St. John's University Athletics
Pregame Quotes
1/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2009
QUEENS, N.Y. -
Head Coach Norm Roberts
On No. 4/4 Connecticut
"It's a great opportunity for our team to play against another highly-ranked opponent. Connecticut is obviously a program that is always at the top of the league. I think all our guys are excited about the game. You want to be opportunistic. If you rebound the ball well and get opportunities to score in transition, you have to go and take them. You don't want to go against their half-court defense all night long. You also don't want to get into a rat race game with them."
On UConn's Hasheem Thabeet
"It's one thing when someone's 6-8, but he's 7-3. That's a little different. (How we handle him) remains to be seen. Hopefully, if we can get him away from the basket, that will be to our benefit. He does a good job of staying in the lane and clogging the lane. Georgetown was able to draw him away, but once you get him away you have to be able to make that shot. But no matter what, against a shot blocker, you have to go at him, if you go away from him your shot is going to be blocked. You have to go body-to-body and have some contact to get him out of there."
On the Huskies' defense
"They don't play much zone, they're a man-to-man team. If you're not careful with the basketball you will turn it over. (Jerome) Dyson and (A.J.) Price do a great job of getting in the passing lanes. They have played some zone in the past, but they're more of a man-to-man defensive team."
On redshirt sophomore Rob Thomas
"One of the biggest keys is size. That has hurt us in the past and when you look at a team like UConn, they're huge. Rob is much better for us at the 4-spot than he is playing the 3. He's going to get more minutes, there's no doubt. It's because we need the scoring, but it's also because we need the energy. Rob's been giving us great energy, he's hitting the glass pretty well and is doing a better job rebounding on the defensive end. He's also been defending well."
On the team's play in the second half at No. 1/1 Pitt
"I think a lot of the turnovers against Pittsburgh were because we were playing too fast. That happens when you have freshmen point guards. There were times that we just got a little too fast for ourselves and we turned it over. We have to be much better with the basketball. We've talked about that and we've practiced understanding time, score and momentum a little bit better. These are all things we're trying to teach Quincy (Roberts) and TyShwan (Edmondson). Our other guards have to be careful with the ball as well."
On the attendance draw that UConn can have at Madison Square Garden
"I don't worry about that. I do know that when we play at Madison Square Garden, because it's such a big venue, it allows for the opponents' fans to come. There's nothing we can do about that. But I know that our fans will be there cheering hard for us."
On how the team can learn from the win over Notre Dame
"We've seen what we can do when we play for 40 minutes with a total focus. We can compete. It should be assumed that we can do it every game and they want to do it every game. But just like anything else, every game is entirely different, it's a different scenario."
Freshman Guard Quincy Roberts
On his role as the point guard
"Since I'm the point guard now that Malik is out, I have to do a better job of taking care of the ball. When you're the point guard, you're the leader of the team. You're like the coach on the court. So I take a lot of responsibility for the things that go wrong on offense."
On what will be different for this game from the Pittsburgh game
"We're going to have to limit the turnovers. That was the main thing in that game. We had 24 turnovers, we have to limit that and execute more on offense."
On the strength of the schedule during the opening stretch of league play
"It's not wearing on me. It is what I thought it would be when I committed and signed to St. John's. I knew I'd be playing top teams and that's what I wanted. So here it is. You have to be prepared for it."
On the advice from injured Malik Boothe
"He's a great upperclassmen. He's always there for me, showing me what to do and giving me great advice. The things that he tells me make a lot of sense to me and I try to correct it and do the best I can."
Sophomore Guard Paris Horne
On Connecticut
"UConn is a very good school, not only in basketball, but in every sport they have. It's a big school, and it's a tough basketball team. We're just going to go there tomorrow, coach is going to prepare us, and we'll have confidence and be ready to play."
On who he is likely to play defense against
"It doesn't matter. Whoever coach puts me on, I'm just going to do my best to try and contain him and slow him down."
On what happened in the second half at Pittsburgh
"It was a lack of intensity, miscommunication and the offensive rebounds that definitely hurt us. The miscommunication led to turnovers. I think we should've turned it up a little bit more."
On the tough schedule
"I take it one game at a time. Each game is different. Coach gets us ready and prepares us for each game differently. We have to just go in with the mindset to win that next game."
On how to handle UConn's Hasheem Thabeet
"He presents a couple of problems to us because he's so big. He can clog up the lane and rebound. He's one of the best shot blockers. He also has to stick our guys too, and that might be a problem for him. Justin (Burell) and Sean (Evans) can take him away from the basket and shoot. They can also try to drive and draw some fouls."
Redshirt Sophomore Forward Rob Thomas
On his role with the team
"Yes, I feel like I can play more minutes. However, I like my role as it is right now. I am an energy guy that comes off the bench. I can score, help in rebounding and bring that extra fire to light up the starting five. I've always played my hardest coming in off the bench."
On not being a starter
"To me, it doesn't matter who starts. It's all about who's on the court, who's playing hard, who's going after that extra rebound or who's executing. It's all about who wants it more and I have no problem with coming off the bench. I'm just going to play hard."
On possibly playing more minutes
"I can play 25 minutes if I was asked to. I've been working hard everyday in practice and have been staying after practice. I also spent a lot of time in the summer working on drills, getting my feet quicker. I think we know that we can be quicker than a majority of players in this league and hopefully that can make a difference. I'm just going to play hard. If I touch the court, I don't want to come out because I'm tired, I want to come out because I made a mistake."
On playing against Connecticut's Hasheem Thabeet
"I think I'll just try to outsmart him and look at his feet. I'll see how he's playing defense and maybe I'll be able to read what I'm going to do from his feet."
