St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s Men’s Basketball vs. No. 5/5 UConn
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino, Nahiem Alleyne and Joel Soriano met with the media after the Red Storm fell, 69-65, at No. 5/5 UConn on Saturday
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino
On tonight’s game…
“We lost that game because we didn’t block out. Missed free throws you can’t control. You can easily say, ‘if they made their free throws, they win the game.’ That’s obvious. Missed shots and missed free throws are not why you lose. Backing up and giving up a three, not getting on the glass and blocking out – those are things you can control. You can’t control missed free throws. Now if we had made it, we would have won by four or five points, but we didn’t. We are getting better, growing as a basketball team and that’s what I want to see. This is a tough crowd to go against and we did a lot of really good things. Only had two turnovers in the first half.”
On team’s performance…
“It’s a missed opportunity, but the best game we have played this year. … We had six turnovers in the game, and we were turnover-prone to start the year. We outrebounded them. We are coming as a basketball team. It should be a nice Christmas for these guys because they played their hearts out, gave everything they can, and they lost on the road.”
On the team’s defense against UConn…
“I think we are getting better and better. These guys were void of fundamentals and now they are getting fundamentally sound in all phases of the game, but a lack of fundamental cost us the game today. We are getting better and I’m going to have a really good Christmas because of the improvement of the basketball team. Are we all disappointed that we lost this game? Yes, we are, but we are all very pleased with the effort and the fact that we are getting better.”
On the outcome of the game…
“I think it was an excellent game. I can find fault in the blocking out, but I can’t find fault in any other area. I thought the guys played their hearts out. They are very disappointed with the loss but we move on to play Hofstra. I think we are going to be a very good basketball team. We just have to be careful that we don’t take too many losses because now we have four.”
St. John’s guard Nahiem Alleyne
On team’s improvement…
“I think our defense has picked up really well, especially in practice. That Boston College game woke us up a little in terms of knowing that our defense needs to pick up every single time we’re out there. In practice, we are doing a good job communicating with each other, bringing a lot of intensity. [Daniss Jenkins] brings a lot of intensity for our team so I think he helps a lot with our defense, and Joel [Soriano], in the frontcourt, getting blocked shots for us, fronting the post, and doing little things. I think we are doing a good job on the defensive end we just need to keep getting better.”
On tonight’s game…
“We should have won. We had them. It’s very frustrating just because of how the game was. It was a very high-intense game and we knew it was going to be very back-and-forth. We knew that it wasn’t just going to be a blowout, we knew they were a very good team. They run their stuff very well, but we had them and I really feel like we could have won that game. Everyone in the locker room knows we could have won that game. It just slipped and we will get them next time.”
On team’s projection…
“I feel like we did a very good job of showing what we could be tonight. Obviously, it was a very tough loss. Down the stretch, we didn’t really execute rebounding and we missed free throws, but today I feel like we displayed our defense and our offense. We just need to play off of each other and I feel like we did a good job of that. Even though they blew up a couple of things, we did a good job of just executing our plays.”
St John’s center Joel Soriano
On tonight’s game…
“Definitely disappointed we couldn’t get the win, but I feel like we took a big step today. We have to finish out on plays with rebounds. There were a lot of rebounds we missed today going down the stretch of the game. We have to be better in our execution as well.”
On RJ Luis…
“RJ helps us offensively and defensively. He is another ball handler. You saw how electric he was today. I can’t wait till he is fully healthy. I feel like we are going to be very scary.”
On team’s improvement…
“We’re definitely taking steps, but we’re still not where we need to be. Defensively, we’re definitely playing a lot harder and playing more together with guys communicating and trusting each other more. I feel like we’re right there. We just had to finish out certain plays and we would have won that game.”
On tonight’s game…
“We lost that game because we didn’t block out. Missed free throws you can’t control. You can easily say, ‘if they made their free throws, they win the game.’ That’s obvious. Missed shots and missed free throws are not why you lose. Backing up and giving up a three, not getting on the glass and blocking out – those are things you can control. You can’t control missed free throws. Now if we had made it, we would have won by four or five points, but we didn’t. We are getting better, growing as a basketball team and that’s what I want to see. This is a tough crowd to go against and we did a lot of really good things. Only had two turnovers in the first half.”
On team’s performance…
“It’s a missed opportunity, but the best game we have played this year. … We had six turnovers in the game, and we were turnover-prone to start the year. We outrebounded them. We are coming as a basketball team. It should be a nice Christmas for these guys because they played their hearts out, gave everything they can, and they lost on the road.”
On the team’s defense against UConn…
“I think we are getting better and better. These guys were void of fundamentals and now they are getting fundamentally sound in all phases of the game, but a lack of fundamental cost us the game today. We are getting better and I’m going to have a really good Christmas because of the improvement of the basketball team. Are we all disappointed that we lost this game? Yes, we are, but we are all very pleased with the effort and the fact that we are getting better.”
On the outcome of the game…
“I think it was an excellent game. I can find fault in the blocking out, but I can’t find fault in any other area. I thought the guys played their hearts out. They are very disappointed with the loss but we move on to play Hofstra. I think we are going to be a very good basketball team. We just have to be careful that we don’t take too many losses because now we have four.”
St. John’s guard Nahiem Alleyne
On team’s improvement…
“I think our defense has picked up really well, especially in practice. That Boston College game woke us up a little in terms of knowing that our defense needs to pick up every single time we’re out there. In practice, we are doing a good job communicating with each other, bringing a lot of intensity. [Daniss Jenkins] brings a lot of intensity for our team so I think he helps a lot with our defense, and Joel [Soriano], in the frontcourt, getting blocked shots for us, fronting the post, and doing little things. I think we are doing a good job on the defensive end we just need to keep getting better.”
On tonight’s game…
“We should have won. We had them. It’s very frustrating just because of how the game was. It was a very high-intense game and we knew it was going to be very back-and-forth. We knew that it wasn’t just going to be a blowout, we knew they were a very good team. They run their stuff very well, but we had them and I really feel like we could have won that game. Everyone in the locker room knows we could have won that game. It just slipped and we will get them next time.”
On team’s projection…
“I feel like we did a very good job of showing what we could be tonight. Obviously, it was a very tough loss. Down the stretch, we didn’t really execute rebounding and we missed free throws, but today I feel like we displayed our defense and our offense. We just need to play off of each other and I feel like we did a good job of that. Even though they blew up a couple of things, we did a good job of just executing our plays.”
St John’s center Joel Soriano
On tonight’s game…
“Definitely disappointed we couldn’t get the win, but I feel like we took a big step today. We have to finish out on plays with rebounds. There were a lot of rebounds we missed today going down the stretch of the game. We have to be better in our execution as well.”
On RJ Luis…
“RJ helps us offensively and defensively. He is another ball handler. You saw how electric he was today. I can’t wait till he is fully healthy. I feel like we are going to be very scary.”
On team’s improvement…
“We’re definitely taking steps, but we’re still not where we need to be. Defensively, we’re definitely playing a lot harder and playing more together with guys communicating and trusting each other more. I feel like we’re right there. We just had to finish out certain plays and we would have won that game.”