Desi and Angel interviews
Q. Comment on the player and ball movement today.
DESI RODRIGUEZ: We just know how important this game was and we wanted to come out and play our best basketball, and that's defend. And offensively, I think we got that vibe that we could pass the ball to each and every one of each other and we have a lot of trust in everybody. So the ball moved well today and I'm proud of my guys.
ANGEL DELGADO: I think we're doing a really good job, everybody passing the ball. I always expect this from this team because everybody is unselfish and we're doing a really good job.
Q. Carrington seemed like he handled the full court pressure really well. You've guys have been doing this a long time.
DESI RODRIGUEZ: That was our main focus coming in, for us to help Khadeen with the press and to get after it. But Khadeen did a great job taking his turn and getting the ball to half-court.
Q. I think Coach set up the non-conference to benefit you with your NCAA Tournament resumé. How much did these wins over Texas Tech, Louisville, VCU will that help you later on?
ANGEL DELGADO: That will help us the whole year. Teams like that, they're really great. They're not good teams, they're great teams. After the first win we got ranked, so I'm really happy about this one. We've just got to keep going and keep playing hard and keep playing unselfish.
DESI RODRIGUEZ: We know how important these wins was. We wanted to focus coming into these games. Coach told us how great a team VCU was. He said VCU is a team that could win the A10.
Texas Tech is a great win and Louisville was a great win. We want to -- he said that after being ranked so high, we never took care of being ranked, but we lost the game and got knocked out. And now we're ranked again and we won a game being ranked. This is our first time ever doing that, so we're proud of each other.
Q. A couple weeks ago, it was clear who your top scorer was. Now all five starters tonight, in double digits. What does this do for your team when you're able to not rely on one person?
ANGEL DELGADO: I think everybody, we've been playing together for so long, so everybody knows their role. We don't focus on one guy. Everybody knows that when it's your night, when it's not your night. The guys are doing a really good job and we play as a team. We share the ball and when you share the ball, everybody gets points. That's what we're doing.
Q. What did it feel like after losing that game in Brooklyn)?
DESI RODRIGUEZ: Losing to Rhode Island, number 20 in the country, we know how that felt and we don't want to have that feeling again. Our older guys know what it takes to win, and it's up to us to lead our younger guys to doing the right things. Let them understand how good of a team we are and every time we play someone, they're going to give us their best game.
For us, coming out starting off strong and coming out the second half and starting off strong again, I think that was great for us and it set the tone.
Q. What does it mean to you guys, the ranking, end of March, you find out where you're going, but what does the rank do, probably be ranked the highest you've been ranked since 2001?
ANGEL DELGADO: I think we really don't care about rankings. We only care about how we finish the season. The rankings for us comes and goes. We just want to win games. We just trying to win games and make our legacy better. We came here to make history. We want to let people know how good is Seton Hall. So we're working on it.
Q. There was a point in the first half where they got within four, and they missed 11 shots, had three turnovers, and it seems like you picked it up at that point. Is the defense responsible)?
DESI RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, I think defensively, in practice, that's all Coach dwells on in practice. Once you get three stops in a row, offensively, I think the ball will just move and we get out and run and we get the ball to Angel, get the ball to different guys like that.
It's great we got that trust in each other to make a shot. Everybody is unselfish on this team. We pass to everyone on this team, and that's the main point and it's going to take us far.
Q. Does your size help with Sandro and Mike coming off the bench?
DESI RODRIGUEZ: We've got an athletic team, a tall, long team. So we're trying to switch it up in the four or five spot with Sandro coming in at six-ten. He's long.
And me, my size at the three-spot, it's kind of difficult for teams to guard us and defensively, we're able to take good stops.
Q. What do you see in their defense that allowed you to score 90 points?
ANGEL DELGADO: I think we are just going to get the job done. We are doing really a good job. Sometimes we are going to get points from me and sometimes they're going to come from Desi.
We got so many weapons. When you got that many weapons, it's easy to play basketball. It's good like how we are playing right now, and I feel like that is the key. Everybody got to step up with it, I think.
