St. John's University Athletics
Pregame Quotes: St. John's vs. Northeastern
11/25/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
St. John's Head Coach Steve Lavin
On the Northeastern Huskies:
"For starters, they have excellent guard play. They do a nice job of on-ball screening, they attack the 3-point line well. So, their speed, quickness and skill are some things we have to be mindful of and just be alert defensively in terms of our assignments and our coverages."
On what he took from the St. Francis game:
"As always at this stage of the season, basketball teams are a work in progress. All the fundamentals still need to be enhanced in terms of our passing and catching, better velocity on our passes and cuts - so when we're working without the ball, cutting and sprinting into our screening action more consistently. Transporting the ball, and getting in position for better passing angles to deliver the ball down low. We want to get the ball to Gift (God'sgift Achiuwa), (Moe) Harkless and (Sir'Dominic) Pointer more often in the basket area where we can either get fouled, make a high percentage shot, or draw double teams and so we can kick the ball back out to our open teammates. So, on a number of fronts offensively, we have to continue to improve our fundamentals. Defensively - because we have multiple schemes in both the full court and the half court - we have to work on our slides, our communication, our rotation and then, of course, you finish every defensive possession with a rebound. Finishing the end of the possession with a rebound is critical as that ignites our fast break. Defense creates our offense, in terms of beginning our transition attack. On both ends of the floor we need to continue to polish, refine and improve things, but for this stage of the year that is expected. That's why we watch film, do the drill work - trying to create better basketball habits on a daily basis in practice. In particular, we are a young team with six newcomers and prior to this season our nucleus had never played Division I basketball. Every practice and game is a learning opportunity."
On his health:
"I'm cancer-free. All the blood work that has come back from the doctor says it's `straight-A's.' The only place where I am challenged is stamina and energy. Moving forward, I have to be mindful of my energy levels and how I utilize fuel. The great thing is we have as strong a staff as there is in the country. I'm flanked by the best group of assistant coaches in the country. We don't miss a beat even as I continue this modified schedule. I'm working in concert with our staff as we continue to build our program, but I do need to be mindful of my health and how I utilize energy as I gradually build my stamina level back. And that's to be expected after prostate surgery. My surgery was close to seven hours, which is twice the average time for prostate surgery. The doctors said there will be some stretches when I experience fatigue and the only way to fully heal is rest, good nutrition and being mindful of all the things on the health front that are necessary to recuperate."
On the team's Thanksgiving:
"Bread and Life was a great opportunity for our student-athletes to come together and work in a collective manner to serve people in need of the essentials - from meals to beds to a roof over their head, shoes on their feet, a winter jacket, the basics. There is great value when our players get involved with a charity like St. John's Bread and Life. Wednesday was a really valuable experience for our players. I'm proud of the way they represented our program. One of the many reasons I enjoy working at St. John's is because it is a University that is committed to serving those in need."
Freshman Guard D'Angelo Harrison
On the team doing yoga following practice:
"It keeps us focused with stretching and making sure everything is loose. It's a big game tomorrow so we just have to do a better job of getting loose and ready for the game."
On scouting the Northeastern Huskies:
"We'll do that later today. We'll get to know who they are and what they are all about, and we'll be ready to go tomorrow."
On what the team needs to do to become the team it wants to be:
"Get off to a better start and pick up more stops on defense. We did a better job on defense against St. Francis and just come out ready to play tomorrow. We have to start better in the first half."
On coming off the bench against St. Francis:
"There are only seven of us so a lot of us are going to play 25-plus minutes so I just had to do a good job of being ready to play. I think I had one of my best games coming off the bench."
On playing in Carnesecca Arena:
"I like it. I didn't think it was going to be like this at first, but after the crowd gets here and everybody gets settled in and goes crazy I like it."
