St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s Men’s Basketball vs. Georgetown
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino, Daniss Jenkins and RJ Luis Jr. met with the media after the 86-78 win over Georgetown at Madison Square Garden
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening Statement…
“I want to give a lot of credit to Georgetown because when you don’t win any games it begins to wear on you. ... You always get the best of everybody because it’s Madison Square Garden. Everyone wants to play here. RJ [Luis] doesn’t like to have on his resume that he’s a great defensively player but he saved us today. He saved us with offensive rebounds, saved us with scoring and saved us with great defense on [Jayden] Epps. I’m really proud of him, he has unlimited potential in almost every phase of the game and I’m really excited about the way he played today defensively. He is so long, he is a very cerebral basketball player and he played a lot of minutes. He must be exhausted. We're happy with this win and we give a lot of credit to Georgetown. In our two games with them they shot 50 percent from [behind] the 3-point line. The bank with no time left on the [shot] clock really hurt us, it killed our momentum. We needed a game like this. When you’re headed into the BIG EAST Tournament, you want to see a game like this to prepare you for it.”
On his decision to put RJ Luis Jr. on Jayden Epps…
“His length bothers people. Not only is he 6-foot-7 but he has a [long] wingspan. RJ [Luis] has a lot to learn about defense off the ball but on the ball he’s very good. We weren’t able to stop Epps and we felt we didn’t have to blitz or trap, because they kept coming with the shooters on blitzes and traps. But RJ [Luis] made things very difficult for [Epps] down the stretch.”
On the BIG EAST Tournament…
“As all of you know, I don’t think there is a tournament in all of basketball as good as the BIG EAST Tournament. There’s nothing like it. We don’t have football, it’s the best basketball in “The World’s Most Famous Arena.” I love it, I think the players are going to love it. It’s RJ’s first time, Daniss’ first time and they are about see one of the greatest events in college basketball.”
On Daniss Jenkins…
“[Daniss Jenkins] is a great player. He is one of the premier guards in the country, an NBA talent. I can’t say enough about him about how proud of him I am. He killed it at Iona and now he’s killing it at St. John’s. Wherever he goes he is going to kill it because he has the stuff to make it happen.”
Sophomore guard RJ Luis Jr.
On his defense down the stretch…
“Just being locked in. In the timeout, [Coach Pitino] asked me to guard [Jayden Epps] so I knew I had to step up and slow him down. He was scoring a lot so we just needed to slow down their pace.”
On his big steal and dunk on the other…
“After missing two free throws I knew I couldn’t hang my head. The next play I got the steal and then the dunk. It was pretty cool with the crowd, they had a lot of energy. I felt like they gave us a lot of momentum on defense.”
Graduate student guard Daniss Jenkins
On preparing for the BIG EAST Tournament…
“We were trying to get better every possession to prepare for the BIG EAST Tournament. Now, we are really trying to work on defense. If I cut down on my turnovers and we work on our defense. I think we’ll be in pretty good shape for the BIG EAST Tournament.”
On what it would mean to go to the NCAA Tournament…
“It was special to go at Iona. That was why I went there and to play for Coach [Pitino] and go to the tournament it was the first time I’ve been in my career. To do it here, at a place like [St. John’s] it would be all of our dreams. … It would be very special if we can get there and I think we could do some damage if we do.”
Georgetown Head Coach Ed Cooley
Opening Statement…
“First of all there is no better place in the world to play a college basketball game. The fact that the BIG EAST Tournament is just a few days away it brings joy to my soul every time we come to New York. Our supporters, our alumni show out the energy is always here. … You have to give St. John’s a lot of credit they made a lot of timely baskets. When you play a league like the [BIG EAST] you can’t afford a lot of the mistakes we made today, we made a lot of mistakes coming down the stretch. The way [St. John’s] has been playing, this was their fifth win in a row if I’m not mistaken. They are playing their best basketball coming down the stretch and Coach Pitino has done a great job rallying his guys. Going through the league, we have several [NCAA] Tournament teams and clearly they are definitely one of them. I don’t think there’s a league top to bottom that is as competitive as this one. … It’s been a tough year but that’s what you sign up for the in the BIG EAST. I’m happy for the league and I’m sad for the team. I saw a worthy and discipline team out there in St. John’s and it’s going to be fun to watch them next week.”
