St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s vs. North Texas
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino, senior Joel Soriano and graduate student Daniss Jenkins spoke with the media following a 53-52 win over North Texas in the first round of the Charleston Classic on Thursday
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening Statement…
“[North Texas] is the best defensive team in the nation over the last couple years. I told our guys this isn’t Michigan where we have to outscore them. If you are not better than them defensively, we have no shot of winning this game. I said this is going to be played in the 50s or low 60s, and you have to be the better defensive team. Our guys were brilliant, defensively. Offensively, we made some mistakes, but [North Texas] played awesome defense. That’s what I wanted out of our guys. I told them ‘Look, you guys are all from different schools and there are three things you have in common from the schools you came from. They are all well-coached, you were all leaders on the team and none of you play any defense at all. We have to come together and learn a lot from the Michigan game.’ College basketball is different from the pros. It’s not about who has the most draft picks. It’s about who plays the best defense together, and we did tonight, and that’s what won the game for us.”
On Joel Soriano…
“Joel knows this because I tell him all the time. The more I get on you, the more I love you. The more I ignore you the more I think you can’t play. There are two things we are trying to accomplish with him; we are trying to build a winning culture and I am trying to make him a pro. Body fat is now 8% down from 14%. He moves his feet and can guard people on switches. He can shoot the three and make the three. He is evolving into something really special and I am proud of him, but I’m not going to get off of him. I’m going to stay on him and I want him to become a pro and reach his potential because I truly love him and think he is loyal and a great captain and I want him to be great.”
On the importance of defense in today’s game…
“If we are going to reach out potential, it’s going to be on defense, and our guys did it tonight. It wasn’t a pretty game, but when you play North Texas, it’s never going to be a pretty game. You have to win with defense and rebounding.”
On Joel Soriano serving as the last line of defense…
“If you are going to take away the three, you are going to get beat off the bounce. We wouldn’t play like that if we didn’t have him. He is the last line of defense, because we don’t mind pressuring and taking away the three. In the second half, North Texas shot the three well, but in the first half they shot 18 percent from three. The best thing about Joel is he walls up and doesn’t foul. He isn’t just a terrific player, but he is highly, highly intelligent.”
St. John’s center Joel Soriano
On adjustments made following Monday’s game against Michigan…
“Monday, we didn’t really guard anybody for the last 25 minutes of the game. I think we needed this as a unit. We were watching film a lot on this team, and they are a very tough, gritty, in your face type of defensive team. … Me and [Daniss Jenkins], we went up to the team and asked ‘What type of team do you want to be? Do you want to be a mediocre team or do you want to win?’ We knew we had to play defense going up against this type of team and that is what happened tonight. It came down to who was the better defensive team.”
On his 3-pointer…
“For most of the game, I noticed they were sending Daniss [Jenkins] to the sideline and weren’t really letting him get back into the middle to try and use my screen. We needed a bucket at the time, so I decided I was going to pop out to the top of the key and shoot it. I just shot it with confidence. I mean, I’m 100 percent.”
St. John’s guard Daniss Jenkins
On playing better defense against North Texas…
“It was really important. We just wanted to come out and see if we could actually execute the gameplan for 40 minutes. In the Michigan game, first 10 minutes we were great and full of energy, and we just couldn’t get a stop. This game, we knew it was going to be a defensive war so we just wanted to see if we could come out and play defense for 40 minutes and challenge ourselves.”
On the final defensive possession…
“I think Chris [Ledlum] played it well. Chris played really good defense and that was a play that [North Texas] loved. That was their iso play for their best player. Chris played it well and we came up with a big-time rebound. I was really proud of Chris and the whole team for really keening in on that possession, getting a stop, making them take a tough shot and getting the rebound.”
On adjusting to Coach Pitino’s defense…
“I wouldn’t say hard. I would say you definitely have to be in a different type of shape to play this defense for 40 minutes. But it's been more of coming together, to trust in each other, believe in each other and playing team defense. That’s really the hard part, not so much of Coach P’s defense. It's really just trusting each other and playing team defense.”
On the importance of each win…
“Winning in college basketball is hard. When you win, you can't underestimate any win. You have to cherish every win you can get. We really loved this win, because we showed we can play defense at a high level and now we know the standard and can hold each other to this standard, which is what we did tonight. Now we know we can do it, so we have to do it the rest of the year.”
