Jan. 15, 2005
Notre Dame vs. St. John’s
January 15, 2004
Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey
On the Joyce Center crowd…
“The first thing you have to talk about is our crowd. I mean our crowd was absolutely awesome. Down the stretch I think we got a lot of loose balls because this place was electric.”
On Chris Thomas coming back into the game…
“You certainly have to give a lot of credit to Chris Thomas. I did not think he would be able to play; it was a concussion and we had talked to the team about not having him back after the first half. I don’t think anybody in the locker room or this building was surprised he hit that shot. He’s a fearless young man.”
On St. John’s…
“They’re quick, they’re good, they’re playing fearlessly, they’re a very good basketball team and I fully expected [the game] to be something like this.”
On St. Johns’ guard Daryll Hill and his last possession…
“Yeah you knew he was going to take it, and he was fabulous. He scares me with how well he played, but we did do a heck of a job of challenging that shot right there and not fouling at the end of the game.”
Notre Dame Player Quotes
Junior Guard Chris Quinn
On Chris Thomas’ game winning shot…
“I don’t think anyone on the team was surprised when that shot went down, because he is a big time player. He’s put in his time; it’s his fourth year here. He’s had a ton of big shots and today was a huge one for our team.”
On the BIG EAST…
“It’s huge for us to be 3-1 (in the BIG EAST), sitting at the top of our league. There are some great teams in our league. We are going on a little road stretch here and our team is going to be tested again, because of how hard it is to play in the BIG EAST on the road.”
On St. John’s
“St. John’s put up such a fight tonight. They were knocking down shots and they played so hard.”
Sophomore Guard Colin Falls
On playing without Chris Thomas during his head injury…
“We had to establish ourselves without him. Obviously without Chris Thomas in the game it changes the game, but we had to show we could play without him. I think we did a pretty good job of that.”
On ND’s reliance on the three point shot…
“We try to get it inside, but we didn’t have much going on inside today. We got a lot of guys who can shoot the ball and we had four guys in at the same time who can shoot the three. When you spread things out, you can get an open shot.”
St. John’s Coach Norm Roberts Quotes
On the game…
“Both teams battled and played hard. I’m really happy with my kids because obviously this is a storied place, a tough place to win, and we were playing against a very good basketball team in Notre Dame.”
On losing by one point…
“You have to make free throws on the road to win and we didn’t make them. I give them credit. A great player made a great shot.”
“They scored about nine points on loose balls with guys falling out of bounds grabbing the ball. I give them credit. But if we keep working hard and doing what we’re doing right now, we will get our share.”
On the lack of a strong home court advantage in the Big East…
“There’s a lot of parity in college basketball, period. You have kids that come out focused, and they can play well on the road.”
St. John’s Player Quotes
Sophomore Guard Daryll Hill
On the outcome…
“I was mad that we lost but we played hard. Now we’ve got to get back to practice. That’s where it all starts. We’ve got to work hard and make sure we play with a lot of passion.”
On Chris Thomas’ game winning shot…
“I ran out there too fast and didn’t have control over my body, so I sort of slipped. Thomas was open and he shot it.”
Senior Forward Phil Missere
On his increased amount of playing time tonight…
“You just have to be ready. Earlier today and in practice, Coach told me to keep up my game and not to get frustrated. Whenever he taps me I’ll be ready to go.”
On the outcome…
“I feel good. We accomplished a lot out there. We just have to get back to practice and work hard at practice. Things will eventually start to turn on.”