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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2010Malik BootheSean EvansParis HorneNorm RobertsNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK St. John's - 73 COACH NORM ROBERTS: I thought it was a really hard, physical game. I thought our guys did a great job of, you know, battling on the glass and being physical, and then we made plays. Our guys made plays all day. We got it from different guys. That's pretty much how our team has been all year. I thought (Justin) Brownlee gave us a great lift. Sean Evans was awesome today. He did a great job on the glass and finishing plays and even though D.J. didn't have it going, he made some huge plays at the end. Paris, too, made huge, huge plays. Malik (Boothe) was as tough as anybody on the floor. He leads us in that area. THE MODERATOR: Questions, please? Q. Malik, there's been a lot of frustrating stuff in the season. Does winning a game like this help remove some of the frustrations you felt this year? MALIK BOOTHE: I don't know if it removes the frustration. I know it was a good win today. We also can't celebrate on this win. Last year we were in the same position going against the same team in the next round, and they pretty much had their way with us. We have to have the same focus tomorrow. Q. Sean, was there a sense of urgency about this game? Was there a feeling, we better win this game and go all out? SEAN EVANS: I don't think as far as that goes, that's why we played hard. Coach always tells us, Don't worry about things like that. We can only do what we can control. We can control the outcome of the game. We executed, played hard and came out to win. That's what we came in the game to do and that's what we did. Q. Sean or Paris, there was a lot of like building some pride and playing for it after the ballgame, do you think there's been some carry-over into this one, the idea of playing with pride? PARIS HORNE: Definitely we knew the ballgame was tough. We stuck with it and it felt good to win. And we knew we had to carry that game over into this game. And we just keep our confidence and keep playing together. SEAN EVANS: I think we took a lot out of the ballgame. Showed a lot of toughness and togetherness to be down that many points and come back winning a tough game. Shows a lot about our team and our character and our leaders. I think that carried over. Like Paris said, we came out and executed and we built off that momentum. Q. Do you feel like the second-effort plays helped in the game today, the offensive rebounds and forcing turnovers? MALIK BOOTHE: I think the second-effort plays, second- and third-effort plays, those sometimes come down to winning a game. And I think we did that more than they did tonight. And we got the win. Q. Did you expect the physicality? COACH NORM ROBERTS: I don't think anybody can expect that. UConn's teams are great and physical. I thought our guys did a great job of getting after them. And they got after us. I think Malik was exactly right; we always talk about first, second and third-effort plays. And you know, they came out in the second half and kind of punched us. And then we fought back. And I thought a huge energy play was we had a breakaway dunk. D.J. lost control of the ball and Paris jumps headfirst to get the ball and call time-out. Those are the plays you have to make to win championships. Q. Was there any point in the second half where you feel like there was a play that really took it out of Connecticut? Maybe took the wind out of their sails or any of their players? SEAN EVANS: Like Coach said, when Paris dove for the ball, that set the tone. We're going to play hard to the last minute. Paris could have gave up on that play, instead he dove on the ball and put his body on the line. That set a tone. I think that told UConn we're here to play. Q. How meaningful is it for you to have a game like this, on a stage like this today? SEAN EVANS: It was good because I've been struggling the past couple of games. I've been in a slump. My coach keeps telling me, they need me in order to win games and go far this year. I think this is big for myself, personally, because I haven't been playing good. I think this is big and I'm going to build off this and continue to play well. Q. You mentioned the toughness you showed in the fall. A game like this, how much of it comes down to mental toughness to close one out? SEAN EVANS: It's a lot about mental toughness. We played -- we can play in the first half with any team in the country. We play good the first half. We don't usually keep that momentum in the second half. It was big for us to come out in the second half, keep fighting, keep punching and coming out with the win. I think we did a good job today. Q. Congratulations. What's the biggest difference in the way they played today and the way they've been playing all season? COACH NORM ROBERTS: I think my guys -- I don't think there's any team that plays harder than my team. My guys play hard every day. But I also think what they're doing right now is they're playing not only hard but they're playing with their hearts. And they want to show improvement, which they have. Maybe it hasn't shown in the wins and losses. Our team has totally improved. And our program has really grown and it has a lot to do with these guys. I talk about this all the time with our guys. We're trying to teach them how to win. Like Marquette is a very good team. They had (Jerel) McNeal and those guys from last year that taught (Maurice) Acker and (Lazar) Hayward and those guys how to win. These guys we've had to teach them how to do it, because when we first got here there was nobody here to show them. And they're doing that and they're growing from it. That's what you're seeing, I think. Q. (Inaudible). COACH NORM ROBERTS: It's all on the line. We had to play through it. Play through it. Normally I sit them there for a while, and I said "forget it." You just have to play through this. I thought Omari Lawrence and Malik Stith and the guys off the bench did a great job. When they were in the game, they gave us no pauses each time. Q. Coach, you took away pretty much their drive to the basket. That's the thing that kind of made them successful this year. You took that away. Was that the target? COACH NORM ROBERTS: Yeah, you have to try to keep Kemba Walker out of the lane and (Jerome) Dyson. They're two of the best in the country in getting in the lane and finishing plays. I thought our big guys and our guards did a great job in guarding the ball screens and keeping them out of the lane for the most part. Q. You have had some good wins here on this floor, but this was arguably the best game you guys have played here. Is it rewarding to finally have a game like this on this floor? MALIK BOOTHE: I think this game is sort similar of to the Louisville game we had earlier. I think it is a good win. Like I said earlier, we can't celebrate. We have to come back and play the same way tomorrow. If not the same way, harder. THE MODERATOR: St. John's, thank you. End of FastScripts |
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