St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: November 28, 2007 - St. John's vs. LIU
11/28/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 28, 2007
- St. John's Head Coach Norm Roberts
Opening Statement:
"LIU is a good basketball team, they did a good job defensively and they did a good job of being tough and rebounding the ball against us. It was one of those nights for us where we couldn't make a shot. We kept missing shots, we kept missing plays and got a little sloppy with the basketball as well. You are going to have nights like that. You hope you don't, but when you do, you're going to have to try to find a way to persevere and win. I think we did a really good job with that. We persevered and we did whatever we had to do to win the game."
On junior forward Anthony Mason Jr.'s injury:
"Mason twisted the same ankle. He landed on the guy's foot, just like he injured it the first time. The doctor said he can't tell how extensive it is yet because of the swelling and it is what it is."
On playing a game where scoring wasn't up to par:
"It's good for us in the long run to play a game where we didn't make shots and tonight we did not make shots. It wasn't for the lack of trying. Some nights you are dead. You have to find a way to win the game. That's when you really have to rely on playing defense and getting stops, rebounding the ball and trying to manufacture baskets. I thought we did that. I thought guys came up big when we needed them. We had guys that were beat up and guys that had things not going their way but we stayed strong and we came out with a victory."
On playing without Anthony Mason Jr. in the upcoming road trip:
"We're going to do whatever tests we have to. But we've played without Mason. And obviously we need him, but this is life in college basketball. Sometimes things happen that way. We will get him healthy and we will get him stronger and we'll get him back. It hurts our versatility somewhat, our ability to score, our ability to play small and do some other things, but we're going to have to go without him for as long as we have to. We can't rush him back. That's why we were so cautious. Everybody, every coach, every team faces injuries. We just have to deal with it and move on from it, try to get better and keep playing. "
On the team's identity after four games:
"We play hard. That's our identity. We try to rebound the ball and play tough. If you can do that then you have the chance to be pretty good."
Junior Forward Anthony Mason Jr.
On his injury:
"I came down on one of the LIU players after the putback, and I rolled the same ankle. I was really excited to be out there tonight with my team and I am disappointed right now. I'll wait to see what our medical staff has to say in the next few days, and I will be back with my teammates as soon as I am ready."
Senior guard Eugene Lawrence
On finding a way to win:
"It shows me that the group of guys we have play hard. They didn't turn anything into a negative. They kept their head up and kept playing until the end of the game. It's a sign we're moving into the right direction."
On the upcoming road trip:
"The next couple days we're going to have to practice hard. We are going to have to go over scouting reports for Miami and we're just going to have to go on the road with the right mindset, which is to play hard basketball. When you go on the road certain things don't go you're way so you are just going to have to play through everything."
Freshman Forward Justin Burrell
On the change in tone after the first half:
"We were excited to get Mason back not only on the court, but we just love him being around in general. To get him on the court was a great thing for us."
Freshman forward D.J. Kennedy
On the upcoming road schedule:
"I'm really looking forward to it. We've had four games to get us ready for Sunday's game against Miami. I think it's a big opportunity to show people what this team is really like."
Assistant Athletics Director for Sports Medicine, Ron Linfonte, A.T.C.
On Mason's injury:
"It looks like he re-sprained the ankle, same ligament. The doctor is looking at him. We don't know the severity. He got treatment on it right after the game and we will know more tomorrow morning. We'll x-ray him and make sure there was no further damage done. It took him three weeks to get back from the first injury, my guess is it will be three weeks again. It happened the exact same way, he came down on the opponents foot."
On whether the prior injury affected the severity of tonight's injury:
"He practiced fine most of the week. He went an hour and a half the last two days, with no pain, no swelling, and functionally he was fine. It was just unfortunate luck that he came down on that opponents ankle again tonight."
LIU Head Coach Jim Ferry
Opening Statement:
"I thought we played extremely hard and well. We did a tremendous job defensively, I just thought we turned the ball over which meant easy offense for St. John's. The first half, they scored a lot of points off of turnovers. Burrell and Kennedy really wore us down. I really like Norm's team. They're unselfish, they keep playing, and they're extremely aggressive and fast. They made some big plays down the stretch to step up and beat us."
On preparing for tonight's game:
"We prepared for their speed and athleticism. We knew Larry Wright was an exceptional shooter. I thought we did a decent job of taking that away until late in the game when he hit a big shot. We tried to limit Burrell's touches but he's really good and we don't have guys to match up to him and that hurt us. D.J. Kennedy did a great job for their team. Any time they needed a basket, I felt that D.J. got it for them."
On the future outlook of his team:
"We just got to keep getting better. It's really early and we're a young team and we just have to focus and get better every day. We'll go home and break this down and work on getting better then we'll start focusing on Hartford."
