St. John's University Athletics
Pregame Quotes: St. John's vs. DePaul
1/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 11, 2008
- St. John's Head Coach Norm Roberts
On refocusing the team after the loss at Connecticut:
"We've been focusing on taking care of the basketball better, because we turned the ball over quite a bit at UConn. We've been talking about being tougher with the ball, screening better and being more in an attack mode."
On preparing for DePaul:
"DePaul is very good off the bounce and the dribble attack. They have guys that can score, and can make good shots or bad shots. You really have to use diligence and rebound the basketball."
On keeping the team's optimism up:
"In general, kids bounce back quicker than coaches do. Coaches keep things. We went over film. We watched what we did wrong, what we can improve on, and how we can get better. Our freshman and our older guys have done a good job of learning from situations. We just have to get better."
Freshman Guard Malik Boothe
On the importance of getting on track after the loss at Connecticut:
"We didn't play with enough intensity in our last game. Tomorrow we're going to come out a lot harder than we did against UConn. In the last game, we didn't really show the team we are trying to be and the team we want to be in the future."
On what the team has done to prepare for DePaul:
"We've been going harder after each other. We have to bring up the intensity level and handle the ball better against DePaul. DePaul likes to penetrate and kick a lot so we have to try to keep them out of the middle lanes. We need to play defense and take care of the basketball to win this game."
Junior Forward Anthony Mason Jr.
On the importance of the DePaul game to get St. John's back on track:
"Each game is important in this league because night in and night out any team can beat another team. Where you are ranked is based on winning, so where you end up is very important."
On preparing for DePaul:
"We've been focusing on turning the ball over less, handling the ball better in trap situations and defending."
On keeping the frehman focused after a tough loss at UConn:
"It is very important for us, the veterans, to step up our leadership and keep the young guys in line and tell them it is going to be all right. There is no need to keep your head down because a win can get you right back in the running."
