St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s Men’s Basketball vs. Dayton
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino and guard Daniss Jenkins spoke with the media following the Red Storm’s 88-81 setback against Dayton in the semifinals of the Charleston Classic on Friday
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening statement …
“I wasn’t overly disappointed with Michigan, but I am overly disappointed tonight. We are losing because we can’t pay attention to the scouting report. We have guys that just care about offense and they don’t know how to defend. Not in terms of effort, the effort is fine, in terms of paying attention to the scouting and how things are played. It’s amazing from coming off the strong side, to giving a three, to the way you're playing the big guy on a pick-and-roll. It’s a one-point game and we totally break down and don’t play it correctly in a one-point game. Then it’s a four-point game and we don’t play it correctly. It's frustrating because the effort’s there, they want to win, they’re good guys, but they can’t absolve a scouting report which is so disappointing. We’ll just get onto the next game. [In the Charleston Classic] there are no weak teams so we got a hell of a game, but we’re just not paying attention to scouting at all and that’s what college basketball is all about.”
On the team’s performance in the first half…
“They were doing a terrific job and then they backed it off, got lazy and didn’t play the pick-and-roll correctly. Look, it’s just going to take time with these guys. They’ve never guarded in their lives, with the exception of Nahiem [Allyene]. They need to learn to play that way or they are going to keep losing. It’s all about defense. You can’t beat a Dayton, you can’t beat a Utah, you can’t beat a Houston unless you match their defense. You can’t keep trading buckets and tonight, we did it again. We were playing great basketball and in the second half just relented and didn’t play it correctly. Now give them credit, their big guy played fantastic. He was great in taking us off the bounce. He’s really a power forward playing the five spot. A tough matchup, but you have to move your feet.”
On second half…
“I think they are giving great effort. I think the bench was giving us a lift a little bit. We are making key mental mistakes defensively. Offensively, it’s just going to take time to gel, but it’s all going to come together. ... Right now, they are losing because they are not paying attention to their job. There are like 10 blatant errors of not doing your job defensively and if they make a shot doing it that way, then it's on us.”
On the team’s focus with a quick turnaround…
“Well, you have no walk through, obviously. … You make a great point. If you are a team that has been together, you know all your defensive rotations, you know all the terminology. They’re all new, so you’re walking through in a ballroom, trying to get them to understand. You’re 100% right. If this was a team that was together coming back, they know exactly how everything is going to be played and that’s what cost us. We have a day to prepare for a tough team, whoever it may be.”
St. John’s Guard Daniss Jenkins
On finding consistency defensively …
“I think it’s just about having a defensive mindset as a team. We have to find our identify on the defensive end. That’s the biggest thing for me. It doesn’t matter what type of player; we just have to have a defensive mindset as a team. … You see it one game and you don’t the next. Last game, we were really locked in on the gameplan, but this game we had success on offense so you can easily forget about defense. It’s really about focusing and locking in on defense for 40 minutes.”
On playing a high-pressure style of defense under Coach Pitino …
“… I love this style of defense. You just play for a steal, you are always going hard. I only know one speed and that’s to go hard, so I just go hard on both ends. Defense has always been my type of thing so I love playing defense and playing for steals because you can’t play scared. If you get beat, the next man steps up and everyone is just scrambling the whole time. That’s how it should be.”
Opening statement …
“I wasn’t overly disappointed with Michigan, but I am overly disappointed tonight. We are losing because we can’t pay attention to the scouting report. We have guys that just care about offense and they don’t know how to defend. Not in terms of effort, the effort is fine, in terms of paying attention to the scouting and how things are played. It’s amazing from coming off the strong side, to giving a three, to the way you're playing the big guy on a pick-and-roll. It’s a one-point game and we totally break down and don’t play it correctly in a one-point game. Then it’s a four-point game and we don’t play it correctly. It's frustrating because the effort’s there, they want to win, they’re good guys, but they can’t absolve a scouting report which is so disappointing. We’ll just get onto the next game. [In the Charleston Classic] there are no weak teams so we got a hell of a game, but we’re just not paying attention to scouting at all and that’s what college basketball is all about.”
On the team’s performance in the first half…
“They were doing a terrific job and then they backed it off, got lazy and didn’t play the pick-and-roll correctly. Look, it’s just going to take time with these guys. They’ve never guarded in their lives, with the exception of Nahiem [Allyene]. They need to learn to play that way or they are going to keep losing. It’s all about defense. You can’t beat a Dayton, you can’t beat a Utah, you can’t beat a Houston unless you match their defense. You can’t keep trading buckets and tonight, we did it again. We were playing great basketball and in the second half just relented and didn’t play it correctly. Now give them credit, their big guy played fantastic. He was great in taking us off the bounce. He’s really a power forward playing the five spot. A tough matchup, but you have to move your feet.”
On second half…
“I think they are giving great effort. I think the bench was giving us a lift a little bit. We are making key mental mistakes defensively. Offensively, it’s just going to take time to gel, but it’s all going to come together. ... Right now, they are losing because they are not paying attention to their job. There are like 10 blatant errors of not doing your job defensively and if they make a shot doing it that way, then it's on us.”
On the team’s focus with a quick turnaround…
“Well, you have no walk through, obviously. … You make a great point. If you are a team that has been together, you know all your defensive rotations, you know all the terminology. They’re all new, so you’re walking through in a ballroom, trying to get them to understand. You’re 100% right. If this was a team that was together coming back, they know exactly how everything is going to be played and that’s what cost us. We have a day to prepare for a tough team, whoever it may be.”
St. John’s Guard Daniss Jenkins
On finding consistency defensively …
“I think it’s just about having a defensive mindset as a team. We have to find our identify on the defensive end. That’s the biggest thing for me. It doesn’t matter what type of player; we just have to have a defensive mindset as a team. … You see it one game and you don’t the next. Last game, we were really locked in on the gameplan, but this game we had success on offense so you can easily forget about defense. It’s really about focusing and locking in on defense for 40 minutes.”
On playing a high-pressure style of defense under Coach Pitino …
“… I love this style of defense. You just play for a steal, you are always going hard. I only know one speed and that’s to go hard, so I just go hard on both ends. Defense has always been my type of thing so I love playing defense and playing for steals because you can’t play scared. If you get beat, the next man steps up and everyone is just scrambling the whole time. That’s how it should be.”