Q. Comment on the player and ball movement today.
DESI RODRIGUEZ: We just know how important this game was and we wanted to come out and play our best basketball, and that's defend. And offensively, I think we got that vibe that we could pass the ball to each and every one of each other and we have a lot of trust in everybody. So the ball moved well today and I'm proud of my guys.
ANGEL DELGADO: I think we're doing a really good job, everybody passing the ball. I always expect this from this team because everybody is unselfish and we're doing a really good job.
Q. Carrington seemed like he handled the full court pressure really well. You've guys have been doing this a long time.
DESI RODRIGUEZ: That was our main focus coming in, for us to help Khadeen with the press and to get after it. But Khadeen did a great job taking his turn and getting the ball to half-court.
Q. I think Coach set up the non-conference to benefit you with your NCAA Tournament resumé. How much did these wins over Texas Tech, Louisville, VCU will that help you later on?
ANGEL DELGADO: That will help us the whole year. Teams like that, they're really great. They're not good teams, they're great teams. After the first win we got ranked, so I'm really happy about this one. We've just got to keep going and keep playing hard and keep playing unselfish.
DESI RODRIGUEZ: We know how important these wins was. We wanted to focus coming into these games. Coach told us how great a team VCU was. He said VCU is a team that could win the A10.
Texas Tech is a great win and Louisville was a great win. We want to -- he said that after being ranked so high, we never took care of being ranked, but we lost the game and got knocked out. And now we're ranked again and we won a game being ranked. This is our first time ever doing that, so we're proud of each other.
Q. A couple weeks ago, it was clear who your top scorer was. Now all five starters tonight, in double digits. What does this do for your team when you're able to not rely on one person?
ANGEL DELGADO: I think everybody, we've been playing together for so long, so everybody knows their role. We don't focus on one guy. Everybody knows that when it's your night, when it's not your night. The guys are doing a really good job and we play as a team. We share the ball and when you share the ball, everybody gets points. That's what we're doing.
Q. What did it feel like after losing that game in Brooklyn)?
DESI RODRIGUEZ: Losing to Rhode Island, number 20 in the country, we know how that felt and we don't want to have that feeling again. Our older guys know what it takes to win, and it's up to us to lead our younger guys to doing the right things. Let them understand how good of a team we are and every time we play someone, they're going to give us their best game.
For us, coming out starting off strong and coming out the second half and starting off strong again, I think that was great for us and it set the tone.
Q. What does it mean to you guys, the ranking, end of March, you find out where you're going, but what does the rank do, probably be ranked the highest you've been ranked since 2001?
ANGEL DELGADO: I think we really don't care about rankings. We only care about how we finish the season. The rankings for us comes and goes. We just want to win games. We just trying to win games and make our legacy better. We came here to make history. We want to let people know how good is Seton Hall. So we're working on it.
Q. There was a point in the first half where they got within four, and they missed 11 shots, had three turnovers, and it seems like you picked it up at that point. Is the defense responsible)?
DESI RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, I think defensively, in practice, that's all Coach dwells on in practice. Once you get three stops in a row, offensively, I think the ball will just move and we get out and run and we get the ball to Angel, get the ball to different guys like that.
It's great we got that trust in each other to make a shot. Everybody is unselfish on this team. We pass to everyone on this team, and that's the main point and it's going to take us far.
Q. Does your size help with Sandro and Mike coming off the bench?
DESI RODRIGUEZ: We've got an athletic team, a tall, long team. So we're trying to switch it up in the four or five spot with Sandro coming in at six-ten. He's long.
And me, my size at the three-spot, it's kind of difficult for teams to guard us and defensively, we're able to take good stops.
Q. What do you see in their defense that allowed you to score 90 points?
ANGEL DELGADO: I think we are just going to get the job done. We are doing really a good job. Sometimes we are going to get points from me and sometimes they're going to come from Desi.
We got so many weapons. When you got that many weapons, it's easy to play basketball. It's good like how we are playing right now, and I feel like that is the key. Everybody got to step up with it, I think.
