St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s Men’s Basketball vs. Villanova
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino, Jordan Dingle and Joel Soriano met with the media following the Red Storm’s 70-50 win over Villanova on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino
On tonight’s game…
“Well, I’m real proud of our team. I think our pressure was about as good as it could be. [Joel Soriano and Jordan Dingle] played a tremendous game. Jordan doesn’t realize it because he isn’t the second leading scorer in the country, but he is a much better basketball player than he has ever been because he is now a good defensive player, he is now a passer. We know he can score, but he had four assists, four rebounds, one turnover. He is really improving, really coming on, great team guy. And [Soriano] tonight came to play. He knew how important this game was for us and he was magnificent. I’m really happy for him, really happy the way he played, happy the way the whole team played. We lost a couple really tough games at the buzzer and tonight we cast no shadow who was going to win that game. That’s a credit to these guys.“
“[Joel] knew how much we needed this game. This was a big game for us. They needed it, we needed it. We played this game as if everything was on the line in the season. We didn’t want to go into Xavier with a four-game losing streak. We knew we had to get this game, and they came through in a big way.”
On bouncing back from the recent losses…
“I just kept reminding them about the Marquette game, how we came out in the second half and let them score 18-of-22 [shot attempts]. I said rebounding and defense is going to win this game. Most of the time when you play a Villanova team, it’s not going to be a high-scoring game. We outrebounded them 42-23 and had 17 assists. I thought these guys were brilliant. Their pressure full court was great. The Garden was great. Everything about them, they deserved the victory.”
On the team’s desire to make the NCAA Tournament…
“I always say this about these guys, they are the finest young men I have ever coached. On the court they can be really frustrating, but they want to win so badly, and I want to win so badly for them. I have six fifth-year guys who haven’t competed, except Nahiem Alleyne and Daniss Jenkins, in the NCAA Tournament. I want to see Jordan [Dingle] play in the tournament, I want to see [Joel Soriano] play in the tournament. We knew how important this game was. This was basically for fourth place [in the BIG EAST]. I want to see these guys get to a tournament. They are the type of people that earn it, deserve it. They give me everything they have all the time.”
On the bench’s production tonight…
“Jordan wanted to come back, he wanted to play. Tonight, Simeon Wilcher got the start, which he much deserved because he is the best cheerleader on the bench. I thought Glenn Taylor gave us a fabulous few minutes getting on the floor. He was a difference maker in getting us the lead. Drissa [Traore] made a big three in the corner and Joel is telling me that’s what he does. … The bench gave us that 10-point lead, which was great. Jordan made some big plays down the stretch, but when I see four assists, four rebounds and one turnover, I’m really happy with Jordan.”
On what playing at Madison Square Garden means to him…
“I get very misty-eyed all the time. Just in the starting lineup, I get misty-eyed because of The Garden. It’s the most special thing in the world and to see the fans come out, Villanova had a lot of fans, but play like we did tonight, you won’t hear them. Our fans have been awesome, absolutely awesome and we are really appreciative of their support. The Garden is magical. The Garden is special. I know how much these guys appreciate.”
St. John’s guard Jordan Dingle
On missing the last two games …
“To be honest, it has been pretty frustrating. Obviously, I wanted to be out there playing with my teammates. I know the hard work we all put in preparing for every single game, so I was just really glad to be back out there. I thank God that I was able to get healthy in time and it was a really exciting win.”
On if this game felt more meaningful because of the three-game losing streak…
“In the BIG EAST, this league is so competitive. The top isn’t really that far apart from everybody. We know that every game we play, there is a lot of significance to it in terms of our postseason potential and we don’t overlook anybody.”
On sweeping Villanova and the support from the fanbase…
“I think it’s a representation of how hard we have been working this year. It’s a sign of a great change. We couldn’t do it without our great fans. I haven’t played in an environment like this ever in my life. They really did a great job packing The Garden especially at 8:30 p.m. on a worknight. That means the world to me, my teammates and the coaching staff. The energy in here was amazing and it is every game.”
