St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Maryland 92, St. John's 60
11/16/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
St. John's Head Coach Norm Roberts
On tonight???s game:
???We didn???t play very well obviously. Give them a lot of credit. Maryland played really well. They shot the ball well. They got second shots and they got us spread out. We were lackadaisical with the ball. They are a very good team. They beat us hard on the boards. We just have to do a better job and we just have to get better. We know we have a long way to go. We know that. We have to come back tomorrow and be ready to fight.???
On the team???s defense:
???We just have to stay focused. I thought we lost focus. We didn???t finish plays. They got some run outs and scored. We tried to go too fast. Our guys have not been in that environment much this year. It is a new environment for us. We just have to get back to basics.???
On Maryland???s defense:
???They did a good job. They are long. They get their hands on the balls. We have to be strong with the basketball and make really crisp passes. We didn???t do that. We allowed them to get confident.???
On the level of play in the ACC:
???My guys played against the Dukes (of the world). They know about the ACC level. Tonight was just a bad night for us. When we are good we are all good together. When we stink, we stink. We know we can play better but it is early. This is a great tournament. We just have to come out tomorrow and play solid.???
On bouncing back tomorrow:
???The one thing that is good about our guys is that they don???t point fingers at one another. They know we didn???t do it together tonight and we will get better. We are going to move on. We know we can???t get it back. Now we have to focus on playing another great team because there are two great teams (Michigan State and Texas) playing right now. Hopefully we will compete and get after it.???
Lamont Hamilton
On tonight???s game:
???I think we came out and got into an up and down game with them which is their style. A lot of their players hit a lot of threes and got a lot of second chance opportunities. We just didn???t come out ready. I think it was pretty embarrassing to lose like this on national television.???
Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
On tonight???s game:
???It is something you don???t expect. The beginning of the year you are working hard, practicing and trying to get to a certain level. I thought we were a very good team on November 16 tonight. I think two things characterized us so far: the willingness to play really aggressive defense and making the extra pass on offense. We did both of those things in the first half. I think St. John???s missed some shots that they normally make. It shows promise for our team. It shows that we can play at a certain level if we do the right things. We will have a tough game tomorrow night whoever we play so we have to put this one away and move on.???
On the young guys on the team:
???I thought our young guys especially (Greivis) Vazquez and (Eric) Hayes did a good job especially shooting the ball in the first half. Their backcourt is probably the best backcourt we have played so far. It is kind of a building block.???
On playing in Madison Square Garden:
"They got this game tonight so they know they can play in the Garden so now you have that in the back of your mind. You can tell the character of players playing in a building like this, especially Madison Square Garden. I told our guys before the game that every college basketball player should have the opportunity to play here. It goes back to my BIG EAST days at Boston College. It is a little different atmosphere. It is unique.???
On the start of the game:
???We don???t start real big, we start quick. (Ekene) Ibekwe and James Gist are both really quick players. Obviously with some of St. John???s bulk, I thought they would post us up. We were really quick tonight to start the game for some reason. We were able to break a lot of things in transition and when we didn???t have it we were smart enough to get into our half court set.???
On Ekene Ibekwe:
???He has been playing like that in practice. He had a really good summer. He played in Japan in the World games for Nigeria. I think that he was trying too hard (in the games). Sometimes you should just stay with what was working in practice if you are working hard and playing well. He did that tonight. He did a good job.???
