St. John's University Athletics
PREGAME QUOTES: St. John’s Men’s Basketball vs. Marquette
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino, Chris Ledlum and Joel Soriano met with the media ahead of the Red Storm’s matchup against Marquette on Saturday at Madison Square Garden
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino
On St. John’s…
“We were playing good basketball. We played Connecticut to the wire on the road, beat Villanova wire-to-wire, played Creighton to the wire. Even in losses, I was very pleased with our team’s performance and, obviously, all of us did not like what we witnessed the other day. I’d like to give credit to Seton Hall for the way they played. We just had one of those nights where we didn’t bring it. If this team is not clicking on all cylinders from an effort standpoint, they’re going to get beat. We are not talented, tall enough, athletic enough to overcome not giving an extraordinary effort.”
On Marquette…
“We have to play a great game to beat a Marquette team with the weapons they have, the defense they play where they get a turnover one out of every four times down the court. They get a steal one out of every seven times down the court. We have to play exceptionally well to beat a team like that. They are seasoned, they have been together, we have gone through a lot of problems in practice with people out constantly, so we have to overcome that.”
“Marquette is a team that can embarrass you very easily. They are so good at what they do that they can embarrass you. It’s not like playing against some other teams that do one or two things really well. This team thrives on the deflection, the steal and getting out. They have the MVP of the league, so they do so many things very well. They average 34 deflections a game and we average like 16. They are a well-oiled machine. When you beat a Kansas or a Texas, you are a well-oiled machine.”
On the team’s effort…
“My wife has a silly expression that all of us in our family poke fun at, ‘Nothing changes if nothing changes’. If you don’t change, nothing is going to change. … It’s not one person, it’s all of them, collectively. If you don’t change who you are and become better at what you do, from a work standpoint, nothing will change in your life. You will just be mediocre. That’s my belief, but I’m not going to let one game change my opinion of who we are. We had a bad night and had a lot of good nights. … I look at their motors, their work ethic. That’s how I judge people, on their work ethic. That’s why I love Daniss [Jenkins] so much. That’s why I love Zuby [Ejiofor] so much because of their work ethic. They bring it every day in practice, they bring it every single day. They are dependable, they are predictable. I know who they are. … It’s just who Daniss and Zuby are. They may have an off-night shooting, but they will never let that deter from their motors. You saw it the other night.
St. John’s forward Chris Ledlum
On Joel Soriano…
“As his teammate, I know all the guys believe in him. I believe in him, myself. Everyone has bad games. We are not worried about him. We know he is going to come tomorrow and bring it.”
On Coach Pitino’s message following the Seton Hall game…
“He was obviously disappointed, as we all were. Everything was coached the right way. As players, we took accountability for it. We just didn’t come out and play the way we should have. We all know that. We have taken accountability for it. We are always going to remember it, but we are going to move past it and focus on Marquette.”
On the importance of defending home court…
“We are more than halfway through the season at this point. Every game matters throughout the season, but games are starting to matter even more. Our goal is to continue to stack wins and compete for a BIG EAST Championship.”
St. John’s center Joel Soriano
On not allowing losses to pile up…
“There is a lot of focus on it. We don’t ever come into a game trying to lose at all. A very good Marquette team is coming into The Garden tomorrow. We know we have to bring our focus and play for a full 40 minutes, or however long the game is going to take. They are a very well-coached team, so we just have to stick to our scheme and plans, come out and play hard with a lot of intensity. They are a very physical team just as Seton Hall was. Just gotta bring it tomorrow.”
On keeping high confidence after a tough loss…
“We are definitely upset, for sure, but I don’t think any of us have lost confidence in ourselves or the team. We know that we can be better. We came in and we didn’t match [Seton Hall’s] physicality, we didn’t match their intensity. We let them dictate the game. We are not going to lose confidence as a team. We know what kind of team we are. We know what we have to do to compete with everybody in this conference. From a confidence standpoint, I think we are where we need to be.”
On finishing the season strong…
“This is the other half of the season. We definitely have to step it up now. We know we have played some games we should have won. We played some bad games. Overall, we have to be better. We come in, coaches go over game plans and schemes for us. We just have to go out there and execute it at the end of the day if we are the ones on the floor. We have to come in and be better as a group. We watch a lot of film, we know that we didn’t do what we had to do against Creighton, against Seton Hall, but I definitely don’t feel any discouragement at all. We are a good basketball team and we are going to show that tomorrow.”
