St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes
12/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 14, 2008
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QUEENS, N.Y. - Head Coach Norm Roberts
Opening statement:
"Our guys played hard. We shared the ball. Bethune-Cookman is a team that makes you play at a different speed and makes you do some crazy things because they're always scrambling in traffic. We did a good job of handling those things and making the right decisions."
On Sean Evans' 18-point performance:
"Sean Evans played very well. When he plays with energy like that, it makes our team so much better. He was active on the glass and really went after it."
On the progress of the team this season:
"I think we're doing well. Our guys are working hard and we're getting better every single game. We have to continue to grow, continue to mature and compete at all times."
On the Red Storm's defense:
"We had some lapses when they made some deep shots. They still had a good shooting percentage against us, so we still have to do a better job with that. We rebounded the ball well and made some good plays."
On Bethune-Cookman's defense:
"They scramble you and trap you all the time. They try to make you make plays. If two guys were guarding us, we shared the ball and got it to the open man."
On the upcoming Holiday Festival:
"The Holiday Festival is a great tournament that we enjoy playing in every year. We're going to play against Marist and head coach Chuck Martin [a former Red Storm assistant]. That will be a tough contest. They play a lot like Memphis does with the dribble-drive action so we'll have to move our feet. It will be a good challenge."
Sophomore Forward Sean Evans
On his career-high 18-point performance:
"It felt really good. I was out there, my teammates were finding me, making good plays and I was making good plays. I was trying to be versatile and let the game come to me. I had a good first half."
On his personal game:
"I'm working everyday to get better and more confident. Coach is giving me the opportunity to showcase my skills. I'm just going to let the game come to me. I'm not going to rush it or anything. It will look like a beautiful thing when it all comes together; you'll see more confidence, versatility, a great defender and somebody who can score and help his team out in a lot of different ways."
Sophomore Forward Justin Burrell
On stepping up after Anthony Mason Jr. went down:
"To a certain extent I felt I needed to step up a little bit more. But my teammates have proven that we are all capable of stepping up. I always felt that our guys are so talented it was only a matter of when they were presented with an opportunity for them to step up. I'm progressing, but my teammates are really just helping me out a lot."
On letting the game come to him:
"In the beginning of the season I think I tried a little bit too hard. It's not because of any expectations or anything. I just felt that I understood the game a lot more and I felt that I could do a lot of things. I had to take a step back and evaluate what I did know about the game of basketball. Now I'm just trying to let the game come to me, whether it be scoring, rebounding, whatever."
Bethune-Cookman Head Coach Clifford Reed
Thoughts on the game:
"St. John's is a good team. They're big, athletic and a tough team to play with. We stayed in the game for much of the first half, but then we got outplayed in the second half and found ourselves down 20 points. We could have done some things better offensively, but St. John's did a good job forcing us to turn the ball over which led to easy points for them. They outrebounded us on the offensive glass, which allowed them to get second chance points. St. John's is a BIG EAST team and it's good for our guys to play that level of competition so we can get better. We'll use this game as a learning experience to prepare for our next game."
