St. John's University Athletics
Pregame Quotes: St. John's-Louisville
2/13/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 13, 2013
QUEENS, N.Y. -
St. John's Assistant Coach Rico Hines
On hearing the news of Cap Lavin's death on Sunday morning:
"The first thing that I got to talk to coach about was my feelings for Cap because of how much I respected him. After that everything switched over to our team and trying to keep them as calm as possible in preparation for the game against Syracuse; trying to do the best job that we can possibly can to go out and play St. John's basketball."
On what he learned from the Syracuse game:
"I learned that it's tough to play in the Carrier Dome. It was definitely a learning experience, but I haven't had time to sit back and reflect. Right now, our task at hand is to focus on Louisville and make the NCAA tournament."
On his coaching philosophies:
"You have to go with your basketball instincts and at the same time you have to have poise. It's all the same things that I've been taught from my mentors; Don Nelson, Keith Smart and, obviously, Coach Lavin. They taught me to let the chips fall where they may and trust yourself that you're prepared for that particular game and hope that you win."
On what he'll tell his team before going out on the court tomorrow night:
"I always tell them to lose yourself in the game that you love so much. Do the things that you've been doing since you were little guys, which is play basketball. During those two hours that we're on the basketball court, nothing else matters in life besides your teammates and competing. Just go out there and do what you love to do."
Sophomore Guard Phil Greene
On where the team is emotionally after the loss of Steve Lavin's father:
"The whole team is really emotional right now. We rally around each other and we are just going to have to get through it. We are like family so we will pick each other up so we are ready to play against Louisville."
On how hard it is to channel emotions to the game:
"It is kind of hard to channel your emotions. We are going to be ready since we just lost the game and we want to win one especially on the road against Louisville. We have to be ready to play and be fired up."
On what they remember about Cap Lavin when they met him in San Francisco:
"He was really genuine, really smart. He was talking about the game plan. He was talking about each player and knew everyone. He called me 'little road runner' and he was just a funny guy."
On the team leaning on each other in the absence of Coach Lavin:
"We are a close team so we talk about many things. We talked about Coach being gone and we just have to rally around each other and pick each other up."
Freshman Center Chris Obekpa
On the team's mindset heading into the Louisville game:
"It is the same situation. We tried to win the last one against Syracuse for him. Now we adjusted to that and we have to play with the same mindset."
On what they remember about Cap Lavin when they met him in San Francisco:
"He had the biggest smile. He was a great guy as I expected. He was joking with the media, calling me 'O-block-pa'. He was fun."
On what Steve Lavin has said to the team since Sunday:
"He said, 'Do not let anyone tell you that you cannot just because you can't.' I tried to console him and tell him I'm always there for him but he just tries to act strong. He said he liked the way we played."
On the jump Rico Hines is making by being the Interim Head Coach:
"It's like the same thing with walk-ons and players on the bench. You never know when you are going to be called up to come play. You have to do your best and he did that in the Syracuse game."