On St. John’s…
“We were playing good basketball. We played Connecticut to the wire on the road, beat Villanova wire-to-wire, played Creighton to the wire. Even in losses, I was very pleased with our team’s performance and, obviously, all of us did not like what we witnessed the other day. I’d like to give credit to Seton Hall for the way they played. We just had one of those nights where we didn’t bring it. If this team is not clicking on all cylinders from an effort standpoint, they’re going to get beat. We are not talented, tall enough, athletic enough to overcome not giving an extraordinary effort.”
On Marquette…
“We have to play a great game to beat a Marquette team with the weapons they have, the defense they play where they get a turnover one out of every four times down the court. They get a steal one out of every seven times down the court. We have to play exceptionally well to beat a team like that. They are seasoned, they have been together, we have gone through a lot of problems in practice with people out constantly, so we have to overcome that.”
“Marquette is a team that can embarrass you very easily. They are so good at what they do that they can embarrass you. It’s not like playing against some other teams that do one or two things really well. This team thrives on the deflection, the steal and getting out. They have the MVP of the league, so they do so many things very well. They average 34 deflections a game and we average like 16. They are a well-oiled machine. When you beat a Kansas or a Texas, you are a well-oiled machine.”
On the team’s effort…
“My wife has a silly expression that all of us in our family poke fun at, ‘Nothing changes if nothing changes’. If you don’t change, nothing is going to change. … It’s not one person, it’s all of them, collectively. If you don’t change who you are and become better at what you do, from a work standpoint, nothing will change in your life. You will just be mediocre. That’s my belief, but I’m not going to let one game change my opinion of who we are. We had a bad night and had a lot of good nights. … I look at their motors, their work ethic. That’s how I judge people, on their work ethic. That’s why I love Daniss [Jenkins] so much. That’s why I love Zuby [Ejiofor] so much because of their work ethic. They bring it every day in practice, they bring it every single day. They are dependable, they are predictable. I know who they are. … It’s just who Daniss and Zuby are. They may have an off-night shooting, but they will never let that deter from their motors. You saw it the other night.
St. John’s forward Chris Ledlum
On Joel Soriano…
“As his teammate, I know all the guys believe in him. I believe in him, myself. Everyone has bad games. We are not worried about him. We know he is going to come tomorrow and bring it.”
On Coach Pitino’s message following the Seton Hall game…
“He was obviously disappointed, as we all were. Everything was coached the right way. As players, we took accountability for it. We just didn’t come out and play the way we should have. We all know that. We have taken accountability for it. We are always going to remember it, but we are going to move past it and focus on Marquette.”
On the importance of defending home court…
“We are more than halfway through the season at this point. Every game matters throughout the season, but games are starting to matter even more. Our goal is to continue to stack wins and compete for a BIG EAST Championship.”
St. John’s center Joel Soriano
On not allowing losses to pile up…
“There is a lot of focus on it. We don’t ever come into a game trying to lose at all. A very good Marquette team is coming into The Garden tomorrow. We know we have to bring our focus and play for a full 40 minutes, or however long the game is going to take. They are a very well-coached team, so we just have to stick to our scheme and plans, come out and play hard with a lot of intensity. They are a very physical team just as Seton Hall was. Just gotta bring it tomorrow.”
On keeping high confidence after a tough loss…
“We are definitely upset, for sure, but I don’t think any of us have lost confidence in ourselves or the team. We know that we can be better. We came in and we didn’t match [Seton Hall’s] physicality, we didn’t match their intensity. We let them dictate the game. We are not going to lose confidence as a team. We know what kind of team we are. We know what we have to do to compete with everybody in this conference. From a confidence standpoint, I think we are where we need to be.”
On finishing the season strong…
“This is the other half of the season. We definitely have to step it up now. We know we have played some games we should have won. We played some bad games. Overall, we have to be better. We come in, coaches go over game plans and schemes for us. We just have to go out there and execute it at the end of the day if we are the ones on the floor. We have to come in and be better as a group. We watch a lot of film, we know that we didn’t do what we had to do against Creighton, against Seton Hall, but I definitely don’t feel any discouragement at all. We are a good basketball team and we are going to show that tomorrow.”