St. John's University Athletics
Pregame Quotes: St. John's-Georgetown
2/1/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 1, 2013
QUEENS, N.Y. -
Head Coach Steve Lavin
On the team's progression since the first Georgetown game:
"We're clearly making progress and playing better basketball then when we last played Georgetown, but there are still a number of areas we need to continue to improve upon. Rebounding and free throw shooting are probably the two areas, between now and the end of the season; that we need to keep making progress. We've managed to win some close games, come up with key stops and made enough free throws to find a way to win. There has been a resilient spirit that's been there all year; but recently, they've flexed their resiliency muscle. When teams have made runs, we've countered with runs of our own and that's a good trait. The three-guard offense has helped us, and Sir'Dominic Pointer has been shining during this winning streak."
On the team's outlook at the upcoming stretch of games:
"I always try to create the context for the season and then where we are at each juncture. Naturally, you amplify certain aspects to build the narrative for them. They're aware that we're playing a stretch of games that will be very challenging, but we're looking forward to finding out where we are because it gives us feedback. We grew more as a team in our losses the first season I was at St. John's. We lost five of eight games and that was the toughest stretch I've ever coached. Even though we lost many of those games, we made the most progress. That's what is most important, win or lose, are we continuing to pull out something we can build upon to make us a better team. If you bank too much on one stretch of games, you're not serving your team well as a head coach. You have to keep focusing on improving. When you play a stretch of tough games like this it's important, it's not as though your head is in the sand, but the key is how you keep improving. I want our kids to look forward to a tough stretch of games and taking on the very best because that is how you build a winning culture."
On setting expectations for his team:
"Every day the goal is to win. We want to win the BIG EAST Championship, make a run in the NCAA Tournament and to play our best basketball come March. It's the way I've always approached it because I think it's the most effective way. The coaches I respect the most have the same outlook; stay focused on teaching and on the path of improvement and the wins will come as a byproduct of that. The breakthroughs come from being focused on the mastery of certain aspects of play. There will be certain valleys, plateaus and peaks, but for the most part it's about the plateaus and staying with the grind. There are so many uncertainties that we don't know about, but what we can control is trying to get a little bit better every day."
Sophomore guard/forward Amir Garrett
On getting another chance against Georgetown:
"Of course we were looking forward to it. They beat us pretty bad, and we all kept that in mind as a team. We're very focused on Georgetown right now. That loss left a sour taste in our mouth, and we kept that bottled up inside us."
On the upcoming stretch of games:
"We're ready. Winning five games in a row is a big jump. These games definitely helped us. We have good momentum right now heading into Georgetown."
Sophomore guard Jamal Branch
On the test DePaul presented earlier in the week:
"DePaul is the scrappiest team in the BIG EAST; that's what they do. They don't have as much talent as other teams have, so they use their athleticism and scrappiness to overcome that."
On matching up with Markel Starks:
"Starks is a great point guard. He does what the coach asks him to do. He runs the offense well and plays defense."
