St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Basketball Meets Charleston Southern On Saturday
12/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 2, 2005
QUEENS, N.Y. - The BIG EAST meets the BIG SOUTH on Saturday and the St. John's men's basketball team (3-1) looks to get back on the right track as it plays host to Charleston Southern (4-1) at 7:30 p.m. The Red Storm and Buccaneers meet for the first time in history at Carnesecca Arena in Queens. The contest will be aired live on Radio Disney 1560-AM, with Brandon Tierney and Tarik Turner calling the action. The radio pregame show begins at 7:05 p.m.
Head coach Norm Roberts and members of the Red Storm team met with the media on Friday to discuss the matchup.
Head Coach Norm Roberts
On the Charleston Southern matchup:
"The Charleston Southern game's tempo will be a lot like the Hofstra game. They have very quick guards, they can shoot from the perimeter and penetrate. Their big guys are athletic and can run. We always have the mindset that we're going to guard, defend, play inside out and pack it in. We don't need one player to score every point for us, we just need everyone to be ready to contribute the way they can and we'll be successful."
On the injury to guard Daryll Hill:
"It's a long season and we don't have to rush any body to play. The one thing I know about Daryll is that he wants to be out there, he wants to play, he wants to help his team and his school."
On Tuesday's game against Hofstra:
"There are going to be nights like we had the other night where there is a lid on the basket. It wasn't that we weren't taking good shots; we had tons of good shots. We had three layups roll around the hoop and come back out. But if you work hard on the defensive end, you can still win. Defense is the key."
Junior guard Daryll Hill
On his injury:
"I'm going to take it day by day. I'm not going to play until I'm 100 percent and today I'm only about 85-90 percent. I don't want to rush anything because it's a long season and I want to make sure I'm healthy."
On his absence in the Hofstra game:
"We had them [Hofstra] by 13, so I think we still could have won. Me being out there could have helped but it wasn't really our offense that was the problem, it was our defense. Even if you don't get a bucket the whole second half, but you have defense and don't let them score, we still win the game."
Sophomore guard Eugene Lawrence
On Tuesday's game against Hofstra:
"We lacked intensity and gave Hofstra a lot of opportunities to score. In the second half, we executed plays and got off some shots, but we just couldn't get them to go down. In the first half, we got to their bench a lot and they weren't able to use just five or six guys. That really helped us and in the second half we weren't able to do that."
On the morale of the team:
"We're hungry to play another game and to show that we've learned from our last game. We have to play better team defense this time around and really help one another out."
Senior forward Phil Missere
On playing as a unit:
"We can't just rely on one person to score for us; we all have to make plays as a team. If we play as a team, we can get stuff done. There are five guys out there and if we're going to win, it's going to be because of all of us."
On getting back on track:
"Anybody can beat anybody on any given night and we need to get back to what makes us win. We need to get lose balls, not commit turnovers, get assists and get everyone involved. We have to play good defense and not get out-hustled."
