St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: St. John's 77, Detroit 74
11/13/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 13, 2012
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Head Coach Steve Lavin
Opening Statement:"Our staff is proud of our team's gritty performance and finding a way to get a win this afternoon. As a group the players showed a collective resilient spirit and there was some good counter-punching. This kind of game is similar to what teams face in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The teams out of their conference have a history of knocking off power conference teams. We knew we were going to get a great test today, and while we were uneven in our play, we ultimately found a way to get a gritty win. The turning point was at the 9:19 mark where it was 53-60 and over the next seven minutes they only scored four points, because by the 1:46 mark, we were ahead 69-64. Our matchup zone, what we call quicksand, was hitting on all cylinders. It was very effective because of our length and it allowed us to contain the dribble in our man-to-man defense. Detroit was getting inside of us through dribble penetration and rebounding, and our zone allowed us to level off their attack, contain their dribblers and get fewer angles to the basket and the rim. That combination seemed to discombobulate them enough to allow us to score some points and get a gritty win."
On Chris Obekpa's impact:
"In my experience as a coach and a broadcaster, he's unique to anyone I've seen. It's the length and the timing [that make Chris special]. He also doesn't pick up fouls, especially for a guy who's gotten 10, 12, 20 blocks [in high school] with one foul. Usually kids that block that many shots are going after everything, they're off-balance and they end up being foul-prone. It's amazing that he's able to block that many shots and not pick up a foul, or pick up only one or two fouls and that's intelligence. He does it both when he's on the ball and when he's coming from behind, so he's definitely a uniquely skilled basketball player."
On biggest concern and impression from today:
"The biggest concern, which I expected, was the uneven play. Right now with Orlando Sanchez, [Marc-Antoine Bourgault] and [God'sgift Achiuwa] sitting out for different reasons leaves us with all scholarship players that are underclassmen. We knew that coming in, but because of that you leave some room for uneven play. There's going to be stretches where you play brilliantly because you recruited well, but there's also going to be stretches because of our youth where we do some things that drive a coach crazy, leave you pulling out your hair. The biggest positive was our poise down the stretch. We showed a resilient spirit, our response mechanisms were impressive, because we could have gone quietly into the night. When a veteran team like that gets a lead, you wonder how your team is going to handle the discouragement in timeouts and on the floor in their approach and they found a way to stay together as a group and solve some problems. Offensively, we started attacking the rim more, going down low and getting on the glass. Then in the zone they did a great job of communicating and handling coverages and stopping Detroit from getting in the gaps."
Sophomore guard D'Angelo Harrison
On what he learned about the team today
"We know how to fight. We have guys who haven't played in a game like this and to have them step up and make plays was amazing."
On having Obepka protecting the rim
"It's good to have Chris around because it allows us to pressure the ball and be more aggressive on defense. After he blocks it, we look to grab it and not just let it go out of bounds, so we can start the fast break."
On Phil Greene IV's performance
"Phil stepped up and hit big shots in the first half when we were struggling. His shots kept us in the game and then once we got more stops we were able to take off from there."
Sophomore guard Phil Greene IV
On the play of St. John's
"We played great towards the end. We had to play tough and rebound. Chris Obekpa guarded the rim like no one I've ever seen before with his eight blocks. We came together as a team and found a way to get the win."
On D'Angelo's impact on the team
"When he's playing well it does a lot for this team. He's a shot-maker and big shot-taker. He makes our lives easier. When I'm on the court, if I go to the lane and I know he's on my side I know I can pass it to him and I know that's where he's at his best. He's one of the top shooters in the country. With him in the game our offense just flows better."
On his pregame preparation for the Detroit game
"When D'Angelo and I spoke before the game, we said we wanted to protect our home court. They beat us last year in Detroit and we said we weren't going to lose this game no matter what."
Freshman forward Chris Obekpa
On the experience of his first game
"We played together. Some guys didn't play their best today, but we picked them up well. I tried to help pick everyone's spirits up and bring everyone together to win the game."
On his performance today
"I just kept playing like the heat was on. I thought I played ok. It could have been better. I want to have ten blocks next game."
Detroit Head Coach Ray McCallum
On the game:
"It came down to the last possession. With our young team going on the road, we battled back and we had some good stretches early. They made their run and the bottom line is we couldn't hold them off. The move that Steve (Lavin) made by bringing Harrison off the bench really got them going. He put points on the board. He made play after play down the stretch. He showed what kind of key player he is for them."
