St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Providence 79, St. John's 74
3/13/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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March 13, 2014
Head Coach Steve Lavin
Opening Statement:
"I thought we played well in stretches but also had periods when we didn't play with the necessary aggressiveness. When you look at the comparative stats they are equal across the board except for the free throw game; Providence was plus-nine from the foul line. I thought Providence did a good job of getting to the free throw line and converting. We shot an anemic fifty percent from the foul line, which is going to make it tough and leaves very little room for error if intending to be successful at this stage of the season against a quality team like Providence."
On his team's resiliency:
"I was proud of our team's collective effort against Bryce Cotton, holding him to one point in the first half and 1-of-10 shooting for the game. That was testimony to our kids' grit. I'm proud of the way our team fought back in a dramatic way and had a chance to take the lead in the waning seconds. It says a lot about their resiliency and fight-back, and we've seen that all year and it was on display once again this afternoon."
On his team's NCAA Tournament credentials:
"What I shared with the team is that at this stage things are in the Selection Committee's hands. If you look at our body of work and a number of criteria the Committee considers, we clearly have pluses. But losing in the first round of your conference tournament is not a good thing when you're trying to build your résumé to play in the NCAA Tournament. Winning 11 of our last 14 games before today was a plus. I thought we regained our stride last week in the win over DePaul and the double overtime victory at Marquette. Today was a great BIG EAST battle featuring two teams punching and counterpunching and it came right down to the wire. I know the Committee will look at all those factors."
On evaluating the current season:
"This group has taken us for a ride that I'll never forget. To have a team that started the league 0-5 - and at one time had a record of 9-8 overall and 0-5 in the conference - to finish in league 10-8 in a tied for third, that's no easy task. To win 11 of our last 14, to finish 10-8 in league, to have 20 wins overall when facing the adversity of losing loved ones, the injury to Chris Obekpa and Orlando Sanchez's newborn child, it's been a memorable run."
On his team:
"We still have basketball ahead of us and a 20-win season in this day and age is no easy task. This group has made fans of a lot of people. They're just a first-class group and they represent our school in a first-class manner. I couldn't be prouder of this group. I've never had a group have to dig themselves out of a 0-5 hole and comeback to finish 10-8 in league and be playing the quality of basketball that we are at this stage of the year. Considering where we were earlier, it just says a lot about their characters and testimony to the fact they were raised the right way. We're fortunate to coach them."
Junior Guard D'Angelo Harrison
On what didn't go right for St. John's:
"It was a combination of a few things. We missed free throws and a couple of shots in the first half that we could have made. We weren't playing the St. John's basketball that we usually play. We saw that kind of basketball, I think, the last six, seven minutes of the game. If we played that way the whole game, it would have been a different kind of ballgame. We just waited too late."
On the emotions of exiting the BIG EAST Tournament:
"We're disappointed but we have to put this game away. We have basketball in front of us so we'll just get back to work tomorrow or the next day. We'll figure out where we're going to be and work hard to get this next one."
