St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s vs. Fairleigh Dickinson
St. John’s guard Leilani Correa, forward Rayven Peeples and Head Coach Joe Tartamella speak to the media after a convincing season opening win
St. John’s Head Coach Joe Tartamella
On the team’s performance...
“It’s nothing that I haven’t seen for the last few months. We made some threes, which was good to see. In the previous games, we hadn’t shot it as well. That’s something we think we have as a strength. I thought we did a good job, in most moments, of making the right call. I don’t know if we would have been prepared to score 89 in the way that we had been playing in the past. The pace is great, but the spacing is so much better. We’ve gotten the ability to manipulate a lot of things this year because of what’s going on, and that’s where you shine and celebrate because of that. It’s fun to watch for me as a head coach."
On playing with more size...
“We’re doing different things this year. They’re here for a reason. They’re good players. They’ve shown the ability to do it on both ends. We can’t allow [just] one side to energize us. If our offense is going to dictate our defense, it’s not going to work. When we get that to meet, and I know we will, you’ll see the difference. When the defense catches up to the offense, it could be scary for us, in a good way. Size helps. We still need to be able to get on the glass and rebound. That comes back to effort. We’re really keyed in our activity, and it wasn’t where we want it to be yet, and I know we’ll get better.”
On the veteran players leading the way...
“It’s great to see that Rayven [Peeples], Leilani [Correa] and Kadaja [Bailey] are leading us. There were a lot of things that went on from our other players that I thought came in the game and helped us. We were really keen on how we were going to start. Some of it worked, some of it didn’t. I thought Unique [Drake] came in and gave us a pretty good spark. Danielle Patterson gave us a spark, and that’s the beauty of our team. We have more depth. You’ve got to be ready to play, and if you’re not, we’ve got more guys, and that’s legitimate. I’m pretty pleased with where we were and the way our depth showed.”
Junior guard Leilani Correa
On the team’s offense...
“We’re a lot different than we have been in the past, We push the ball way more, we are getting up a lot more shots in transition. Our overall pace is way quicker which I think is really going to help us.”
On her defensive performance…
“I can always do better and improve all aspects of my game. I thought tonight wasn’t my greatest on defense, I just have to get back at it and put more effort on help-side defense which is where I struggle a little bit.”
Senior forward Rayven Peeples
On her career-high 24-point season opening performance...
“Because of how much of an [offensive] threat my teammates are it made me a lot more open shots. I worked a lot on rebounding and finishing around the rim. This offseason I put in a lot of extra work to get shape in order to play at the pace we are this year.”
On the team’s performance...
“It’s nothing that I haven’t seen for the last few months. We made some threes, which was good to see. In the previous games, we hadn’t shot it as well. That’s something we think we have as a strength. I thought we did a good job, in most moments, of making the right call. I don’t know if we would have been prepared to score 89 in the way that we had been playing in the past. The pace is great, but the spacing is so much better. We’ve gotten the ability to manipulate a lot of things this year because of what’s going on, and that’s where you shine and celebrate because of that. It’s fun to watch for me as a head coach."
On playing with more size...
“We’re doing different things this year. They’re here for a reason. They’re good players. They’ve shown the ability to do it on both ends. We can’t allow [just] one side to energize us. If our offense is going to dictate our defense, it’s not going to work. When we get that to meet, and I know we will, you’ll see the difference. When the defense catches up to the offense, it could be scary for us, in a good way. Size helps. We still need to be able to get on the glass and rebound. That comes back to effort. We’re really keyed in our activity, and it wasn’t where we want it to be yet, and I know we’ll get better.”
On the veteran players leading the way...
“It’s great to see that Rayven [Peeples], Leilani [Correa] and Kadaja [Bailey] are leading us. There were a lot of things that went on from our other players that I thought came in the game and helped us. We were really keen on how we were going to start. Some of it worked, some of it didn’t. I thought Unique [Drake] came in and gave us a pretty good spark. Danielle Patterson gave us a spark, and that’s the beauty of our team. We have more depth. You’ve got to be ready to play, and if you’re not, we’ve got more guys, and that’s legitimate. I’m pretty pleased with where we were and the way our depth showed.”
Junior guard Leilani Correa
On the team’s offense...
“We’re a lot different than we have been in the past, We push the ball way more, we are getting up a lot more shots in transition. Our overall pace is way quicker which I think is really going to help us.”
On her defensive performance…
“I can always do better and improve all aspects of my game. I thought tonight wasn’t my greatest on defense, I just have to get back at it and put more effort on help-side defense which is where I struggle a little bit.”
Senior forward Rayven Peeples
On her career-high 24-point season opening performance...
“Because of how much of an [offensive] threat my teammates are it made me a lot more open shots. I worked a lot on rebounding and finishing around the rim. This offseason I put in a lot of extra work to get shape in order to play at the pace we are this year.”