St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs. Fordham
12/13/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 13, 2009
QUEENS, N.Y. - Head Coach Norm Roberts
Opening statement:
"I thought we did a good job for the most part defensively. Fordham made some shots, but we didn't shoot well from the 3-point line and we have been shooting it a lot better lately. We did well with the gritty stuff- rebounding- having two guys in double-figures in D. J. Kennedy and Justin Brownlee."
On his team's performance:
"I thought we got good minutes from everybody. Dele Coker gave us a good defensive presence and I thought Malik Boothe changed the game in the second half and got some energy plays when we needed them."
On the positives from tonight's win:
"We did a good job of attacking the basket and getting to the free throw line. We had nine turnovers, but we forced them into 21 turnovers. If we are playing undersized, we have to play athletic and run and block shots and rebound. That is the only way to compete."
On the aggressive play against Fordham:
"We have competitive guys and Fordham was competitive and our guys went back at them. You'll always have that in rivalry games."
On Justin Brownlee:
"He came out with energy and made big plays. He is finding his way. We always want him to be in the aggressive mode and he was today. He wants to learn, but overall, he is a great teammate. He just wants to win."
On Dele Coker
"Dele Coker has done a great job for us stepping up. He controlled the paint tonight and gave us valuable minutes."
Junior Guard Paris Horne
On his scoring role:
"It feels great. It was a matter of confidence and putting up shots. I was hustling and had great energy."
On the game plan against Fordham:
"We are a pretty good half-court team. We have to contain them. It usually helps when we are hitting shots, but we didn't hit too many today. We like to pressure and we like to get up on teams and we wanted to make sure that we did that."
Junior Forward Justin Brownlee
On his first career double-double:
"The team is pushing me in practice everyday and it makes me tougher. I am getting used to it. I was attacking the basket well tonight. I played good defense and got some rebounds."
Junior Guard Malik Boothe
On the keys to continue playing well:
"We have to contain and move the ball. We have to move without the ball and we have to continue to make shots."
On the Fordham zone defense:
"I thought they were going to go zone the whole game. We seem to get a lot of our points in transition and don't score well in a zone. We just weren't hitting shots today. It wasn't the fact that they went to the zone."
Head Coach Jared Grasso
On the game:
"The second half, I thought our guys competed and played hard. I told them that I took over nine days ago, there are some things we need to work on and we need to get better. Our effort got better, guys are playing harder and we won the second half. It's a work in progress and we have to get better every day. If we can buy into getting better everyday and competing and fighting, I think at the end of the year there will be a lot of progress made and we'll win games."
On Chris Gaston:
"Chris competed. He showed why he's one of the top freshmen in the country. He's a guy I have a lot of faith in. He had 32 points and 15 rebounds against a BIG EAST team. We asked him to do a lot. He's a special player and he's going to keep getting better. For him to do this on this stage is special."
On the future:
"Everyday is going to be the same for me. I want to have the hardest playing team in the country that compete, fight and scrap. We did that in the second half. I was proud of their effort. It's a work in progress. We're going to get back in the gym tomorrow. As long as we keep improving on a daily basis, I'll be happy."
