St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes - Duke vs. St. John's
2/28/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2005
St. John's Head Coach Norm Roberts
On today's game:
"I thought it was a hard fought game. Our guys really played for 40 minutes. We really tried to guard and take them out of what they wanted to do. They probably did not shoot the ball as well as they normally do which helped us. We did a good job of rebounding the ball. We were a little sloppy at key times, which helped them as well. Our guys tried hard and if we keep dong that we'll be fine in the future."
On the end of the game:
"Give them (Duke) credit defensively. They did a good job. They guarded well. We just didn't make plays at that time, but hopefully we will in the future."
On St. John's defense:
We have to play aggressive because we are small. That is a style that I prefer to play anyway. Our perimeter guys did a great job of guarding the basketball and not giving them angles. We did a good job in transition. Lamont (Hamilton) and Dexter (Gray) did a great job on Sheldon (Williams). He is a great player. We never really let him get into the flow of the game which helped us a lot."
More on today's game:
"I am happy with my team and how hard they played, but a loss is a loss. I don't believe in moral victories or anything like that. Our guys played hard. They play hard every night. They expect to win. They expect to compete hard every night and they did that."
On the inexperience of the team:
"I think it is inexperience. We are young. We have freshman running the point, handling the ball and we have sophomores playing major minutes. Another thing that helps you in these situations is depth. Guys are tired. Darryl (Hill) has to run around chasing J.J. Redick for 40 minutes and then we were trying to get him off three or four screens to get him off as well, which is hard to do for 40 minutes. Hopefully when we get more depth and experience we will make those plays."
On the atmosphere of the Garden:
"I thought it was great. I told our guys before the game to enjoy every minute of it and have fun. Hopefully, in the future it will be predominantly St. John's fans and not other schools' fans. I still thought it was a great atmosphere. I thought our fans were great today. Even though there was a lot of Duke fans, I thought our fans made it tough (on them). Hopefully, we can grow on that and take advantage of it (in the future)."
On Daryll Hill's defense on J.J. Redick:
"I don't think anybody can play him any tougher than Daryll played him today. Daryll stayed underneath him and got through screens well. He never caught the ball in comfortable situations to really shoot it. He did make some big ones. Daryll had done that all year. He is our best perimeter defender. He can take the other team's best player out of the game. I thought he did a great job of that today."
Lamont Hamilton
On playing against Sheldon Williams:
"I fell I outplayed him a little bit, because he was in foul trouble early. He couldn't be too aggressive with me so I just tried to attack."
Daryll Hill
On St. Johns' defense:
"I think our defense is getting better every time we play. We work so hard in practice. To come out and hold a good team to 60 something points is good, but we still have to win games.
Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
On St. John's:
"We are obviously happy with our win over St. John's. I thought their kids played their hearts out. They did what they have done all year. Their staff has done an excellent job with them."
On Lee Melchionni:
"Lee Melchionni has just had an incredible week for us. He had his best game against Wake Forest, played well against Georgia Tech and was our best player today. He played with an enthusiasm and smartness that really helped."
On Daniel Ewing:
"This is the first game that we don't have Sean Dockery. The dynamic that is created in not having him is a huge one. It is a huge loss for us, because it changes Daniel's role. He is defending their best player and bringing the ball up. When you do that kind of stuff, you get tired. I thought Daniel had a terrific game and did a great job on Hill. He handled the ball well and hit a big bucket after playing every second."
On the bench:
"Our bench helped us a lot. Reggie Love made a big play on (Lamont) Hamilton right at the end."
On today's game:
"It was tough for us to score tonight. We couldn't get anything inside. This is the second game in a row. It has been a long, tough week for us. I think our team needs a little break. We are a little bit worn down. Thank goodness we could pull it out."
On the loss of Sean Dockery:
"We have been able to handle our other adversities this year better. This is our biggest loss, because he influences the role of other people. We have to figure out, in this last week of the regular season, just what we are going to do in this regard."
On this year's team:
"Every year for me is rewarding because I have great kids. Our team has done a great job, no question about it. We just play hard and figure out a way to win. We may not look real good and we are probably not real good at certain times, but we have good heart, we play together and we figure out ways to win basketball games."
