St. John's University Athletics
Post Game Quotes vs West Virginia
3/8/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 8, 2008
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QUEENS, N.Y. - Head Coach Norm Roberts
On today's game:
"Give West Virginia a lot of credit. They really did play well and made big plays when they had to. I thought our guys made huge plays when they had to. This could have been a day where our guys kind of laid down and didn't get after it. This really shows the character of the young men we have in our program and how they are going to get better. The future looks bright. That is a very good team over there. Coach Huggins is a terrific coach. I thought we battled all the way through."
On the season:
"(It was) up and down. We are young. We had guys injured so it kind of hurt our rotation. We knew we had to take our lumps and growing pains. The one thing about our young group is that they come and practice hard every day. If we can't make shots we play hard. We talked about playing with pride for the uniform, playing with pride for Geno (Eugene Lawrence) and playing with pride for themselves, and they did that."
More on the season:
"Your expectations are always going to be high. You don't know how kids are going to compete and you don't know how good teams are going to be in our League. If you look back at our schedule, the teams that we played, even non-league, they all had good seasons. We played a real tough schedule with a lot of young guys. The schedule is made a year in advance, so those things happen. I thought our guys competed."
On the team playing with pride:
"In the eyes of a lot people there probably wasn't much to play for today. We told them what they are playing for: their pride and playing in a great place like the Garden. We hadn't played well here all season. We needed to play well here, and I thought our guys did that."
On next season:
"I know that our guys play hard. I know they compete. I know our guys do the right things. Before you can do anything or have any success, you better have that first. We do have that with our young people and our whole team. They want to be good. They want to be good players and have a good team. They want to represent St. John's in a good way."
Eugene Lawrence
On his career at St. John's:
"I am just proud of the family-like atmosphere (here) since my freshman year. Even though we didn't win a lot of games, I felt happy coming to practice because it is a family-like atmosphere."
On what he told his team before the game:
"I just told them to have fun. To come out there and play hard but most of all have fun."
On today's game:
"I just think West Virginia is fast paced and up-tempo and that is what the tempo of the game (was). They did a lot of switching."
On the last defensive possession at the end of regulation:
"We were trying to turn the guard and make him do some turns so some seconds could run off the clock."
Larry Wright
On today's game:
"We really wanted to take this game seriously for Geno (Eugene Lawrence). This being his last year playing here, we just wanted to win it for him."
On next season:
"I am really looking forward to next season. I feel like our young players learned a lot this year with big crowds, at Duke, and at this game."
Anthony Mason Jr.
On Eugene Lawrence:
"The thing I am going to miss about Geno is that he comes to practice everyday and plays hard. Geno is a like a brother to me."
On next season:
"I can't wait till next season, especially not making the Big East Tournament. That is the biggest reason and we know we are better than that."
More on Eugene Lawrence:
"I have been with Geno since I first came on my first visit. We have a very close relationship. We have a real family environment. With Geno missing, it is going to be different."
Head Coach Bob Huggins
On the final play of regulation:
"I just wanted to turn (Joe Mazzulla) to his left hand and get him to the left hand side of the floor. The reason we threw it out of bounds is because I didn't want him to get turned into his right hand. With five seconds to go, they are not going to foul and it would be awful risky to try to take a charge. I just wanted to get his shoulders turned and I kept saying to him that you have plenty of time."
On Joe Alexander:
"Joe is the only post presence we have on this team. We spend a lot of time with him, trying to teach him how to play to play with his back to the basket. He is really athletic and he is starting to understand how to play better. He is not a kid who grew up playing, but his understanding is getting so much better."
More on Joe Alexander:
"I stay on him constantly. Early on in the year we had mismatches down low and he had smaller guys on him and we didn't throw him the ball and he didn't demand the ball."
On St. John's:
"I thought they were terrific. Norm Roberts has done an unbelievable job. It is hard to get consistency with that many young players. He has done a really good job. They were certainly ready to play today. I thought the adjustments he made, especially when they went small, was really hard for us to cover, particularly when they make shots like they made."
