St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: St. John's 58, Rutgers 56
2/3/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 3, 2011
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St. John's Head Coach Steve Lavin
Opening Statement:
"Naturally, it's pretty clear you guys were all here tonight. We are very fortunate. St. John's was very fortunate to win tonight. I thought Rutgers played outplayed us in many facets of the game, but we had just enough to get over the top and find a way to get a `W.'"
On why he specifically drew up that final play:
"It's a play that makes sense against teams that are going to switch. (Justin) Brownlee is so effective at the high post area and he's familiar and comfortable operating there whether it's in our man-to-man offensive sets, our high post sets or with our zone attack. In that particular case I thought we would get it inside of their defense and after the switch have him roll back to the ball and be able to get the catch. I like my chances of whether he pulls up, drives it hard to the hole because we were in the bonus or be able to finish as he did."
On the expectations heading into this game:
"We talked before the game and said this game would be a rock fight. It's who brings the most boulders and the heaviest boulders and you just have to keep throwing rocks. It's going to be played out that way. Backyard brawl, a rock fight, whatever title you want to give it. Even though as a coach you do everything you can to fight a letdown, we clearly did not duplicate or replicate the level of energy or offensive execution that we had against Duke. Now Rutgers had a lot to do with that. So you start by praising Mike Rice for having his kids play at a really high level. I talked about it yesterday before the game... I think they're as dangerous in terms of their quickness and a matchup for us; they're as dangerous and as tough as it gets. I told right after the Duke game that this would be our toughest game of the year to this point."
On the physicality and toughness of Justin Brownlee:
"I think he was being honest when he said that his pain threshold isn't very high, but he's improved in that area. He's so skilled and sees the floor and processes at an elevated level. I would put him up towards the top of anyone I've ever coached in terms of his ability to see things. He enjoys the thrill of the pass, which is refreshing because most kids want to score. He understands the level of physicality that it takes to be great in the BIG EAST."
On the expectations of playing at UCLA:
"They've got some big bodies, Reeves Nelson and (Joshua) Smith. It's a typical Ben Howland team. They're going to play man-to-man for 40 minutes."
On the final play:
"It was a combination of two things. A lot of it is just feel, intuition and instinct and now we get to analyze it because it worked and when it doesn't work we analyze it and you're a bum. In this particular situation, it was that I felt comfortable with Brownlee in the catch at the high post because he catches the ball there in all of our offenses. That's an area where he gets it and he's comfortable with it. He knows he's the hub of the wheel when he gets it there and the spokes are around him. If they're all extended defensively he's got the green light to drive or shoot a mid-range jumper and if he gets fouled he's a good free throw shooter. If they collapse, he's got his kicks and his reads."
St. John's Senior Forward Justin Brownlee
On if there was any hesitation on his game-winning drive to the left, given that he has a left thumb injury:
"My hand feels good. I don't feel too much pain. I know I can move it. I saw that the first time was open, so I just drove it without even thinking about if my hand was hurting or anything. I was just trying to get the basket."
On when he hurt his hand:
"In the Duke game, I got fouled and it was around four or five minutes to go in the game. Nolan Smith chopped down on me and he chopped down pretty hard on it."
On his thumb injury affected his play at all:
"I don't think it affected my game, but I was just trying to be easy on it because I didn't want to reinjure it. But I still wanted to be aggressive and attack when I can."
On if he had the ball in control when he went up for the game-winning layup:
"Not totally in control, but in control enough where I could finish it."
On what his reaction was when he saw that he was isolated on the final play:
"Just to try to get it to the rim to try to get a basket."
On if he needed to step it up on the final play:
"Well Coach, he drew up a really good play. We knew that they were switching, so he drew up a really good play with me flashing back to the basketball. I didn't feel any pressure. I just tried to attack and finish at the rim and score."
St. John's Senior Guard Paris Horne
On it feels to be on the winning side of a hard-fought, close game:
"It feels a lot better. Everybody wants to win the nail-biters, especially if it's the home team. Cincinnati beat us of that shot and we were kind of having a flashback and we were thinking about it. So we knew that we had to try to get a stop and try to get a score."
On Coach Lavin referring to him as `Bruce Bowen':
"That's a compliment. Bruce Bowen was on the perimeter and he just liked to guard the best offensive player and he shuts them down. So I just take that and I run with it."
On the team's free throw struggles in Carnesecca Arena:
"I'm not sure. It's probably a mental thing. We just had two games that just went to battle in a short matter of time and it probably was our legs. We weren't getting enough legs under our shots. That's all. It probably was just mental and it probably was just our legs."
On what Rutgers was doing defensively that allowed them to come back late in the game:
"We probably just didn't execute right. We had good looks, but we probably didn't pass it quick enough to get a better shot. We took a lot of tough shots that help them get back in the game and they came down and scored - that's it. Other than that, once we started moving the ball and finding our stops and picking it up on defense, we got into our flow."
Rutgers Head Coach Mike Rice
Opening Statement:
"I told the team in the locker room that I was proud of them for winning the game on the defensive end and how disappointed and frustrated I was on the other end of the floor; the offensive game. I told them I liked their fight but eventually they have to stop getting in their own way and allow themselves to be successful.
Give St. John's credit, they took us out any pattern that we were strong at and made us play basketball. They made us attack the hoop and put up numbers. Time and time again, we seem to figure it out for a two-minute stretch but we kept giving them the ball."
On Rutgers Senior Forward Jonathan Mitchell:
"He's trying to carry us and become a leader. We have really hard workers and good kids. Leaders sometimes aren't very nice. Leaders sometimes fight when the freshmen aren't defending the right way in practice. Leaders sometimes take on a nastiness and have some type of edge. Jonathan is starting to develop that. Certainly on the floor, but I'd like him to carry more of that role off the court. But at the end of the day, when you have zero points from four different positions, you're not going to win the game."
Rutgers Senior Guard Mike Coburn
On St. John's defensive pressure:
"We knew coming in St. John's was a team that pressured. They have a big and tall front line. It was nothing that we didn't work on in practice. We just made mistakes with the pressure they brought. These are things that we worked on that we should have been able to handle."
Rutgers Senior Forward Robert Lumpkins
On the game tying three-pointer:
"The coaches drew the play up at the timeout. My teammates did a good job screening my defender and getting me the ball so I can have a clear shot."
