St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s Men’s Basketball versus Michigan
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino met with the media following the Red Storm’s 89-73 loss to Michigan on Monday at Madison Square Garden
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening statement …
“First, I would like to thank Madison Square Garden for just putting on an incredible display. It was very exciting. The Garden did so much for us to prepare for this night. Unfortunately, we knew Michigan was a great team. It’s very difficult to judge how good teams are this time of the year because of the portal and all the transfers. It’s a guessing game but when we saw they beat Marquette, 106-101, in 12-minute quarters and then watched them in their two games, we knew that they were one of the best shooting teams in the country. What we didn’t expect was to get dominated by their point guard the way he dominated us tonight. That’s a credit to him. He’s a terrific player and just dominated us. The difference between their offense and our offense is they used each other to get great shots and we went one-on-one way too much. Because of that, their percentage was really high and our percentage was really low. Even though we have a bunch of veterans, they played as individuals and Michigan deserved it because of that. When you play teams like that early in the season, you learn what you need to work on. We are going to Charleston to play in a very difficult tournament and if we play like we did against Stony Brook with sharing the basketball, and moving and cutting, we will do well. If we played like we did tonight, we will struggle. It was a good lesson, but they deserve all the credit. They were brilliant at the way they ran their offense.”
On the low number of assists…
“I don’t think it was about trust, I just think they were going one-on-one way too much. It’s uncharacteristic, they don’t do that in practice. I don’t know whether it was Madison Square Garden, but I think some of the guys were watching some NBA players here in The Garden and trying to emulate them. But let's give credit to [Michigan]. They played as a basketball team, sharing the basketball and our team didn’t play as a team, sharing the basketball on both ends of the floor. This is going to happen with the portal and a bunch of new players. When you play this level of competition early, like we are at the Charleston Classic, at West Virginia, Holy Cross just beat Georgetown, you're going to take your lumps here and there. We’ve got to learn from it and get ready for Charleston. Can’t beat the guys up over this, because the way I look at it, I just give Michigan credit. They were brilliant at every phase of the game; even out-of-bounds plays they were great.”
On Michigan as a team…
“Their backcourt dominated our backcourt. They played intelligent basketball, and we did not, and we will learn from that. Like I told my guys in the locker room, just give those guys credit. They played like a team in early January and we played like a team in early November. That was the difference in the game. I knew it, watching their film, they are a great basketball team. … They score so well. They rebound the ball, they share the ball, they have a dominating point guard. Their two-guard is terrific, their three-man is terrific, their subs coming in can all shoot. Whoever recruited them did a great job because they can really shoot and pass.”
On the atmosphere at Madison Square Garden…
“I am so proud of Madison Square Garden and the job they do for us. It was awesome. Unfortunately, we didn’t match their effort of putting it together. I’m so thankful for the fans that came out, they were great. The students were fabulous. We just couldn’t match The Garden, we couldn’t match the fans, we couldn’t match the students and most of all we couldn’t match Michigan. I can tell you from coaching a long time, even from coaching my great teams, they don’t play their best basketball until January or February, and we will excel in January and February.
On team’s adjustments...
“We do it after every game. We go over the good, the bad and the teaching points. Tomorrow, they will be humiliated for what they did offensively. Yes, they will be humiliated defensively but they just got beat by a much better basketball team. Where they will be humiliated is for their selfish offense. They are not like that as people and they are not like that as players. They will be embarrassed by that. That will be a good lesson for them because it happens to pro teams and it happens to college teams. It happens all the time.”
Opening statement …
“First, I would like to thank Madison Square Garden for just putting on an incredible display. It was very exciting. The Garden did so much for us to prepare for this night. Unfortunately, we knew Michigan was a great team. It’s very difficult to judge how good teams are this time of the year because of the portal and all the transfers. It’s a guessing game but when we saw they beat Marquette, 106-101, in 12-minute quarters and then watched them in their two games, we knew that they were one of the best shooting teams in the country. What we didn’t expect was to get dominated by their point guard the way he dominated us tonight. That’s a credit to him. He’s a terrific player and just dominated us. The difference between their offense and our offense is they used each other to get great shots and we went one-on-one way too much. Because of that, their percentage was really high and our percentage was really low. Even though we have a bunch of veterans, they played as individuals and Michigan deserved it because of that. When you play teams like that early in the season, you learn what you need to work on. We are going to Charleston to play in a very difficult tournament and if we play like we did against Stony Brook with sharing the basketball, and moving and cutting, we will do well. If we played like we did tonight, we will struggle. It was a good lesson, but they deserve all the credit. They were brilliant at the way they ran their offense.”
On the low number of assists…
“I don’t think it was about trust, I just think they were going one-on-one way too much. It’s uncharacteristic, they don’t do that in practice. I don’t know whether it was Madison Square Garden, but I think some of the guys were watching some NBA players here in The Garden and trying to emulate them. But let's give credit to [Michigan]. They played as a basketball team, sharing the basketball and our team didn’t play as a team, sharing the basketball on both ends of the floor. This is going to happen with the portal and a bunch of new players. When you play this level of competition early, like we are at the Charleston Classic, at West Virginia, Holy Cross just beat Georgetown, you're going to take your lumps here and there. We’ve got to learn from it and get ready for Charleston. Can’t beat the guys up over this, because the way I look at it, I just give Michigan credit. They were brilliant at every phase of the game; even out-of-bounds plays they were great.”
On Michigan as a team…
“Their backcourt dominated our backcourt. They played intelligent basketball, and we did not, and we will learn from that. Like I told my guys in the locker room, just give those guys credit. They played like a team in early January and we played like a team in early November. That was the difference in the game. I knew it, watching their film, they are a great basketball team. … They score so well. They rebound the ball, they share the ball, they have a dominating point guard. Their two-guard is terrific, their three-man is terrific, their subs coming in can all shoot. Whoever recruited them did a great job because they can really shoot and pass.”
On the atmosphere at Madison Square Garden…
“I am so proud of Madison Square Garden and the job they do for us. It was awesome. Unfortunately, we didn’t match their effort of putting it together. I’m so thankful for the fans that came out, they were great. The students were fabulous. We just couldn’t match The Garden, we couldn’t match the fans, we couldn’t match the students and most of all we couldn’t match Michigan. I can tell you from coaching a long time, even from coaching my great teams, they don’t play their best basketball until January or February, and we will excel in January and February.
On team’s adjustments...
“We do it after every game. We go over the good, the bad and the teaching points. Tomorrow, they will be humiliated for what they did offensively. Yes, they will be humiliated defensively but they just got beat by a much better basketball team. Where they will be humiliated is for their selfish offense. They are not like that as people and they are not like that as players. They will be embarrassed by that. That will be a good lesson for them because it happens to pro teams and it happens to college teams. It happens all the time.”