St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: St. John's 57, NJIT 49
12/1/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 1, 2012
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Head Coach Steve Lavin
Opening Statement:
"This was really a tale of two halves. NJIT came with a great game plan, they executed with precision and brought an aggressiveness, beat us to the punch in all aspects of play at both ends of the court in the first half. In the second half, we reclaimed momentum because of our defense, our aggressiveness, getting on the boards, blocking shots, communicating better, covering their shooters and containing their ball handlers. As a result we were able to not only come back, but pull away for a victory. The upside was our ability to come back from 14 down. We demonstrated some resiliency and solved problems, we were solution oriented, so I was pleased with our response mechanism when we were down 14. I was naturally disappointed that we dug a hole and that we were down 14 in the first half. Our goal, and it's been elusive to this point, has been to put together two halves."
"Our youth shows itself in every practice and in every game, but the second half we held the other team to 20 percent shooting, 11 percent from the three-point line and really made it a paint or rim game in the second half. We made some adjustments with our offense, started operating more down low in the paint, working out of our stacks, deployed our bigs to be around the rim for second and third shots and got us into into tight spaces for interior shooting. At both ends of the floor we became more paint-oriented and were just pleased with the response. As a young team, they could have gotten rattled, but they kept their poise and just chipped away, got back in the game, then salted the victory away late."
On the nature of the halftime discussion:
"It was appropriate. We let a team come in, and of 20 minutes on our home court, establish confidence and dominance, and we needed to take the game back from them, reclaim the game from them through our aggressiveness, through counter-punching and find a way to get back in the game and win. Our kids responded well. We wanted to make it a rim or a point game offensively, and our matchup zone was disruptive. It took them out of what they do best in terms of the cutting and the rhythm offense based on timing, spacing, passing and screening. We came in knowing that [Flores and Woods] were the two that averaged 31 points between them, that if they had a great game we'd lose. In the first half they had a great game, that's why we fell down 12 and then 14. The second 20 minutes they didn't play well and we won the game."
On finding consistency as the team approaches BIG EAST play:
"We pointed out the positives and the areas of deficiencies after the game, but as a coach there is always something that needs to be addressed. We mentioned that if you're at Syracuse or playing Villanova and spot one of those teams a 14-point lead, it makes it more difficult to come back. In this game we were able to come back, but eventually it's going to burn you. We have to explore all avenues to try and get to a point where we are playing more consistently for 40 minutes. We're not there, but the good news is that every coach is challenged with that. There might be five or six teams in the country that don't have to deal with that because they'll finish as number one or two seeds in the NCAA Tournament. After those five or six, the rest of us are all in the same barrel trying to get our teams to play at a higher level and execute for 40 minutes. We've got to get back to work and hope that we can sustain it for a longer period against San Francisco than we have in recent games."
On the offensive improvement of freshman forward/center Chris Obekpa:
"I've stressed to him that he's in the point of his career where the development of his offensive game is that he's more comfortable facing the basket. We encourage him, through the flow of the game, to look to pick-and-pop or slip to the basket and make plays off the catch. He's very nimble with his feet. He's not at the point where he sets the great low post pivot where we'd throw it in to him like a George Mikan or Kevin Love. We have to utilize him to our advantage and put opponents at a disadvantage with his foot speed and skill. We even encourage him to shoot from distance and feel confident enough to take that. Once they honor that, other things will open up. His nature is very unselfish, in that, he'd rather play defense and block shots. Our job is to round out his game so that he can contribute at both ends and play to his full potential."
Freshman forward JaKarr Sampson
On the team's performance:
"I'm happy with the win but we have to stop starting games like this. Coach Lavin told us that we have to play for 40 minutes and right now we play for 20 minutes, so we have to change that."
On the team's slow start:
"Coach Lavin told us at the end of the game that we can't start off slow against BIG EAST teams because it's going to be harder to come back, especially on their home floor. We have to change that and come out with a sense of urgency and play from the start."
Freshman forward/center Chris Obekpa
On his offensive performance:
"Coach Lavin told me to be confident and if you miss to keep shooting. I do that, and it works. I don't force it though, if it's open I take it."
On D'Angelo Harrison's leadership and performance:
"When he gets going, the rest of us go with him. Whenever he plays well it motivates us."
NJIT Head Coach Jim Engles
Overall thoughts on the game:
"I thought it was a tough physical game. I thought both teams defended pretty well. It came down to rebounding at the end. There was a lot of activity on the glass. I give St. John's a lot of credit for being down 12 and being able to tough it out."
