SAINT JOSEPH'S QUOTES

Saint Joseph's Head Coach Phil Martelli

On his team's veteran leaders:
"An awful lot of credit goes to the oldest guys. Tasheed [Carr] is the most vocal, but Pat [Calathes] and Rob Ferguson let it be known by their practice performance and their preparation that they weren't ready to go home."

On SJU's postseason hopes:
"It's very simple to me. The next game we lose is our last game, and I've expressed that to the players...we have not been urgent enough in situations where we've had an opportunity to kind of strike our name into people's minds."

On the lack of urgency displayed by today's college players:
"It's a societal problem. They think there's always going to be another game. And it's not just my team; it's all of these teams...they play games all the time...winning and losing doesn't burn as much, it doesn't burn as much because they think there's going to be another game. Well this team had to understand clearly, there are no more games. There are no more games."

On his players reacting to the prospect of their next game being their last:
"They got tighter, and I thought that was a good thing. There was a certain tightness to both practices Monday and Tuesday and even today, coming over and in the locker room. And I think that's okay. I think you should have a knot in your stomach before you go into competition."

On his concerns heading into the matchup with Richmond:
"I'm concerned about everything statistically. I'm concerned about the foul shooting, 8-for-18 in the second half. That's a loss. That's not a win. I'm concerned that we lost the second half. So, I'm concerned about all of it."

On his team's fitness:
"I think it's been overblown about how many minutes our guys have played and some people have written that we have 'tired legs.' It's not tired legs. Tired minds, but not tired legs. These guys are fit, they're 22 years old, and they like to play basketball."

Tasheed Carr

-talking about the offense in the first half
"We just had to set our pace in the game. When we set our pace in the game and the way we want to play we do a great job. When we walk the ball up the court we aren't as efficient or as good as sometimes. So, we wanted to set our pace and get everybody the ball - push the ball and get everybody shots and get the ball up, and I think we did a great of it today.

On setting their own pace against Richmond
"It starts with stops and rebounds. We get the ball and rebound, give the ball to the guard's hands and push the ball. It's not necessarily push to score, but push to set a pace. It does start with stops and mainly rebounds. If we get the rebound and limit them to one shot then we won't have any problems establishing our pace against anybody."

Regarding being called the most vocal and what he said to his team
"We know when we are playing at our best that we play as the best team in the league. We emphasize that we are a tough turn right now. If we lose we go home and that's going to be our last game of the season. I think it's the older group that understood that. Our urgency hasn't been there in games when we needed it, so our goal is to have a sense of urgency every time we step on to the floor. We know what we are capable of doing, so if we guard we got to do it to the best of our ability. And we feel as though we can beat any team we play."

Carr talking about St. Joe's season and next opponent
"Our mindset now is that it's a new a season. We are 1 and 0. And tomorrow is Richmond and that's what we got to worry about and that's who we got to prepare for and take it from there.

Pat Calathes

Talking about the impact of resting starters for the rest of the tournament
"That's huge. This is not one game for us. We came here to play for four games. So, all the rest we can get is great. That's also a great boost for our confidence - to get in and play how we came out to play the first game.

Regarding "stumbling into the tournament" after losing 3 of last 4
"Coach came in and prepared us physically and mentally for this game as he does every game. He really put in our heads that this is our last game if we lose. It's our last game as seniors if we lose - to finish out or college careers. This is it for us."

Talking about if it's difficult to focus one game at a time and winning four in a row.
"Not at all. We prepare for Richmond. Tonight we just won Fordham - that game is over. We aren't going out to celebrate or anything. We're just going to go back to the hotel, rest as much as we can and watch film to get ready for the next one."

FORDHAM QUOTES

Fordham Head Coach Dereck Whittenburg

On his seniors playing in their final game:
"We didn't play as well as we would have liked to play, but I just wanted to thank these seniors that started off with me at Fordham when I first took over the program. This program was in shambles and we asked these guys to come in and rebuild that and they did restore a lot of pride and a lot of confidence back in the Fordham program and in turn I think that's going to bode well for the future."

On the Hawks' first half run:
"The kid who doesn't shoot three pointers made a three pointer and I said 'oh my goodness, now we're in trouble.' He probably only shot 15 for the whole year and he makes that three-point shot. But they were loose, once they started to make shots they got looser, more confident and we just couldn't get back in the game. Our defense let us down and we tried to get back in the game offensively and we couldn't make shots."

On Fordham's defense in the first half:
"For the first seven or eight minutes we looked fine. I don't know if it was fatigue or having different guys in the game but everytime we made a defensive miscue they took advantage of it. Basically guys made shots. Overall really they're a better team. They made some tough shots. At key times in the run, they made some big time plays and that's what good teams do."

Bryant Dunston

On falling behind midway through the first half:
"We rotated late on a lot of three-point shots. After a couple of threes, it was hard to get back in the game. I was surprised, I thought after the first three was made we would adjust."

Marcus Stout

On his outside shooting:
"I wasn't shooting the ball the way I wanted. I left it short a few times. It wasn't fatigue and it wasn't the defense, I was just leaving it short."

On Fordham's struggles this season:
"I can't really point to one thing. Overall we didn't perform the way we should have on the court. There are a lot of things we didn't execute this year that we normally do, like boxing out on rebounding. I just think that those things add up and we just didn't finish the way we wanted to."