He had the ball in his hands 90 percent of the time, he kind of led us in every category at one time — scoring, rebounding, assists, steals — and now you get a week to try to prepare without him and ask other guys to step up. I thought Femi did a great job tonight of answering the house call.”
On Villanova’s free throw shooting:
“That’s Villanova. That’s what they’ve been like for a long time. That’s what they’ve been doing, that’s what they do. I think they’re No. 1 in the league in free throw percentage if I’m not mistaken.”
On Kadary Richmond’s status:
“You know what, Adam? That’s a good question. I just think that though tonight is a loss, I think we can build on it, guys could build on how hard they play and the little things they did to stay in the game. Like I said, we had a chance, we gave ourselves a chance. We just kind of made some plays down the stretch that weren’t great. Him back is always a plus, man. He’s one of the better players in the league, he gives us that other scoring punch also, that guy who can create. And also, teams worry about him, right? If we could get him back, I think it’d be good for us. I’m looking forward to playing Providence and then worrying about the Big East tournament from there. I just go on what the doctors and trainers tell me. When they tell me he could go, then he could go.”
On what Seton Hall can do better:
“I thought we showed it tonight. I thought guys competed, I thought we gave everything we had. I can’t say, ‘we didn’t do this.’ Guys played extremely hard, we made our free throws. Think about it: You shoot 45 percent, which is not great but solid, you shoot 44 percent from three and 78 from the free throw line. You do stuff like that, those are winning games, right? The problem is when you make a couple of bonehead plays down the stretch and it costs you against a team like this.”
On Odukale’s baseball pass in the final seconds:
“It wasn’t supposed to be that. It was supposed to be a little different. We didn’t have no timeouts, we was kind of on the fly trying to adjust to it. I thought they were going to foul us like they’d been doing. I wanted to try to get Al the ball in the half-court, try to get fouled so he could try to have some time on the clock. We didn’t execute.”
On Odukale and Al-Amir Dawes playing 40 minutes:
“I thought they played great. They kind of got a little gassed and when you get tired, not so much that your legs go, but your mind goes faster. I think down the stretch, we just didn’t execute the way I wanted to, but I can’t be mad, man. They gave me everything tonight and that’s all you can ask for, to put yourself in position to win. We just didn’t make a play.”
On Seton Hall’s fan support:
“It was great, it was tremendous. I thought tonight was really rocking, and so was the Xavier game. So I want to tell the fans thanks for coming out, thanks for the support the whole year. They’ve been great. This is a season we’re gonna build on still, there’s a lot of season left to be played, but hopefully we see them next year and they come out the same way.”
On Tyrese Samuel returning next year:
“Tyrese has to make a decision that’s good for him. Obviously, I’d love to have him back. I think his improvement this year showed him the things he could do with this team. And with this group and the guys we’re going to add, we’ll be good. I leave those decisions on them, though. That’s about them, that’s their career. He’s gotta feel that’s the best place for him to be.”
On his first year:
“I’ll be honest with you guys. Some of you guys know me, some of you don’t know me. I don’t handle losing well. It sucks, I hate it. Excuse me for saying the word hate, I dislike it. I’m a sore loser. Sometimes I come in here after a loss and I know everybody’s got a job to do, and I respect you guys doing your job, but moving forward, you guys gotta understand me. I don’t like to lose, and when I lose, I’m not a very happy camper. Sometimes I might be down, like, I’m sour right now. I’m really, really sour because nobody wants to win more than me, especially for this school. This means everything to me, and tonight, I’m taking it hard because I wanted to win for those managers and for those seniors. And every night. Every time we lose, I can’t sleep. Like I said, I know everybody’s got a job to do, but you gotta understand me. When we lose, I’m not gonna come in and be happy. Don’t think I’m a happy camper and I’m gonna come in and be the best interview guy, because I’m not. It means too much to me. And I want to say thank you to you guys this year. I know it’s our first time, some of us working together for the first time. I’m looking forward to the future. I want to say thank you so much to the Prudential Center, it was great this whole year for me and my team, and I can’t ask for a better partner. The Prudential Center’s been great. And thank you guys for coming out every night, especially snowstorms and rainstorms, whatever, you guys have been here doing media. I respect you guys and I know everybody’s got a job to do, but understand I got a job to do too. And sometimes I’m not gonna be the happiest guy in the world, but I respect each and every one of you, and I’m gonna end it on that.”
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