St. John's University Athletics
Pregame Quotes: St. John's vs. UMBC
11/11/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 11, 2011
St. John's Assistant Coach Mike Dunlap
On avoiding falling behind in the opening half:
"We have a lot of room to improve. Part of that is us learning how to coach the team to get them in that position. Also, full credit to our opponents we've played. For example with Lehigh, four of the five guys had been in the NCAA Tournament. They were a very experienced team. I think that our opponent presents some of that challenge and give them credit. There are questions we ask ourselves as coaches to see if we can tweak it, but no drastic changes, because then you bring a sense of uncertainty to our group and we really do like our routine. Each team has its own way of getting ready and we can make adjustments so we're flexible in mind too."
On how the team responded to Coach Steve Lavin's return:
"Excellent... It is great to have him back, and it gave us a surge as we anticipated, but that's who he is. It was very natural and obviously there is some adjustment that will go on over the next couple weeks, which we acknowledge, but since we're so open about things, we staged it and have talked about it a lot."
On giving up 3-pointers in the matchup zone defense:
"The thing about any zone - so we don't focus too much on `our zone' - is that you know the culprit. The culprit is the 3, but what it does do is it makes teams one dimensional. They're trying to beat you one way, ultimately. And that's tough living as people have found over the course of a game if that's the way you're going to go. Anybody who coaches knows that, but I don't think we flinched too much when those five 3s were made. We can do better of course in our schemes, but this a brand new team and it's not an every-man defense. It takes awhile to pick it up."
On the team's learning curve:
"There are two answers to that question... One, we have an offensive group. If you look at their stats, we have a lot of guys that can `score'. Second, we like that as their nature, but on the front end we have to get a buy-in factor to defense, and it's happening. You can hear it in the press conferences; you can hear it around the traps. With Phil (Greene) and our players, they're starting to talk the talk and we'll work out our schemes and our slides, but they really have to buy in. You have to give them time, we don't have that kind of experience on that, but our culture leads with defense first. We know that carries the day and can lead you to the promised land, and that for this team is trying to get into the NCAA (Tournament) and then win in the NCAA's. In fairness, we have a heck of a job to try and do given two factors. One, a brand new team, which typically in any high-level league has a hard time doing. Two, we don't have a deep bench in terms of guys on scholarship. So, we have a double whammy working for us, but we love that and with Coach (Gene) Keady and Lav and all of us, give us that challenge and we'll take it on."
Freshman Guard Phil Greene
On what it was like to have Coach Lavin back:
"It was exciting. When he came back everyone was happy, happy to have our coach back. We wanted to get a win for him. We told him that this game was for Coach Lav. God'sgift (Achiuwa) said it before the game, that we couldn't let him down, and we came through."
On the team's slow starts:
"We start off sluggish. When we're down, we're fighting, trying to get steal, and playing real scrappy defense. So we've got to start off with that mentality. We have to start off strong and be ready from the get-go, because against elite teams we're not going to be able to come back from 16 down like that."
On defensive adjustments when the team has been trailing:
"It's the same defensive scheme, but when we're down the intensity is there, and we have more energy. Starting out of the gate we don't have a lot of energy, but when we're down, we know we've got to claw back, so we can get the win."
On whether slow starts are an issue:
"We said it at the end of every game, because every game we've started off slow. Everyone says that we have to pick it up, we've just got to figure out what we have to do to pick it up."
On why the team has been able to come back so well both games:
"We have good team chemistry, and we know what the other players can do. We know what we're capable of, and we know that we've just got to keep fighting to win. We've got a close-knit group, and that's all we really want to do is just win."
On his recent personal play:
"I just have to be more aggressive, just attack the basket a little more. It's like coach said, I've just got to attack, and keep attacking the basket, and the rim will open up."
Junior Guard Malik Stith
On wisdom he imparts as team has fallen behind:
"I kind of blame myself, because I'm out there in the beginning of the game. We've got to do something different, come out with more energy, but as a whole team we've got to realize, that the early session of the game, the first five minutes, we can't keep playing from behind. What [the younger players] don't know yet is that if you're playing a Pittsburgh, it's hard to come back from a 16-point lead. We're working on that right now, coming out stronger. That's all the way from the pre-game meal to being more focused when the game starts."
On comparing this season to last season at the same point:
"Personally, my leadership in all aspects has been different. I blame myself for everything that happens that's not positive, so I'm just trying to get better. As a team, I think we're about at the same place we were last year. As far as experience, that's the only thing we lack. As far as the conditioning, and the plays we have, and the schemes we have, we're just about around the same area."
On learning curve between last year and this year:
"I'm kind of used to it, and during the game, you may not pick up on it, but I may do somebody else's job or tell them where to be incase they forget due to the adrenaline of the game. Last year's team was kind of the same because they had to break the old habits and the old plays, and refresh with new ones. They were new to it, kind of how these freshmen are, so they both had growing pains."
On silver linings from close early games:
"I'm glad we won those two games, I can say that. Sometimes blowing a team out, especially as young as we are, may not help us as much as when we're down and have to fight back. We all came together, just fighting adversity, so next time we're in that situation it helps us out more, but we definitely can't continue to play from behind."