Opening Statement…
“I want to give a lot of credit to Georgetown because when you don’t win any games it begins to wear on you. ... You always get the best of everybody because it’s Madison Square Garden. Everyone wants to play here. RJ [Luis] doesn’t like to have on his resume that he’s a great defensively player but he saved us today. He saved us with offensive rebounds, saved us with scoring and saved us with great defense on [Jayden] Epps. I’m really proud of him, he has unlimited potential in almost every phase of the game and I’m really excited about the way he played today defensively. He is so long, he is a very cerebral basketball player and he played a lot of minutes. He must be exhausted. We're happy with this win and we give a lot of credit to Georgetown. In our two games with them they shot 50 percent from [behind] the 3-point line. The bank with no time left on the [shot] clock really hurt us, it killed our momentum. We needed a game like this. When you’re headed into the BIG EAST Tournament, you want to see a game like this to prepare you for it.”
On his decision to put RJ Luis Jr. on Jayden Epps…
“His length bothers people. Not only is he 6-foot-7 but he has a [long] wingspan. RJ [Luis] has a lot to learn about defense off the ball but on the ball he’s very good. We weren’t able to stop Epps and we felt we didn’t have to blitz or trap, because they kept coming with the shooters on blitzes and traps. But RJ [Luis] made things very difficult for [Epps] down the stretch.”
On the BIG EAST Tournament…
“As all of you know, I don’t think there is a tournament in all of basketball as good as the BIG EAST Tournament. There’s nothing like it. We don’t have football, it’s the best basketball in “The World’s Most Famous Arena.” I love it, I think the players are going to love it. It’s RJ’s first time, Daniss’ first time and they are about see one of the greatest events in college basketball.”
On Daniss Jenkins…
“[Daniss Jenkins] is a great player. He is one of the premier guards in the country, an NBA talent. I can’t say enough about him about how proud of him I am. He killed it at Iona and now he’s killing it at St. John’s. Wherever he goes he is going to kill it because he has the stuff to make it happen.”
Sophomore guard RJ Luis Jr.
On his defense down the stretch…
“Just being locked in. In the timeout, [Coach Pitino] asked me to guard [Jayden Epps] so I knew I had to step up and slow him down. He was scoring a lot so we just needed to slow down their pace.”
On his big steal and dunk on the other…
“After missing two free throws I knew I couldn’t hang my head. The next play I got the steal and then the dunk. It was pretty cool with the crowd, they had a lot of energy. I felt like they gave us a lot of momentum on defense.”
Graduate student guard Daniss Jenkins
On preparing for the BIG EAST Tournament…
“We were trying to get better every possession to prepare for the BIG EAST Tournament. Now, we are really trying to work on defense. If I cut down on my turnovers and we work on our defense. I think we’ll be in pretty good shape for the BIG EAST Tournament.”
On what it would mean to go to the NCAA Tournament…
“It was special to go at Iona. That was why I went there and to play for Coach [Pitino] and go to the tournament it was the first time I’ve been in my career. To do it here, at a place like [St. John’s] it would be all of our dreams. … It would be very special if we can get there and I think we could do some damage if we do.”
Georgetown Head Coach Ed Cooley
Opening Statement…
“First of all there is no better place in the world to play a college basketball game. The fact that the BIG EAST Tournament is just a few days away it brings joy to my soul every time we come to New York. Our supporters, our alumni show out the energy is always here. … You have to give St. John’s a lot of credit they made a lot of timely baskets. When you play a league like the [BIG EAST] you can’t afford a lot of the mistakes we made today, we made a lot of mistakes coming down the stretch. The way [St. John’s] has been playing, this was their fifth win in a row if I’m not mistaken. They are playing their best basketball coming down the stretch and Coach Pitino has done a great job rallying his guys. Going through the league, we have several [NCAA] Tournament teams and clearly they are definitely one of them. I don’t think there’s a league top to bottom that is as competitive as this one. … It’s been a tough year but that’s what you sign up for the in the BIG EAST. I’m happy for the league and I’m sad for the team. I saw a worthy and discipline team out there in St. John’s and it’s going to be fun to watch them next week.”