St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: St. John's 64, DePaul 53
1/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Madison Square Garden
DePaul vs. St. John???s
January 3, 2007
St. John???s Head Coach Norm Roberts
On tonight???s game:
???It was a hard fought defensive game. I thought we did a good job of keeping ourselves in the game early when we weren???t making any shots. I thought we did a good job of being patient and getting it inside. We guarded them well.???
On guarding Sammy Mejia:
???He???s a real good player. We had Geno [Eugene Lawrence] guard him for a little bit and then had Mason (Anthony Mason Jr.) on him. I think Mason???s length affected him.???
More on tonight???s game:
???I would have liked to shoot the ball better but we got everybody involved and moved the ball well. It was a whole team effort. All of the guys did a great job.???
On no player scoring in double figures:
???It is a team game. Different guys stepped up and made plays at different times. Hopefully this shows that we have depth and we just have to continue to play that way.???
Senior Forward Aaron Spears
On coming back:
???I felt real good. It felt good being with my team. I am just happy to be back.???
On the team???s defense:
???Defense has always been a trademark for our team. Tonight we came out executing well on defense. We stayed focused and we didn???t break down in the end.???
Senior Forward Lamont Hamilton
On getting Aaron Spears back:
???We missed the big fella and we are glad to have him back.???
Senior Guard Daryll Hill
On getting Aaron Spears back:
???It feels good for him to be back. We tried to play without him but we are a better team with him. When we play with him, we play great.???
On his circus shot:
???I knew my team needed to make a play and I heard Coach tell me to shoot it so I got to a spot where I felt comfortable and it felt good.???
On the game:
???This is a whole new year. We have new players and it felt really good to win the game.???
DePaul Head Coach Jerry Wainwright
On tonight???s game:
???Those kids have done a great job all year and I congratulate them on their effort and win. There is not much I can say because I think you all would agree that the quality of shots we had and the quality of shots we missed are not indicative of how we have been playing. It is just one of those days and of course it is compounded by what happened at the free-throw line at the second half. That being said, we are still hanging in there and then a young man made a big time horse shot. Our effort was there but we just came up short. We couldn???t put the ball in the basket.???
More on tonight???s game:
???I think both teams worked hard on defense but I think the quality of shots were present. We missed wide open shots. We didn???t take advantage of opportunities that could have broken the game early.???
On the St. John???s bench:
???Anytime you can get a seven or eight point effort off the bench are big points. They did a good job.
On Eugene Lawrence:
???They got really good leadership off of Eugene. He held their team down and I thought he did a really good job of leading.???
