St. John's University Athletics
Pregame Quotes vs. West Virginia
12/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2010
Freshman Forward Dwayne Polee II
On what his focus is on coming off of a solid showing in the Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival:
"Just carrying my momentum into the BIG EAST and just do whatever I have to do to get this `W' against West Virginia."
On what the upperclassmen have told him to prepare him for BIG EAST road play:
"That it's just going to get crazy and to keep my head and stay focused on the game."
On what the team has improved on as the season has progressed:
"Moving the ball, looking for each other and getting open shots closer to the basket instead of looking for the 3."
On how he is adjusting to college ball halfway through his freshman year:
"I feel confident going into the BIG EAST. I've got my teammates behind me and I've got their support. So I'm just looking to have a good freshman year."
Senior Forward Justin Brownlee:
On preparing for West Virginia:
"West Virginia has been a tough team, especially playing at their home gym. They're a good rebounding team, so I think for the most part if we control the rebounds, we can be successful in the game."
On the team's confidence after winning the Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival championship:
"It boosted our confidence a lot. Anytime you win, your confidence builds off winning. So especially coming out with the hardware from the tournament, I think it great for our team. It gave us a breakthrough. We've been wanting a break through and luckily it came in the tournament. So we're just very confident and we're looking forward to the BIG EAST schedule."
On having only five STJ players score in the MSG Holiday Festival championship game against Northwestern:
"It's just how the game went. The five players that did score, they had open opportunities. Like Coach always says, when we have open opportunities, be aggressive to them. So it wasn't anything about our other teammates not scoring. It was just about the opportunities that the five players had."
On shooting 80 percent as a team in the second half against Northwestern:
"It was a tough task, but I feel like if we execute and take great shots and rebound, then we're going to do well."
Sophomore Guard Malik Stith
On the effect of the two STJ wins in the MSG Holiday Festival on the team's confidence:
"It puts the confidence on another level for us because we didn't win [the Holiday Festival] last year, and I think the three years that the seniors have been here, they didn't win it either. So it just gives us big confidence going into BIG EAST play, knowing that we can close out games and win hard ones."
On his advice to Dwayne Polee II heading into the team's BIG EAST opener against West Virginia:
"I told him he's going to have some ups and downs and have some good times and bad times. But the main thing for him is to just try to be consistent and solid, and when he comes in, just do his job. There's a lot of seniors, so he'll have time to develop more of his game. But I think his role this year is to be consistent and do his job and he'll be okay."
On recalling his first experience in BIG EAST play last season:
"My first BIG EAST game was Georgetown last year and it was a crazy environment for my first BIG EAST game. We wound up losing at the end but it was a good experience. It was what I came to St. John's for."
