Dec. 31, 2009
Recap | Box Score
Coach Thompson Quotes
Responding to St. John's Depth and Toughness...
"It's the Big East. They are a physical team. They're a veteran team, they're a deep team. One thing that people talk about is depth .... but the guys they have coming off the bench is just as good if not better than the guys they have out there first. With a lot of it, we were always attacking as opposed to being back on our heels defensively as well as offensively. We are not comparing and contrasting last year but that was one of the main differences."
On Georgetown's level of play and maturity...
"What this group is appreciating and getting much better is in tight situations there was a point (in the game) where we were in a time out and Chris (Wright) starts yelling at everyone, "Hey, this is a key point. This is a key next four minutes. You got to play well right now." I think this group has an appreciation and understanding that when the game gets tight, when the clock is running down, when there is not much time, that point is when we have to believe in each other and stick with our stuff and grind it out and that's what we did."
On Georgetown's team play...
"I thought we did a good job of sticking with our stuff and did a good job of looking for each other as opposed to one person thinking "Okay, now I have to make a play." And at the time we were fortunate enough to make enough plays. Julian Vaughn comes up with a couple big moves and rebounds, keeps a couple alive and Jason came up with a couple (rebounds). But it was different people. We did a good job of making the hustle plays."
On St. John's bench play...
"We had all indication that (Justin Burrell) was going to play. We fully expected him to play. Those other guys (coming off the bench) have been there and have been playing well."
St. John's Head Coach Norm Roberts
"It was a terrific Big East basketball game. We let them get out to too much of a lead. The ball kind of fell their way a little bit."
"We've got to be able to pick people up full court and I thought Chris (Wright) played a terrific game."
"I hate zone. We're a man to man team. When you get down, you've got to up the tempo and we couldn't up the tempo."
"I thought our effort and intensity was good."
"They're more experienced just like our team is. John (Thompson) is a terrific coach and does a great job with his team."
