St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: St. John's 74, William & Mary 59
11/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 7, 2011
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St. John's Special Assistant/Advisor Gene Keady
Opening statement:
"We're very happy with the way we played. In the second half we came out with a lot more energy as you could tell and we played like we practiced. Coach (Mike) Dunlap has done a tremendous job filling in for Coach (Steve) Lavin as a leader for us. It has been fun watching these guys develop. I think in the first half we were a little uptight. They were making 3s and we couldn't get any type of momentum going as far as steals. We went back out and played loosey-goosey and I was really proud with the way the players came back."
On how the team came together in the second half:
"That's one of the things that I'm really happy about. Coach Dunlap keeps preaching that together we're going to be a lot better than as individuals. I really have to hand it to him. At halftime, he didn't come in here and get on anybody. He just kept calm and cool and said `hey we'll come back out second half and play like we wanted to.' He did a tremendous job with his halftime talk and he didn't yell or anything. Unlike, I would have."
On the slow start:
"Their (William & Mary) style of play had something to do with that. They were patient, ran some of the Princeton stuff and hit some 3s. In the Princeton offense if you make 3s and, kind of like the Wishbone in football, if you get behind a team like that they're going to beat you. It was a tremendous effort on our kid's part to come out in the second half with that sort of energy and really get a lot of great steals and good dunks and feed off of each other. They have been fun to coach. For a young team, in practice, I've been really impressed with their togetherness, ability to listen, and their ability to not take it personal when we get after them. They have been a great bunch of young men."
On being able to run the court:
"Well, they missed shots. In the second half, they missed and we weren't getting the long rebounds in the first half, but we did in the second half and we won the 50-50 balls. We want to push it, we want to run and those are two things Coach Lavin really wants to do. Run, get the ball to the paint and reverse the ball. So I hope he's happy with that tonight. I was over at his apartment last week and he's getting back to normal. He's laughing around now; he's walking a lot and making some progress as far as getting back to normal. We're anxious to get him back, but Coach Dunlap has done a tremendous job leading us. I can't say enough about that."
Sophomore guard Nurideen Lindsey
On defensive effort in the second half:
"I think in the first half the guys came out a little tight. We were definitely excited about the game, but we didn't come out ready to play. In the second half we came out and we understood that defensively we had to turn it up a notch and become more intense."
On his old school style of play:
"I just try to make the right play. From time to time I like to get a little crafty, but I just don't want to put my team in the situation where we don't succeed on easy opportunities like that."
Freshman guard D'Angelo Harrison
On Nurideen Lindsey's old school style of play:
"Well he's just older period, but he does have some new school and old school tendencies."
On nervousness after first half deficit:
"We weren't nervous, we were just angry and when halftime came we just said `let's pick it up.' The way we play is what you saw in the second half, we just started off slow."
On what the win means to the team:
"Almost every game is an experience for us. First game we got the jitters out and in the second half we were all just ready to go and I feel like that's going to carry over into practice tomorrow and then into Wednesday's game."
Freshman forward Moe Harkless
On his first game in front of his hometown crowd:
"There were a lot of people here for me and it's always going to be like that because they want to come and see me play."
On second half mindset:
"The way they were playing their zone in the middle was pretty much wide open and we weren't really exposing that in the first half. But in the second half our main focus was opening up the middle which led to open outside shots."
William & Mary Head Coach Tony Shaver
Opening Statement:
"I thought we played a good 20 minutes and a bad 20 minutes. I thought we were very composed for the first 20 minutes of the basketball game. St. John's extended their pressure and became more aggressive in the second half and we didn't handle it very well. There is only one stat you need to look at and that's our 21 turnovers and I think 13 of those came in the second half. We gave up 28 points off of turnovers and I'm sure 26 of those came in the second half. We have to handle the ball better than that. Their pressure was good and they made some nice adjustments at half time. We just gave up too many layups. It's hard to stop a fast break layup."
On playing against a young team:
"I really wasn't concerned about them. They may be young but they are also very talented. My concern was our execution and how we wanted to play. I thought for 22 minutes we were really good at it. We were really composed; we moved the ball well and had great shot selection. We just didn't handle their higher level of intensity and pressure in the second half as well as we should have. "
