St. John's University Athletics
Pregame Quotes: St. John's at No. 9/9 Connecticut
12/30/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2011
St. John's Assistant Coach Mike Dunlap
On team defense:
"We're trying to get our system in, so as you're putting a system as a whole in, you're leaving some detail behind. We're trying to refine our system and work on the detail of stance, and certain shifts and slides that we have within our man and zone. It's tedious, but it's something that as we're developing the team and getting better with our defense, we have to do."
On the toughness of coaching a young group:
"I think it's been really difficult just to stay on-point with very long days be it weights, basketball, film or our notebook system. It's like a class. We expect a lot, but to try and ascend in the BIG EAST and be one of the better teams in the country takes an extraordinary effort and you have to have talented players… that we have. As a coaching staff, it's our job to take them through the paces."
On staying out of foul trouble:
"It comes from practice and there are certain risks or chances that we don't want to take. And then always being conscience of every drill that we do of putting them in situation play. In our drills we will say 'Gift [God'sgift Achiuwa] has four fouls, or Moe [Harkless] has three. It's the first half and we're going to play him two more minutes and protecting him'. We've been in some choppy waters at times with that issue, but you're right, we've been particularly fortunate and I also think the coaching staff has done a nice job with development in that area."
On the size of No. 9/9 Connecticut:
"It will all come down to rebounding and working from there to other categories statistically. With those people - UConn, Kentucky and those types - space becomes the issue. We have to be careful not to get caught in situations where we're way out in space as far as spreading our defense out. We can do it at times, but we have to be clever about how we do it and then when the bigs do get the ball - let's say we're on defense - we have to show them crowds. We can't get spread all over the place. If we leave 'Gift by himself, that's not going to be a good result."
On Connecticut's Jeremy Lamb:
"Awareness of where he is at on the floor - three quarter-court, coming across half court - I think you have to be within an arm's reach of him and you can't forget where he is at. The second part of taking care of or being mindful of someone like Jeremy is there are going to be times in the game when he's going to try and impose his will on you. And for a young team, we've tried to pay attention to all those things during the game and when we go in at halftime or there is a timeout, we will always go to the better players and say 'What's that guy going to try and do now' and say 'He's going to try and go' or what element will he use. UConn has tendencies so we'll be very alert to what Jeremy is trying to do and what their team is trying to do, but you have to pay attention to him."
On the team moving forward:
"We really like how the team is shaping up. Also, Amir's [Garrett] prescience has bolstered our team. It's nice to have a fine young man added to our group. He's a nice athlete and he's a good basketball player, but he's a better person. Now we throw that into the mix and it has really lifted our team."
On Amir Garrett's contributions:
"Where he contributes on offense right away is he is unselfish. He threw two passes by the rim and they were effortless. He's 6-foot-7 and he's a giver, so he's going to help us with our team assists. That's a stat that is very important as we improve and get better that we're around the 15-20 assists mark. That's a lot, but we want to be an unselfish team and he's such an unselfish player offensively, so I think he's going to help us with the pass."
Freshman Forward Moe Harkless
On going against smaller lineups like Providence:
"When I see guys that are pretty much the same size or shorter than me, I just try and take advantage of it and use my length and height to get easy shots on those guys."
On team mentality against larger front lines like Connecticut:
"It's a matter of adjusting the way we play defense and limiting those guys' touches, attacking them on offense, and trying to get them in foul trouble."
On chemistry between freshman guard D'Angelo Harrison and himself:
"It's a process, and I think we're coming along every day and developing better chemistry and we'll just continue to get better, we've just got to keep working."
On impression of UConn as a team:
"They're a tough team. They're long, they're tall and they have good shooters, plus they're quick, so it's going to be a fun game to play."
On impact of big win over Providence:
"We were confident before the game, and a lot of people didn't expect us to come out and win like that. We tried to take it one play at a time and play hard, that's what we did. We can't get over-confident, we just have to stay humble and keep working for the next win."
On team's ability to compete:
"You could see the talent, even in games that we lost. A lot of those games were games that we should have won or could have won and you could see once we developed better chemistry and once we get better on defense, that we'll be a really tough team."
On adjustment to St. John's-style defense:
"It's been a pretty tough adjustment, especially at first. Coach Dunlap said in the last couple practices that we haven't even scratched the surface of what we can do on defense. The last couple of days in practice we've just been playing a lot of defense, and I think we can get better still."
