St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: St. John's 73, Sonoma State 55
11/3/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 3, 2012
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Head Coach Steve Lavin
Opening statement:
"We have to give a lot of credit to coach Fuscaldo and his team for playing with a lot of poise. At halftime we addressed our biggest concerns, getting to shooters, pressuring shooters without fouling them, and driving those shooters off the three point line, turning their shooters into drivers. We like our size and length at the the rim, so if we're forcing their shooters off the three point line and into the heart of our defense, they're shooting a lower percentage. Our other concern at the half was rebounding. We were minus 10 on the boards in the first half and plus nine in the second half. They shot 50 percent from the three-point line in the first half and 20 percent in the second half, so we cleaned up and addressed our two biggest concerns. That's what allowed us to pull away."
On God'sgift Achiuwa, Felix Balamou, Orlando Sanchez and Marc-Antoine Bourgault not playing:
"It's two separate things; with Gift and Felix we're trying to figure out whether we would redshirt them for different reasons, and if they play five seconds in an exhibition game, it wipes the year out. We're still evaluating them everyday in practice ... Felix and Gift won't play in the exhibition on Tuesday night either. With Marco and Orlando, we're waiting on a ruling regarding their eligibility and we expect to hear at some point in the next week or so on that ... Their eligibility plays with the redshirt decision, so there are a lot of moving parts as we assess our personnel based on the decision the NCAA comes up with regarding Orlando and Marco ... There are two separate issues, with Orlando it's related to age and eligibility, and with Marco it's about being reinstated. It's just like the waiver appeal proces that we go through, so it's nothing out of the ordinary and we're just waiting to find out what the determination will be."
On being back on the sidelines:
"I'm enjoying working with this group, and tonight is a good indication of what we'll have for most of the season. There were some things that were frustrating from a coaching standpoint, like fouling a three-point shooter. We gambled and lunged defensively, and consequently, Sonoma State got into the bonus early in the first half. There were also some stretches of really good basketball, and I like the unselfishness of the team. They're looking for one another, trying to hit the open man and work in a cohesive fashion. Chris Obekpa stood out with the seven blocked shots and he easily could have had more; we knew that when we recruited him, and he has tremendous upside. Overall, because the group is enjoyable to work with on a daily basis, I enjoy our staff and because of the camradarie of our basketball family, it makes coming to work enjoyable."
Freshman forward JaKarr Sampson
On his comfort level in his first game:
"I'm just confident in my game and I go out there and play it. There's a lot of learning going on, I'm just a freshman and I'm getting used to college basketball. I always try to remember my role, but sometimes I forget so I'm learning and getting better."
On players stepping to play point guard:
"It's going to be a group effort by Phil Greene and Sir'Dominic Pointer. They've been running the point a lot in practice and they're both getting better at it. D'Angelo Harrison has also gotten better at point guard even though he's more of a two guard."
Freshman forward Christian Jones
On his first game:
"It was good. It was our first game so we still have to get used to playing with each other but I feel like we played pretty well."
On the team's chemistry after their first exhibition against Sonoma St.:
"Our chemistry off the court is really good and on the court it's even better. We're giving the ball up with no hesitation and we're all just trying to make the team better."
Sophomore guard Phil Greene
On head coach Steve Lavin's return to the bench:
"It's great to have Coach Lavin back because he brings a lot of energy; he gets us ready to play. We feed off him because the way he gives us energy is how we play. Before when he had cancer, he couldn't really do much, you could just tell and see it in him, but now he's full of life."
Sonoma State Head Coach Pat Fuscaldo
Opening Statement:
"I thought we did a good job. We played with them for a while. I knew they were going to pull ahead. I think Lav treated it like a real game in the second half. He had a lead and he was working his offense and he kept us close. If he kept running the ball up and down, at that point we were tired, they could have ran us up the court."
