St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: St. John's 69, St. Francis 61
12/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 1, 2008
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
St. John's Head Coach Norm Roberts
Opening statement:
"St. Francis did a great job shooting the basketball in the second half. They are a tough match up when they play small like that and when they are burying shots so deep. I thought our feet were slow in the second half. We have to mature as a team and understand when we have a lead we really have to come out harder. Our big guys didn't give us much at all. We should have dominated them from the inside, but I am happy that we won the game. It's a tough game to win, it's another learning experience for a young team and we will get better from here."
On the final score:
"We're just like every other team in America. We are learning how to win and we are learning how to play hard. We're learning how to make big plays when you have to. We did that tonight when we had to win the game. We got the stops when we needed to, we made the baskets when we needed to, we made free throws when we needed to. It's a learning experience."
On the play in the second half:
"I'm disappointed in how we played in the second half but I am not going to worry about just this one game. We'll learn from this just like we learn from every other game and it will make us better. You would like to think this way but you can't compare the way we played against one team with how we will play against another team, like a Notre Dame or a UConn. Every night is different you just have to come ready to play every single night."
On the energy level of the team:
"Our guys understand they have to play hard, and they understand we have to have contributions from everybody. Tonight we didn't have those contributions. Tonight we missed some shots, we missed some plays and then as young guys do we got frustrated. When we got frustrated, our energy level wasn't where it needed to be. We have to learn from this game, watch film and understand. Our guys are pretty good at learning from their mistakes. We just have to keep teaching."
Sophomore guard Malik Boothe
On the decrease in scoring in the second half:
"I am happy with the fact that we won, but when you are up on a team like that at halftime you have to come out in the first five minutes of the second half and really set the tone and push the lead up more. I think we could have played a little bit harder and smarter in the second half."
On having a week break between games:
"We just have to continue to work hard every day in practice and the rest will follow."
On remaining in control of a large lead:
"From day one we haven't been able to put our foot down. We have to work when we are up a lot. This will come with playing and experience and will be something we will have to work on as time goes on."
Sophomore guard D.J. Kennedy
On the change in play from the first half to the second half:
"Once we are able to play 40 minutes with focus our killer instinct will kick in and we will be able to finish out games as strongly as we started. When we started the game, we had a lot of energy, and that's how we got the big lead. In the second half we didn't come out with the same type of energy and that bothered us and St. Francis was able to come out with some big shots and big 3's and we started to get down on ourselves. We just have to learn to keep playing through it and keep the energy up."
On playing New Jersey Tech next week:
"Coach tells us every day that we can't keep playing like this, we have to be able to put teams away. You have to give St. Francis a lot of credit, they made a lot big shots. They could shoot the ball and had guys that can shoot the 3's.
On making the most of the win:
"Every game we play we have to carry all the good things with us and leave the bad things behind, so we will take all the good things from this game and carry it over to next week."
St. Francis Head Coach Brian Nash
Thoughts on the game:
"We didn't show up in the first half. We were pretty disappointed with our efforts. We knew they were going to come out and play us aggressively. We ran our offense 35-feet from the basket and turned the ball over 15 times in the first half. We said at halftime we needed to get more aggressive and push the ball in attack, that's when we play well. I think we honestly played scared in the first half. We played the way we wanted to play in the second half and we showed how good we could be with the young team that we have.
On the outlook of his team:
"We're still young. We have to get better each game. I thought we took a step back in the first half and got better in the second half. For us, we have two conference games coming up. With us having 18 conference games, we play two in December so that's what we have to get ourselves ready for."
Sophomore Guard Rocco Rubino
Thoughts on the game:
"We fought really hard to get back in the game. We got it down to one possession by the end of the game and we had a chance to win it. St. John's played well and we didn't make the plays to put the game away. It could have gone either way."
