St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: St. John's 64 - Northeastern 78
11/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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St. John's Assistant Coach Mike Dunlap
Opening Statement:
"Well obviously our brand of basketball - and what we pride ourselves in - is our defense. We gave up 38 points in the paint tonight, but that is something that's correctable. Secondly, we knew that Joel Smith could shoot the ball. He wasn't shooting that well coming into the game, but we talked about how his 21 points from the 3-point line was on us. Also, offensively, we did not shoot the ball particularly well. We showed some impatience as the game unfolded."
On being outrebounded on the offensive boards, 21-12:
"Offensive rebounds are going to be an issue all year long with this team. We address offensive rebounds daily in practice. If you look at God'sgift Achiuwa, Moe Harkless, and Nurideen Lindsey, we've found three guys that are stabilizing their rebounding numbers. But we have to find a fourth, even if it's by committee."
On taking the lead early in the second half, but being unable to hold it:
"We took the lead in the second half inside of ten minutes. What we did - which is typical of a young team - was we were lax. We were making that assault and trying to come back, but we got discouraged when Northeastern pushed back on us. But, full credit goes to Northeastern. We know that they're pounders on the glass. Their program has always stood for playing hard and pounding the glass."
On attempting to balance outside shooting with scoring in the paint:
"As you know, we get to the free throw line a line a lot. The good news is we were 14-of-18 on free throws tonight, but we usually have around 33 free throw attempts a game - that's the mathematical mean. Northeastern did a good job of not fouling when we would get into the paint. We were definitely trying to move through the paint, but full credit to Northeastern for not fouling."
On the difference between tonight and the Lehigh and William & Mary games:
"Two things were different. First, they pushed back harder when we finally got back on top of them. Second, we got impatient between the 9:00-6:00 minute marks when Northeastern pushed away by five. Even though we had them in a free throw line penalty situation, we weren't actually able to get to the line during that span because of our own impatience. We didn't use the pass as our friend. Instead, we took some impulsive 3-pointers, we tried to jam the ball in there, and Northeastern was able to block some shots. That's normal, but we just have to understand that St. John's basketball is north-and-south and we use the pass to find mistakes by the defense."
Sophomore Guard Nurideen Lindsey
On not having head coach Steve Lavin on the bench:
"We tried to focus on the game. We understand Coach Lavin's situation. We're all definitely concerned with how he's doing, but mentally we tried to stay locked in on the game, especially because Coach Dunlap's been doing a great job. We try to play hard for Coach Lavin every night."
On the back and forth nature of the game:
"I've just got to give credit to Northeastern. Number 20 (Joel Smith) had it going tonight. Those guys played real hard tonight. As we played hard, those guys looked like they tried to play harder, so I'll give credit to Northeastern."
On driving to the basket a lot in the second half:
"I just want to be aggressive. All of our guys do a pretty good job of scoring the basketball and being aggressive. I just try and make the best play to put us in the best situation."
On what he takes away from this game:
"There were a lot of positives from tonight. We have to get off to quicker starts and rebound the ball better, play tougher and know the personnel on defense. The whole coaching staff emphasizes defense, and that's who we are. So we'll take this game, and take the things that we didn't do to build on them and get better."
Junior Forward God'sgift Achiuwa
On recent struggles before this game:
"Everybody knows that this is a new team and we're still a work in process. We learn every day, and as Coach Lavin and Coach Dunlap emphasize, we're going to face different opponents. What we need to do is learn every day, and become better players. I didn't let those games influence the way I played basketball, and the coaches talked to me and told me that this is what it's all about and that we're still learning."
On what he takes away from this game:
"Whether we won or lost this game, we know that we have a lot to learn and a lot to work on in practice. So we're going to use this game tomorrow in practice to figure out what we did wrong, and try and fix those things before the next game on Thursday."
On why he went through recent struggles before tonight:
"I can't really explain why I played like that in those games. We're still in a learning process. I've learned from these games and I'm going to try and improve every day. After each of those games my teammates came to me and told me that `We really have to get you going, because everyone has to be on point every game.' They came and talked to me after practice, in the locker room after each game, and told me that I just had to work hard every day and it would come around."
Northeastern Head Coach Bill Coen
On his thoughts on the game:
"First I'd like to start by thanking St. John's and Coach Lavin for this opportunity to come down and compete. I thought it was an inspired basketball game. Obviously, when you make shots, things look a lot better and Joel (Smith) made a ton of shots today. He made them when we needed them. I was pleased with our rebounding effort. We went into the game trying to concentrate on lowering our turnovers. Today I thought we took better care of the basketball and we shared it better on the offensive end. I thought St. John's with their ability to penetrate and get into the lane really put some pressure on our defense. Nurideen Lindsey is terrific with the ball. He's very hard to keep out of the lane. He generates a lot of offense that way by getting his team to the foul line. Overall, It was a very competitive game and we are very fortunate to come away with a victory this afternoon"
Northeastern Junior Guard Joel Smith
On playing in tonight's game:
"I wasn't able to get involved in the first couple games. Coach just told me to keep my head up, calm down, relax and the game will come to me. So I calmed down and depended on my teammates and I hit my shots."