St. John’s center Joel Soriano
On breakout performance against Villanova…
“To be honest, most of my play recently has been on me. I know I can be way better than what I was. I give a lot of credit to my teammates because they pushed me to be better today. Gave me great looks today. I just got to stop letting the little things get to me. I have to start moving on from plays when I mess up on something. I get too much in my head. I give a lot of credit to my teammates and coaching staff for preparing me for this game.”
On tonight’s win over Villanova…
“To be honest, every game there's a lot on it. This game we knew was very important. Playing a great team, a college that has a lot of fans that come into this building, we knew they were going to bring a lot of energy. They came off I think losing three of their last four. We just lost three in a row. We knew today was going to be a hard-fought game. I am proud of our guys for bringing it in the second half and continuing to play defense. … We just have to keep building off that into the next game.”
On his emotions receiving the standing ovation from fans…
“Just happy. These fans show a lot of love, man. Even when you are down, even when you are up, they still are the same type of fans. In my head, I was just saying, ‘Finally. Finally, I got a bounce-back game. It's been too long.’”
On sweeping Villanova for the first time in over 30 years…
“As you know, since I have been here, Villanova has been kicking our butts a lot. I give a lot of credit to our coaching staff. They prepare us for every game. Schematic-wise, they give us the answers to the test basically. I give a lot of credit to them. A lot of credit to our teammates because they knew how big this game was. They knew how hard we had to play against a hungry Villanova team. They were very hungry today, give a lot of credit to those guys. Just very happy. Back to what Jordan was saying, the fans were amazing tonight. They have been amazing every game in The Garden this year. Give a lot of credit to them as well.”
Villanova Head Coach Kyle Neptune
On Joel Soriano….
“He was really good defensively as well. I think that’s the major piece. He clogs up the middle. He rebounds the ball. He does a good job in the post because he’s very physical. I thought he got a couple of timely offensive rebounds. I thought he got a couple of timely buckets when we were trying to push. We had a couple of runs and he kinda ended a couple of those runs. He’s a good player and in the BIG EAST there are a lot of good players. Every team has a couple of them.”
On St. John’s…
“They don’t want you to run offense. … They do a good job of changing things up. They are very physical, and they did what they did better than we did what we did tonight.”
On tonight’s game…
“Well, I’m real proud of our team. I think our pressure was about as good as it could be. [Joel Soriano and Jordan Dingle] played a tremendous game. Jordan doesn’t realize it because he isn’t the second leading scorer in the country, but he is a much better basketball player than he has ever been because he is now a good defensive player, he is now a passer. We know he can score, but he had four assists, four rebounds, one turnover. He is really improving, really coming on, great team guy. And [Soriano] tonight came to play. He knew how important this game was for us and he was magnificent. I’m really happy for him, really happy the way he played, happy the way the whole team played. We lost a couple really tough games at the buzzer and tonight we cast no shadow who was going to win that game. That’s a credit to these guys.“
“[Joel] knew how much we needed this game. This was a big game for us. They needed it, we needed it. We played this game as if everything was on the line in the season. We didn’t want to go into Xavier with a four-game losing streak. We knew we had to get this game, and they came through in a big way.”
On bouncing back from the recent losses…
“I just kept reminding them about the Marquette game, how we came out in the second half and let them score 18-of-22 [shot attempts]. I said rebounding and defense is going to win this game. Most of the time when you play a Villanova team, it’s not going to be a high-scoring game. We outrebounded them 42-23 and had 17 assists. I thought these guys were brilliant. Their pressure full court was great. The Garden was great. Everything about them, they deserved the victory.”
On the team’s desire to make the NCAA Tournament…
“I always say this about these guys, they are the finest young men I have ever coached. On the court they can be really frustrating, but they want to win so badly, and I want to win so badly for them. I have six fifth-year guys who haven’t competed, except Nahiem Alleyne and Daniss Jenkins, in the NCAA Tournament. I want to see Jordan [Dingle] play in the tournament, I want to see [Joel Soriano] play in the tournament. We knew how important this game was. This was basically for fourth place [in the BIG EAST]. I want to see these guys get to a tournament. They are the type of people that earn it, deserve it. They give me everything they have all the time.”
