Jan. 4, 2011
Recap | Box Score | AP Photo Gallery 
January 3, 2010
St. John's vs. Georgetown
Madison Square Garden
Postgame Quotes
St. John's Head Coach Steve Lavin
On tonight's game:
"I was just really pleased and proud of our player's performance in terms of finding a way to get a W. It was kind of an uneven game in terms of lacking offensive fluidity or rhythm. But so often a game at this level, with well-prepared teams, is going to come down to finding a way, really willpower. So I just commend our seniors for once again leading the way."
On defending Georgetown's guards:
"I think in fairness to Georgetown, three games in six days, similar to the beginning of our season and both of us played two road games in that first six-day stretch. So we were trying to mix our defenses to keep them off balance. We wanted to get a high hand, a hard close-out on all shooters because they're one of the better shooting teams in the country. At the same time, because they run their offense with such precision and they have excellent spacing, as you close out hard and you try to extend, they can slice you up like a side of fries with the back cuts. Because John Thompson, like Bill Carmody, is a disciple of Pete Carril's Princeton offense. So it really puts you in a bind; you have to kind of pick your poison. But once of the points of emphasis was that we always wanted to have a player-and-a-half on (Austin) Freeman and Chris Wright... we're going to close out hard, get a high hand on their shot and any time they put it on the floor, we always wanted another player there to rotate. And they still managed to get to the basket because of their spacing. They stretched us and were able to get inside on rebounding. They really controlled that area of the game for a long period of time. I think if we lost that was going to be the difference, their rebounding."
On playing at the Garden:
"Coming down the stretch, you're in the zone as a coach, just focused on the present and looking ahead to the next moment in the chess game that's going on. But its something when you go home and watch the tape with your staff, then you're more aware of it. So I'd be fibbing to you if I told you I was aware of what was going on with the crowd or the ambiance, the atmosphere. But no doubt, growing up in a basketball family, having come into the Garden as an assistant at UCLA, coming in as the head coach at UCLA, coming in as a broadcaster to do Duke-St. John's games, it's one of the biggest reasons I came back to coaching, was the opportunity to be the head coach at St. John's and have your home court as Madison Square Garden. It's a "pinch yourself" moment. So I'm aware of the great history, tradition of what makes the Garden unique. But it's not to the point that you're thinking that coming down the home stretch of a game."
On learning from non-conference losses:
"It is a different team, no doubt... I think we learned a great deal about our team during that loss. And it forced us to develop a second gear offensively. When we don't have the break in those first six, seven seconds of transition, to be able to make teams guard, to get ball reversal, to play through the post, to collapse defenses, get opponents into foul trouble, get ourselves to the double-bonus sooner. All of these wonderful things have happened by developing that second gear offensively. It also helps set our defense because we're not shooting as many long shots. That's what hurt us in the Fordham game. We didn't manage the clock and our shot selection was poor. The long shots led to run-outs and allowed Fodham to get back into the game. So I think we learned a great deal through that loss and as a result we're a different team. And maybe we could have slipped by, made some free throws and somehow won that game and maybe we win the St. Bonaventure game, but I don't think we'd be 3-0 in the league because when you lose two like that you really do some examination as a staff, as a head coach and you say 'What can we do to put our players in a better position to be successful?' And it was developing a second gear and also changing our degrees of pressure in terms of our press. Sometimes we trap, sometimes we don't, sometimes we go man, sometimes we go zone. And that all came out of the losses to St. Bonaventure and Fordham. I was fortunate to have a great boss in Coach Keady, because no one in my book ,in the history of basketball is any better at taking setbacks and turning them into springboards. He saw losses as report cards, or an opportunity to go to the dentist to find out where cavities were and then you go back to the drill work in practice: watch game film and patch your team back together so they're stronger as a result of what they've learned from their losses. Coach Keady will never let us get away from the brick-and-mortar of basketball and what I call the ABC's or 123's, because he's a basketball purist. When you lose a game you go back to the fundamentals and clean things up as a result."
