St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s Men’s Basketball at Xavier
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino and Daniss Jenkins met with the media following the Red Storm’s 88-77 setback at Xavier on Wednesday
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening Statement…
“Sometimes it doesn’t come down to the obvious of somebody making a shot. Sometimes games are won or lost on a loose-ball rebound. That’s just the case when we were down two there. We got them to miss the shot and couldn’t come up with the lose rebound. They did and then scored. I’ve been in this game a long time. It always comes down to something you don’t expect. A loose ball rebound, getting on the floor for a loose basketball. We played our hearts out. [Xavier] wins 85 percent of their games at home, they are very good at home. Beat Houston, almost beat UConn. They are a tough team to play against, especially here. Sean [Miller] is one of my favorite coaches in the country and they played really well tonight. We played really hard, but didn’t play well enough to get a win.”
On Xavier and their transition offense…
“[Xavier] plays that way all the time. The transition game for them is number one. If Joel [Soriano] doesn’t beat the pack back, you are in trouble. They are going down at full speed, you can’t touch them. The only way to stop it is for the five-man to get back and block it late. In the beginning, Joel [Soriano] and Zuby [Ejiofor] missed a couple shots inside, so he is worried about that and didn’t sprint back. … They beat us from the three-point line. They beat us in transition.”
St. John’s guard Daniss Jenkins
On tonight’s effort against Xavier…
“It couldn’t have been good enough. I mean, we lost the game. For me, I’m always just trying to tell the guys we need to go harder, we need to work harder. That’s all I believe. That’s what I just try to tell the guys, we have to work harder and play smart at the same time.
On the closing minutes of tonight’s game…
“At the end of game, people are a little fatigued. I think we just have to execute the scouting report, follow the game plan and actually go out there and do it. There are a lot of times where we get them to take a bad shot and like coach said, we let them get that rebound and they hit the corner three. That was a key possession in the game. … It’s just little things like that. Obviously, the blow byes, we just have to be better on defense. The easy layups, there is no scouting report for that. There is no game plan for that.”
Opening Statement…
“Sometimes it doesn’t come down to the obvious of somebody making a shot. Sometimes games are won or lost on a loose-ball rebound. That’s just the case when we were down two there. We got them to miss the shot and couldn’t come up with the lose rebound. They did and then scored. I’ve been in this game a long time. It always comes down to something you don’t expect. A loose ball rebound, getting on the floor for a loose basketball. We played our hearts out. [Xavier] wins 85 percent of their games at home, they are very good at home. Beat Houston, almost beat UConn. They are a tough team to play against, especially here. Sean [Miller] is one of my favorite coaches in the country and they played really well tonight. We played really hard, but didn’t play well enough to get a win.”
On Xavier and their transition offense…
“[Xavier] plays that way all the time. The transition game for them is number one. If Joel [Soriano] doesn’t beat the pack back, you are in trouble. They are going down at full speed, you can’t touch them. The only way to stop it is for the five-man to get back and block it late. In the beginning, Joel [Soriano] and Zuby [Ejiofor] missed a couple shots inside, so he is worried about that and didn’t sprint back. … They beat us from the three-point line. They beat us in transition.”
St. John’s guard Daniss Jenkins
On tonight’s effort against Xavier…
“It couldn’t have been good enough. I mean, we lost the game. For me, I’m always just trying to tell the guys we need to go harder, we need to work harder. That’s all I believe. That’s what I just try to tell the guys, we have to work harder and play smart at the same time.
On the closing minutes of tonight’s game…
“At the end of game, people are a little fatigued. I think we just have to execute the scouting report, follow the game plan and actually go out there and do it. There are a lot of times where we get them to take a bad shot and like coach said, we let them get that rebound and they hit the corner three. That was a key possession in the game. … It’s just little things like that. Obviously, the blow byes, we just have to be better on defense. The easy layups, there is no scouting report for that. There is no game plan for that.”