Opening Statement…
“[North Texas] is the best defensive team in the nation over the last couple years. I told our guys this isn’t Michigan where we have to outscore them. If you are not better than them defensively, we have no shot of winning this game. I said this is going to be played in the 50s or low 60s, and you have to be the better defensive team. Our guys were brilliant, defensively. Offensively, we made some mistakes, but [North Texas] played awesome defense. That’s what I wanted out of our guys. I told them ‘Look, you guys are all from different schools and there are three things you have in common from the schools you came from. They are all well-coached, you were all leaders on the team and none of you play any defense at all. We have to come together and learn a lot from the Michigan game.’ College basketball is different from the pros. It’s not about who has the most draft picks. It’s about who plays the best defense together, and we did tonight, and that’s what won the game for us.”
On Joel Soriano…
“Joel knows this because I tell him all the time. The more I get on you, the more I love you. The more I ignore you the more I think you can’t play. There are two things we are trying to accomplish with him; we are trying to build a winning culture and I am trying to make him a pro. Body fat is now 8% down from 14%. He moves his feet and can guard people on switches. He can shoot the three and make the three. He is evolving into something really special and I am proud of him, but I’m not going to get off of him. I’m going to stay on him and I want him to become a pro and reach his potential because I truly love him and think he is loyal and a great captain and I want him to be great.”
On the importance of defense in today’s game…
“If we are going to reach out potential, it’s going to be on defense, and our guys did it tonight. It wasn’t a pretty game, but when you play North Texas, it’s never going to be a pretty game. You have to win with defense and rebounding.”
On Joel Soriano serving as the last line of defense…
“If you are going to take away the three, you are going to get beat off the bounce. We wouldn’t play like that if we didn’t have him. He is the last line of defense, because we don’t mind pressuring and taking away the three. In the second half, North Texas shot the three well, but in the first half they shot 18 percent from three. The best thing about Joel is he walls up and doesn’t foul. He isn’t just a terrific player, but he is highly, highly intelligent.”
St. John’s center Joel Soriano
On adjustments made following Monday’s game against Michigan…
“Monday, we didn’t really guard anybody for the last 25 minutes of the game. I think we needed this as a unit. We were watching film a lot on this team, and they are a very tough, gritty, in your face type of defensive team. … Me and [Daniss Jenkins], we went up to the team and asked ‘What type of team do you want to be? Do you want to be a mediocre team or do you want to win?’ We knew we had to play defense going up against this type of team and that is what happened tonight. It came down to who was the better defensive team.”
On his 3-pointer…
“For most of the game, I noticed they were sending Daniss [Jenkins] to the sideline and weren’t really letting him get back into the middle to try and use my screen. We needed a bucket at the time, so I decided I was going to pop out to the top of the key and shoot it. I just shot it with confidence. I mean, I’m 100 percent.”
St. John’s guard Daniss Jenkins
On playing better defense against North Texas…
“It was really important. We just wanted to come out and see if we could actually execute the gameplan for 40 minutes. In the Michigan game, first 10 minutes we were great and full of energy, and we just couldn’t get a stop. This game, we knew it was going to be a defensive war so we just wanted to see if we could come out and play defense for 40 minutes and challenge ourselves.”
On the final defensive possession…
“I think Chris [Ledlum] played it well. Chris played really good defense and that was a play that [North Texas] loved. That was their iso play for their best player. Chris played it well and we came up with a big-time rebound. I was really proud of Chris and the whole team for really keening in on that possession, getting a stop, making them take a tough shot and getting the rebound.”
On adjusting to Coach Pitino’s defense…
“I wouldn’t say hard. I would say you definitely have to be in a different type of shape to play this defense for 40 minutes. But it's been more of coming together, to trust in each other, believe in each other and playing team defense. That’s really the hard part, not so much of Coach P’s defense. It's really just trusting each other and playing team defense.”
On the importance of each win…
“Winning in college basketball is hard. When you win, you can't underestimate any win. You have to cherish every win you can get. We really loved this win, because we showed we can play defense at a high level and now we know the standard and can hold each other to this standard, which is what we did tonight. Now we know we can do it, so we have to do it the rest of the year.”