St. John's Senior Guard Dwight Hardy
On his confidence:
"Coach Lavin has tremendous faith in me at the point-guard spot as well as the two-guard spot. I just try to use that as momentum going into each and every game; and just try to stay on a positive note so I can help out my teammates."
On team's final possession:
"I had my mind made up I was going to get to the basket, but if the defense would have collapsed I would have had no problem giving it up to one of the open players."
On the atmosphere at tonight's game:
"That's the best feeling in the world. To play in front of a packed house like that of friends and family; this is why we both came here and this is what we live for: to play the game of basketball in the best arena in the world. And also to get wins."
On defeating 13th-ranked Georgetown:
"Last year we felt we had them beat at their place, but we slipped up late in the game. We just kind of wanted to get revenge. We know we play them twice this year and for us to come out and stay together as a team when we got down in tough times in the game, I just think it shows that we're a tough team and our togetherness is there and we've got the will to compete and fight."
On team's mentality during timeouts late in the game:
It was energetic. We knew we were going to come down and get a stop, then make a play on offense. We all were together, nobody had their heads down and I just think that was a key moment in the game, how we all just came together in the timeouts and said, 'We got this. We're going to get a stop, we're going to get a bucket, then we're going to get another stop. And that will be the game.' "
On Coach Lavin:
"He's always positive. He never has his head down so that gives us the motivation to never put our heads down. He's just a very strong competitor as well. Even though he's the coach he brings the same amount of energy on the sidelines as we give out on the court each and every night."
St. John's Senior Forward Justin Burrell
On winning during his senior season:
"It would break my heart if I never got a chance to play in the NCAA (Tournament) and to put St. John's where it deserves to be. So to actually see that game come down, and to see Dwight make that play and (Justin) Brownlee get the offensive rebound and we go up to kind of seal the deal for us, it was a dream-come-true kind of thing."
On team's momentum:
"We definitely needed this game to keep our momentum going. I always go back to the Fordham game, ever since then we've been a changed team. We did so many good things that game and after that we built on them. So we definitely needed this game to keep our momentum going and keep our confidence going."
On Coach Lavin:
"He told us we've been here before and we need to make a play. He set up the play, four-low for Dwight, the baddest man on the planet, and told him to go get a basket."
Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson
On trying to overcome the first half deficit:
"Definitely in the first half we were thinking too much. We were looking. We were hunting for certain opportunities. At halftime, we sort of pared down and simplified a lot we were doing...Offensively we were better the second half, once we simplified things."
On a missed opportunity at the end:
"We had opportunities to make plays, to get stops, to get rebounds, and we didn't do it. If you don't do that in this league, then you don't win."
On how St. John's team looks:
"They look exactly the same. They've (the players) been out there. We've been looking at the same faces for four years now. They all have played significant minutes since they've been here. I say that in a positive way. Just that they have experience...their team probably can do the scouting report as well their coaches for every one of their games, just because they've all been through it."
Difficulty to win when guards struggle from the field:
"It's difficult. We need Chris (Wright), Hollis (Thompson), and Jason (Clark) to score points. That's not a secret. Do we have to find other ways when they're not putting the ball in the basket? Yes. Do I feel confident that on nights like tonight that we can do that? Yes. I don't think this game was lost because of them not scoring points. It's just plays at the other end of the court that we had to make, that we didn't make."
Chris Wright
On how to lead the team after losses:
"My role doesn't change. I'm still leading this team. We lost a tough game today but we just have to bounce back. Whether we won the game today or lost the game today, regardless, we just have to have a short term memory about the fact that we have a tough game on Saturday against West Virginia...we can learn from it. It's clear where we need to make adjustments at, and what we need to do to correct our mistakes....This hurts but we can't look too deep into it right now because we have to play a tough West Virginia team on Saturday."
Struggling from the 3-point range:
"I don't think I'm forcing shots. I don't think I'm doing anything uncharacteristic, just missed shots. I believe in myself, I believe in my shots....I'm going to continue to shoot the ball and I'm just going to keep playing."
Hollis Thompson
On where the team's head is at right now:
"I think it's a rough start for us...it's early in the season so we just have to keep preparing ourselves and bounce back and move on because we have a lot more games coming up."
