St. John's University Athletics
Pregame Quotes: St. John's vs. Marquette
1/31/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2014
Head Coach Steve Lavin
On Marquette:
"They're a very aggressive, athletic team. [Davante] Gardner is the nerve-center of the team and everything goes through him. He's the equivalent of a point guard at the center position and is one of the more intriguing talents in the BIG EAST. We expect a very competitive game."
On the team's progress heading into February:
"We are playing better basketball. We've made progress and we need to elevate and improve all aspects of play."
On the press defense:
"The last five games we've been pressing and it has been paying dividends. The only challenge we have is when we don't score we are not able to set the press."
On Rysheed Jordan:
"We knew when we recruited Rysheed that he is a basketball player with tremendous instincts, a competitive drive and a gift to play with the ball in his hands. There has been a steady improvement in his play and it's been tough because he's had setbacks off the court with grandfather and mom's health issues, but it's impressive that he's making progress in spite of those challenges."
Sophomore Forward JaKarr Sampson
On the Red Storm has to improve upon:
"We all know that we can compete with any team in the country. You've seen it against Syracuse and Villanova. I feel like we can always compete with the best teams, but our biggest problem is the way we start the game. That's what has been killing us all season. Whenever we have a good start we wing up winning those games by 10 points. We're always coming back and fighting so I feel like the big key is our starts."
On Rysheed Jordan:
"We're watching Rysheed grow before our eyes. I told him at the beginning of the year he was going to have a slow start. He was upset about the slow start that he had, but he was a freshman so he was going to have growing pains. His last three or four games he has been a key for us and I feel like that's why we went on that three-game winning streak, because of him. He stepped up as a leader and as our point guard and that's what we need him to do. He's going to get better every game."
Sophomore Guard/Forward Max Hooper
On what the team took away from its 63-60 loss to Marquette:
"As a natural competitor it's tough to take. At the end of the day the most important thing is winning. Whether it's pretty or ugly you want to win, but even when you lose a tough game like that in a tough environment against one of them best teams in the country, there were some positives that we took out of it. A lot of the things that we did in the second half and down the stretch are things that we need to be able to replicate over a 40-minute period rather than just sporadically throughout the game."
On the lessons learned from the two-game road trip:
"Even though we went 1-1, we were much prouder of our performance than some of the other games that we didn't play very well in. Butler has struggled, but Hinkle Fieldhouse is a very difficult place to win and historically teams just don't have the same margin of victory that we had. We're happy with some of the progress that we've made, but we're not satisfied with the end result. Obviously we don't want to make progress and lose. We can take lessons from those games and we have to keep getting better."
On Marquette:
"Marquette is a very physical team, so that was one the things that we have to focus on. Davante Gardner is their leading scorer, he's experienced and his role has expanded over the course of his career. He's a guy who we've highlighted on the scouting reported as well as Jamil Wilson. most games in the BIG EAST come down to rebounding, so that's a big emphasis for us against Marquette, particularly against them because they're so physical. They play a grinding style of basketball because they play tough on the boards and they play inside."
