St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: St. John's 72 Hofstra 60
12/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 20, 2009
St. John's Head Coach Norm Roberts
On tonight's game
"It was a real hard fought game and it was...two teams going hard at each other. We didn't start off well, but I thought we did a great job of fighting back the last 10 minutes of the game and we got plays. We got plays from everybody, that is how our team has been all year. We ended up having to go small because they were spreading us out with the ball screens. I was really happy with the performance because we had to gut it out."
On defending Charles Jenkins
"What we talked about was that when Jenkins was at the point (guard), we wanted Paris (Horne) to guard him because Paris can guard you and is a little faster than D.J. (Kennedy) and we wanted to pressure the ball because we wanted to wear him out as much as we could. Once Chaz Williams came into the game, we went to a more normal lineup, put Malik (Boothe) on Chaz and then put Paris on (Cornelius) Vines or (Nathaniel) Lester and then put D.J. on Jenkins."
On the rivalry with Hofstra
"Every win is important. I know obviously people put a lot of stock into this game because this is a cross-town game. And give Tom (Pecora) credit, he has done a great job with his program. We have never really played them at full strength. We have always had injuries, we have different things happen to us. We are not going to make excuses. They beat us, they beat us and they played very well. They have guys that can make plays. Tonight we made more plays than them, we stayed strong and we won the game."
On the rivalry with Hofstra
"I definitely think we are taking a big step winning tonight. I know Hofstra has won the previous four games so we wanted to get that (monkey) off our back and off the program. It was a big win for us tonight. Hofstra is a great team but I definitely feel like we are going in the right direction."
On Charles Jenkins
"Jenkins is a strong player, scores the ball, real explosive. You have to just play hard and make him shoot contested shots and that is what I was trying to do. I was able to use my height."
On the team's defense at the end of the game
"I think the key was when they were up six, seven points and we had to lock in defensively and we did do that during that stretch."
On the beginning of the second half
"We weren't nervous. Our shots weren't falling for us and we weren't playing with a lot of energy. D.J. (Kennedy), Paris (Horne), Sean (Evans) and (myself) knew we had to pick up our energy and (Justin) Brownlee came in and gave us great energy. "
On his key lay-up in the second half
"We started to make that run before that little layup but they were leaving me open all game. The shot was something Coach told me to take. I told him I am not going to take every one I am open for. The defender closed out on me, I was able to get a step, get to the basket and I think my team did a good job responding."
On the team's defense at the end of the game
"Coach tells every time that we have enough guys to dog them for 94 feet and I think we did that."
Hofstra Head Coach Tom Pecora
On tonight's game
"I thought it was a good college basketball game. The game got away from us a little bit late in the game. I thought the two keys were Chaz Williams picking up his fourth foul because he was dominating the game offensively for us (and) we had to sit him for a stretch that kind of took the wind out of our sails. Give them credit, they made it very, very tough late in the game. They made it tough for Charles (Jenkins) to get touches. Give St. John's great credit. I think they did a wonderful job, they had a good defensive scheme set up. Now we have to play the best 2-7, or 2-8 team in the country. I think Davidson is a really good basketball team watching them in the first game."
On Chaz Williams' fourth foul
"It was a silly foul. I talked to him when he had three about being smart but that takes time. They are still freshman. They have veterans, they are seniors."
On being out-toughed by St. John's
"It irks me when we come out of any game out-toughed. It is the only thing that keeps me awake. That is something we talk about all of the time and that is unacceptable. We do that to other people. I am not comfortable having the tables turned on us. It is not how I want our teams to play."
On Miklos Szabo and Cornelius Vines
"They are both our seniors and I love them but they have to change on the court. They are both erratic. We need both Mikey Szabo and Cornelius Vines to play better and to win big games."
On D.J. Kennedy
"Well as an overall player, the kid was a monster today. His final numbers were 15 (points) and 11 (rebounds). He had a double-double for the day. He played great."
Charles Jenkins
On D.J. Kennedy
"He did a good job battling. He used his size, he blocked my shots."
