St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s Men’s Basketball vs. No. 17/18 Marquette
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino, RJ Luis Jr. and Daniss Jenkins met with the media following the Red Storm’s 73-72 setback against Marquette on Saturday at Madison Square Garden
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening Statement…
“We had two great looks, especially the one in the corner by Chris Ledlum, to win the game and unfortunately it didn’t bounce our way. When we lost to Creighton, I think you could see how unhappy I was about the loss because there are no moral victories. But tonight, there are moral victories. I think we were undermanned, and I thought our guys showed amazing character down the stretch to fight back against a very seasoned ballclub that was picking us apart defensively. Although we lost and I’m disappointed, I thought it was a great effort by our guys and I can’t complain about the way they played. They ran their offense, they went back door, they did some really good things tonight. I’m really pleased with our performance, but very disappointed we lost. Let’s give Marquette all the credit for executing the two-man game in the second half.”
On Marquette…
“They just force you to switch. They help and [Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro] play like [John] Stockton and [Karl] Malone. They are very good with each other, and they know how to throw the pocket pass. You have to switch it, and we did a few times, but we came off the corner. They shot a very high percentage in the second half, shooting 75 percent, but despite all of that, coming back and having a great chance of winning is a good thing.”
On the final play…
“I wanted a good shot. If they took [Jenkins] away, we were going to Joel and we were going to pass it over the top to someone, but I can’t ask for a better shot. He was wide open. I fell to the ground thinking it was going in.”
On the close BIG EAST losses this season…
“Every coach gets discouraged with a loss but understand, [Marquette, Creighton and UConn] are three teams you could rank in the top 10 in the nation. We are rebuilding. In all three games, we could have won. And of course, we beat Villanova [on the road] for the first time in three decades. [Marquette] is a machine because they know each other so well. We are just getting to know each other and building something. I think our crowd is great, even though our numbers aren’t high. It doesn’t have to be high. The 10 or 11 thousand who are here are awesome. Everything is going in the right direction for us regardless of the score. We are going to build something that you are going to look at in two years and say, ‘that’s greatness.’ I’m committed to that.”
St. John’s forward RJ Luis Jr.
On losing a tight game against Marquette …
“It’s real tough. Another loss by one point. If we were locked in on one more possession, we could’ve won the game. [Daniss Jenkins] got a good look at the end there. I don’t think we should been in that position. It’s hard and we really needed that win, but we couldn’t get it.”
On Marquette’s shooting ability …
“They made a lot of tough shots. They made a lot of 3-pointers, a lot of contested 3-pointers. That’s really it. We defended it the same way. They made tough shots, they were hot.”
On the team’s resiliency to comeback late in today’s game…
“I feel like we showed a lot of maturity. Being down [13 points] … It shows how far we’ve come and our ability to stay locked in. Basketball’s a game of runs. We got stops and made it count on the other end.”
St. John’s guard Daniss Jenkins
On the shot attempt at the buzzer…
“I definitely thought it was going in. I was hurt because I didn’t hold my follow-through, I know that’s why I missed the shot. The shot was right on line, but I flicked my wrist instead of it.”
On how the team showed fight…
“This game we proved to ourselves that we could pull off a comeback. With four minutes left, we overcame the deficit. I think that’s why Coach [Pitino] was optimistic.”
Opening Statement…
“We had two great looks, especially the one in the corner by Chris Ledlum, to win the game and unfortunately it didn’t bounce our way. When we lost to Creighton, I think you could see how unhappy I was about the loss because there are no moral victories. But tonight, there are moral victories. I think we were undermanned, and I thought our guys showed amazing character down the stretch to fight back against a very seasoned ballclub that was picking us apart defensively. Although we lost and I’m disappointed, I thought it was a great effort by our guys and I can’t complain about the way they played. They ran their offense, they went back door, they did some really good things tonight. I’m really pleased with our performance, but very disappointed we lost. Let’s give Marquette all the credit for executing the two-man game in the second half.”
On Marquette…
“They just force you to switch. They help and [Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro] play like [John] Stockton and [Karl] Malone. They are very good with each other, and they know how to throw the pocket pass. You have to switch it, and we did a few times, but we came off the corner. They shot a very high percentage in the second half, shooting 75 percent, but despite all of that, coming back and having a great chance of winning is a good thing.”
On the final play…
“I wanted a good shot. If they took [Jenkins] away, we were going to Joel and we were going to pass it over the top to someone, but I can’t ask for a better shot. He was wide open. I fell to the ground thinking it was going in.”
On the close BIG EAST losses this season…
“Every coach gets discouraged with a loss but understand, [Marquette, Creighton and UConn] are three teams you could rank in the top 10 in the nation. We are rebuilding. In all three games, we could have won. And of course, we beat Villanova [on the road] for the first time in three decades. [Marquette] is a machine because they know each other so well. We are just getting to know each other and building something. I think our crowd is great, even though our numbers aren’t high. It doesn’t have to be high. The 10 or 11 thousand who are here are awesome. Everything is going in the right direction for us regardless of the score. We are going to build something that you are going to look at in two years and say, ‘that’s greatness.’ I’m committed to that.”
St. John’s forward RJ Luis Jr.
On losing a tight game against Marquette …
“It’s real tough. Another loss by one point. If we were locked in on one more possession, we could’ve won the game. [Daniss Jenkins] got a good look at the end there. I don’t think we should been in that position. It’s hard and we really needed that win, but we couldn’t get it.”
On Marquette’s shooting ability …
“They made a lot of tough shots. They made a lot of 3-pointers, a lot of contested 3-pointers. That’s really it. We defended it the same way. They made tough shots, they were hot.”
On the team’s resiliency to comeback late in today’s game…
“I feel like we showed a lot of maturity. Being down [13 points] … It shows how far we’ve come and our ability to stay locked in. Basketball’s a game of runs. We got stops and made it count on the other end.”
St. John’s guard Daniss Jenkins
On the shot attempt at the buzzer…
“I definitely thought it was going in. I was hurt because I didn’t hold my follow-through, I know that’s why I missed the shot. The shot was right on line, but I flicked my wrist instead of it.”
On how the team showed fight…
“This game we proved to ourselves that we could pull off a comeback. With four minutes left, we overcame the deficit. I think that’s why Coach [Pitino] was optimistic.”