St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Syracuse 76, St. John's 59
1/12/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2011
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Head Coach Steve Lavin
Opening statement:
"I thought early we did some good things with our pressure in the full court and were able to get some good looks at the basket. Syracuse clearly dominated the game from somewhere around the eight-minute mark of the first half through to the second half. They thoroughly dominated the game at both ends of the floor with their zone defense, and also on the glass and the high-percentage looks they were able to get on the interior, both in transition with easy buckets and in the half court. They just played an excellent game and sustained their effort and execution for the entire 40 minutes. I told our guys after the game that we did some things in stretches and spurts, particularly in the first half, that were impressive, but you have to sustain it if you're going to beat the No. 4 team in the country like Syracuse."
On Syracuse's zone:
"There is a cumulative effect over the course of a game - and the season even - as a result of Coach Boeheim having a great sense or feel for the zone in terms of how to teach it and adjustments to make based on personnel he's facing and also the group that he has year-to-year. So I think you start like you would with John Chaney and his great matchup zone at Temple or Rollie Massimino with his great matchup and changing defenses that he had at Villanova. Jim Boeheim just has a great sense and feel. And there's a reason why (Mike) Krzyzewski used him in international competition to help the cause of our Olympic team. So you have to start with the architect which is Coach Boeheim. And then they recruit well for their particular style and system of play, so he's able to plug players into specific roles whether it's along the baseline or on top. And then because of their size and length there are just not many open looks at the rim or in the basket area."
Senior Forward Justin Burrell
On the Syracuse-St. John's rivalry:
"We know it's a big game being that they're Syracuse and the history between St. John's and Syracuse and on top of that they're undefeated. So it's a really big game for us and we needed this game. But give credit to Syracuse; they came out and took care of business better than we did."
On learning from tonight's game:
"The last two games we didn't close out to the three-point line hard enough. A lot of guys made a lot of shots. For some reason we're not running these guys off the line and making them make plays off the bounce and get into the passing lanes like we normally have. So we have to get back to that. And we definitely have to work on getting back on the glass."
On the atmosphere at tonight's game:
"The atmosphere was great. When we came out, we heard a lot of our fans cheering for us. I hope they stick with us; they were there for a long time. I can't expect them to cheer when it gets late like that and we're down by so many and not playing the style of basketball they're accustomed to seeing from us this year... I hope they stick with us because we're going to get it back."
Senior Guard/Forward D.J. Kennedy
On tonight's game:
"We have to go back to the drawing board. That's the No. 4 team in the country so we played hard in the first half through spurts. Tomorrow is a new day in the BIG EAST and we just have to look forward to the next game. We have to learn from the mistakes in this game and continue to the next."
On the atmosphere:
"It was a great atmosphere. We knew a lot of people were going to come out for Syracuse-St. John's. It's New York and everybody wants to see that, it's kind of a rivalry. We wanted to come out and give our fans a big win but we weren't able to do that."
