SU Player Quotes
Men’s Basketball Player Quotes
SU vs. Hofstra
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Senior forward Hakim Warrick
On the close game:
“Last year we won a lot of close games. This was our first game within 10 points and it was good to go out there and come out with a victory. This was a good game for us. They are a good team – they beat St. John’s and I think they will be a tournament team.”
On Terrence Roberts stepping up:
“We said how important the sophomores are early in the season. Every game someone new is steeping up. Demetris Nichols stepped up the other day and today it was Terrence. If we can keep getting those contributions from the sophomores, it will be tough to beat us.”
On defending all of Hofstra’s shooters:
“Coach told us to go out there and work hard and keep playing. He realized they hit some tough shots. It was kind of tough playing the zone when they kept driving it in and kicking it back out. I think we did a really good job of moving and they hit some tough shots on us. Overall, I think we did a good job challenging them and contesting shots.”
On the aggressiveness of Terrence and himself:
“We try to go out there and attack the rim, especially when Terrence and I are in the game. Hofstra did a good job of getting a body on me, and Terrence took advantage of that.”
Sophomore forward Terrence Roberts
On his performance:
“It felt really good. I wanted to go out there and play hard. I knew I might play a lot of minutes, because they are a very athletic team and Darryl Watkins is out. I knew I had to come out there and get it done.”
On his great pass to Hakim Warrick that led to a dunk with 14 seconds left:
“Hofstra came up to trap me. I turned around looking for my shot, because I knew the shot clock was running down. I saw Hakim and Josh Pace on the baseline and I just shot one to Hak. Thank God he caught it and had a great finish.”
Junior guard Gerry McNamara
On missing some shots early:
“I came into this game very confident. I just kept telling myself, ‘it’s going to go, it’s going to go.’ Eventually, I got the rhythm back. It is kind of frustrating when they don’t fall, because I expect them to. I tried to convince myself that they would fall and in the second half I got on a little roll.
”I think I took better shots, I wasn’t always making them in the beginning, but I thought I had good looks. When you have good looks and you are not making them, it gets a little frustrating. Coach was confident in me and he wasn’t frustrated. He said, ‘keep shooting and keep taking good shots.’ I did that and in the second half they went down for me.”
On the game being close down the stretch:
“We needed a game that was close and to make the right plays down the stretch. Terrence was in the right spot when I got double teamed and he found the right person. They made a three and we came down and found Hakim in the post. When we are able to execute late in the game -- that is key.”
On Terrence Roberts:
“He was incredible tonight. He played above the rim, everything he got was above the rim. He earned every basket he got and every rebound. We told him at halftime that we were in the game because of him. He was aggressive and if it wasn’t for him, we would have been in a tight spot. He was a monster.”
