Quote Center: St. John's Postgame @ Butler

St. John’s Head Coach Chris Mullin

On tonight’s game…

“I thought our energy was not up to par. At the start of the second half, we fought back well but we need consistent energy.”

On having a consistent effort…

“I’m not really sure but clearly its inconsistent energy, not lack of effort. When you come back from down 22 late in the game, it’s obviously not lack of effort.”

On Butler Forward Jordan Tucker…

“He’s a good player. I’ve watched him since high school. He’s a heck of a shooter. He’s obviously a guy who puts up threes and makes a play off the dribble. That was one of those mental errors we made. One guy sitting in the corner and shooting threes is a mental mistake and not sticking to the game plan.”

On the team’s execution…

“I felt everything was lethargic and soft. We played back on our heels and they took advantage of it.”

St. John’s Forward Marvin Clark II

On the team’s effort…

“Coach [Mullin] hit the spike on the head. We didn’t play great collectively as a team for 40 minutes. I thought the passion we needed to win was good enough. I’m not sure why it wasn’t there. It was there in spurts. On the road, we have to get better. We’ve been great at home but on the road we have to be a little better, more lucky, more focused and more eager.

On the next five games…

“No concern. We have the personnel to compete and beat anyone. We just have to grow and I think we’ll be fine.

On Coach Mullin’s postgame speech…

“He told us ‘don’t take the game for granted.’ We took the whole first half for granted. We didn’t feel like we came out to play especially after we went down by 22 points. He said ‘stop taking your possessions for granted.’”