St. John's University Athletics
Pregame Quotes: St. John's vs. NJIT
12/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 5, 2008
QUEENS, N.Y. -
Head Coach Norm Roberts
On keeping the team focused during a challenging time of year:
"It is tough on your team. All the students are getting ready to leave and everyone is hunkering down for finals but our players still have to come in here and give us two and half hours of good practice as well as going back and studying for their classes. It is a little bit tedious, but our guys have done a great job. They realize that this is a great time for us to get better as a team."
On NJIT:
"They will get up and down some and focus on taking care of the ball. They are more of a possession orientated team, they want to control tempo. We will have to increase the pace of the game and get up and pressure."
On sophomore Malik Boothe:
"He has done a great job being a leader and making other guys better on the floor by creating opportunities for them. He has done a good job defending the ball and is shooting the ball better while being more aggressive. If he can keep turnovers that are not created by the other team down he will be fine. He has worked hard and it shows."
Sophomore guard Malik Boothe
On his offensive game:
"I felt that I was a good shooter last year, I was just not as confident. I think that with the help of my teammates and my coaches I am more comfortable being out there and taking my shot when it's there."
On always working hard:
"Every game you have to go out and play hard because any day, any team can beat anybody. You can't think that just because we are supposed to beat a team on paper, we are going to go out and walk all over them."
Sophomore forward Sean Evans
On the frontcourt as a unit:
"We are coming together. Coach said we need to gel and become one because one weakness might be someone else's strength. We need to help each other out and work together."
On the improvement of the team:
"I think Paris [Horne] and D.J. [Kennedy] have stepped up big. Dele's [Coker] conditioning has really improved and he is getting better everyday. With Malik [Boothe] running the point everyone has really come together and show improvement. One day it might be someone's night and another it will be someone else's. We come prepared and are ready to step up when we need to."