On the bench’s production tonight…
“Jordan wanted to come back, he wanted to play. Tonight, Simeon Wilcher got the start, which he much deserved because he is the best cheerleader on the bench. I thought Glenn Taylor gave us a fabulous few minutes getting on the floor. He was a difference maker in getting us the lead. Drissa [Traore] made a big three in the corner and Joel is telling me that’s what he does. … The bench gave us that 10-point lead, which was great. Jordan made some big plays down the stretch, but when I see four assists, four rebounds and one turnover, I’m really happy with Jordan.”
On what playing at Madison Square Garden means to him…
“I get very misty-eyed all the time. Just in the starting lineup, I get misty-eyed because of The Garden. It’s the most special thing in the world and to see the fans come out, Villanova had a lot of fans, but play like we did tonight, you won’t hear them. Our fans have been awesome, absolutely awesome and we are really appreciative of their support. The Garden is magical. The Garden is special. I know how much these guys appreciate.”
St. John’s guard Jordan Dingle
On missing the last two games …
“To be honest, it has been pretty frustrating. Obviously, I wanted to be out there playing with my teammates. I know the hard work we all put in preparing for every single game, so I was just really glad to be back out there. I thank God that I was able to get healthy in time and it was a really exciting win.”
On if this game felt more meaningful because of the three-game losing streak…
“In the BIG EAST, this league is so competitive. The top isn’t really that far apart from everybody. We know that every game we play, there is a lot of significance to it in terms of our postseason potential and we don’t overlook anybody.”
On sweeping Villanova and the support from the fanbase…
“I think it’s a representation of how hard we have been working this year. It’s a sign of a great change. We couldn’t do it without our great fans. I haven’t played in an environment like this ever in my life. They really did a great job packing The Garden especially at 8:30 p.m. on a worknight. That means the world to me, my teammates and the coaching staff. The energy in here was amazing and it is every game.”
St. John’s center Joel Soriano
On breakout performance against Villanova…
“To be honest, most of my play recently has been on me. I know I can be way better than what I was. I give a lot of credit to my teammates because they pushed me to be better today. Gave me great looks today. I just got to stop letting the little things get to me. I have to start moving on from plays when I mess up on something. I get too much in my head. I give a lot of credit to my teammates and coaching staff for preparing me for this game.”
On tonight’s win over Villanova…
“To be honest, every game there's a lot on it. This game we knew was very important. Playing a great team, a college that has a lot of fans that come into this building, we knew they were going to bring a lot of energy. They came off I think losing three of their last four. We just lost three in a row. We knew today was going to be a hard-fought game. I am proud of our guys for bringing it in the second half and continuing to play defense. … We just have to keep building off that into the next game.”
On his emotions receiving the standing ovation from fans…
“Just happy. These fans show a lot of love, man. Even when you are down, even when you are up, they still are the same type of fans. In my head, I was just saying, ‘Finally. Finally, I got a bounce-back game. It's been too long.’”
On sweeping Villanova for the first time in over 30 years…
“As you know, since I have been here, Villanova has been kicking our butts a lot. I give a lot of credit to our coaching staff. They prepare us for every game. Schematic-wise, they give us the answers to the test basically. I give a lot of credit to them. A lot of credit to our teammates because they knew how big this game was. They knew how hard we had to play against a hungry Villanova team. They were very hungry today, give a lot of credit to those guys. Just very happy. Back to what Jordan was saying, the fans were amazing tonight. They have been amazing every game in The Garden this year. Give a lot of credit to them as well.”
Villanova Head Coach Kyle Neptune
On Joel Soriano….
“He was really good defensively as well. I think that’s the major piece. He clogs up the middle. He rebounds the ball. He does a good job in the post because he’s very physical. I thought he got a couple of timely offensive rebounds. I thought he got a couple of timely buckets when we were trying to push. We had a couple of runs and he kinda ended a couple of those runs. He’s a good player and in the BIG EAST there are a lot of good players. Every team has a couple of them.”
On St. John’s…
“They don’t want you to run offense. … They do a good job of changing things up. They are very physical, and they did what they did better than we did what we did tonight.”