St. John's University Athletics
Post Game Quotes: Jan. 23, 2008
1/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 23, 2008
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NEW YORK -
St. John's Head Coach Norm Roberts
On tonight's game:
"Give Pittsburgh a lot of credit. They have a good team and they are a very opportunistic team. They made some shots. They shot the ball very well. I thought our defense could have been better. It is a grinding time. It is a grinding time for these young guys. They are trying. They are trying hard. We have to just get back in the gym and get better."
On the team's level of intensity:
"I think we tried to (play with intensity early). I am not going to make excuses. Eugene Lawrence has a bum knee. He can't run. Malik Boothe's back gave out on him, 12 minutes into the game. Our whole game was to pressure the point. Once we couldn't pressure the point, it changed our whole game defensively. That affected our defense on what we could do."
On the team being young:
"I chose the path we are on. I chose to bring in eight freshmen. I chose to do that for our program and build a foundation. We have to take our lumps in order to be good. I chose to bring in quality young kids. You have to take your lumps sometimes. We are playing against quality teams. Not good teams, great teams. We just have to battle through it."
On Sam Young:
"Young is a tremendous player. He has really, really improved his game. I think he could be the Player of the Year in our conference."
On the team's morale:
"I would imagine their confidence isn't very high, but you have to battle through that. We talked about not sticking our heads in the sand. You have to battle, scratch and get through it. It is not going to get any easier. None of the games are getting easier. You just have to get through it."
Anthony Mason Jr.
On tonight's game:
"I believe we came out defensively with intensity, but we had to stick to it like Coach Roberts was saying. We were playing the first 20 seconds of the shot clock, but we have to stick with it and play the full 35 seconds. It is something we have to get better at like coach was saying and get back in the gym."
On the team's shooting struggles:
"It is like any other player when your shot is off. You just have to get back in the gym. That is what we did, shoot after practice."
On the rest of the season:
"Like coach said, we are young. We just have to tough it out and play as hard as we can."
D.J. Kennedy
On DeJuan Blair:
"It was great to play against him, but I just look at it as another game. We are great friends off the court, but on the court it is just business. He took care of business today. We didn't really talk after the game. He is like my brother. He will probably give me a call. We see each other all of the time when I go home."
Malik Boothe
On the team's struggles:
"I don't necessarily think the light went out. Teams are just out-toughing us. We just have to get in the gym and get a lot tougher."
On tonight's crowd:
"In the first half, when it was a close game the crowd was behind us. But when it slipped away it felt like the crowd turned on us. It is not them, it is us. We have to play a full game, we can't play 20 minutes."
On the team:
"Everyone is getting tired of losing here. We have young guys on this team. It is just the lumps we have to take if we are going to get better."
Pittsburgh Head Coach Jamie Dixon
On tonight's game:
"I think it was, for us, a great sign. We came off a loss and responded in a lot of good ways. Our preparation was good and it carried over today. It was something we have done in the past and I was impressed with our guys. I thought (Anthony) Mason was unbelievable. We were guarding him and he still hit shots. It was just one of those days that we were hitting shots. Our execution was better and we did a good job of moving the ball."
On Sam Young:
"We had good spacing on his drives and that was key. When we get that, we have to take advantage of it. We ran some sets that he scored on as well. He got within the framework of what we were trying to do. He played very well. I thought Keith (Benjamin) did a very good job of guarding (Anthony) Mason. He did a good job when he was on him."
On bouncing back:
"I don't think anything matters from two or three years ago. We have always responded. This was another example of handling and responding from a loss. We responded from the Villanova game and we got better. That is what you have to do. We are nowhere near where we need to be and we know that. We can improve as a group. We are playing four freshmen of our eight guys. I look at it as an opportunity. The learning curve is greater for freshmen. Those guys keep getting better. That is what we are really working on."
On the team's injuries:
"We are adding things. We are making a transition in the middle of the season. You have guys playing different positions in the middle of the year. We lost guys, as everyone knows, but often you don't lose guys in the same position."
