St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: St. John's 58, Fordham 47
12/8/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 8, 2012
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Head Coach Steve Lavin
Opening Statement:
"I thought our matchup zone saved the day for us. The shooting percentage dramatically dropped for them (Fordham) at 28 percent and almost 20 percent in the second-half. The second-half versus NJIT may have been our only better half defensively this year, but holding them to 21 percent in the second-half was big; it was important. Also, offensively we were able to find some holes in their zone. In the second-half we lowered our offense and worked some stacks to attack the short corner and the high-post. I thought our newcomers had some jitters early on. In the second-half JaKarr (Sampson) found his rhythm in zone and made some big shots. I am pleased with the way we closed out the game, I thought in the first-half we played poorly; maybe as poor as we've played all year but in the second-half we picked things up a bit. "
On Chris Obekpa:
"I have never really seen anyone quite like Chris because he doesn't have the 7'1, Tyson Chandler-like size. The combination of his basketball intellect and his length and timing is what separates him from anyone that I've seen. It's not that he is the best shot blocker in the history of basketball but I think for his physical make-up; his height. He has what I call 'central intelligence on the move.' His instincts to pass even offensively are brilliant and he has found people, the timing on his jump-shots, I think three games now in crunch time he has hit that mid range jumper to put a real dagger in the opponent and I am glad he has had the confidence to take that as well."
Freshman Swingman JaKarr Sampson
On playing in Madison Square Garden:
"I was happy we had a walk through earlier because when you step on the court it is blinding, the lights, the stage and all the history that happened on the court; it's big-time."
Freshman Forward/Center Chris Obekpa
On playing in Madison Square Garden:
"I've been waiting for this moment ever since I could remember. That's one of the things that made me come to St. John's."
On his 11-blocked shots:
"I just tried to play good defense and let things come to me... I try to block everything more but at the same time I need to watch out and stay out of foul trouble."
Fordham Head Coach Tom Pecora
Opening Statement:
"If before the game someone said we would contain [D'Angelo] Harrison and have him only have 14 points, and [Phil] Greene would have eight and they'd shoot 32 percent and 22 percent and 55 percent, I'd say, 'hey we got a pretty good chance to win this game.' Obviously not knowing we're going to have 23 turnovers and shoot 28 percent , and 14 percent from three ourselves. I think in the second half their length bothered us, we didn't show enough poise in our shot selection and that hurt us. And, once again, we were in foul trouble. And teams are going to the foul line a bunch against us, so for them have 29 free throws and us only ten, I think that speaks volumes for what's going on."
