St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s at Rutgers
St. John’s Men’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Pitino, forwards Zuby Ejiofor and RJ Luis Jr. spoke with the media following the team’s 91-85 win over Rutgers in a charity exhibition on Thursday at Jersey Mikes Arena
Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening statement…
“What you want to get out of an exhibition game is a tough game. It's a road environment and I couldn't be prouder of our guys. In the first half, we didn't move the basketball or get out and run our break. We were just trying to dribble too much. In the second half, we started passing the ball, moving the ball, cutting, and it was a thing of beauty to watch. So real proud of our guys, my man here [Zuby Ejiofor], they said when I first got him that, you know, he's just a 12-foot player, and he's a little bit limited in what he can do, and I think you see what he can do. 27 points, 13 rebounds, only one turnover. I was trying to get him to pop out more and take open threes. He made one, and he said he wanted to keep his percentage up so he wouldn't take anymore. And RJ [Luis Jr.] learned a lot of valuable lessons tonight himself because when he moves without the basketball, he's lethal. He's a lethal passer, he's unguardable. He's a great offensive rebounder, just as good a player as I've coached. He's a tremendous young man and tremendous player, and this was a great win for us, because to come back on the road, I wanted to see the character of our basketball team, and I saw it tonight, and I'm real proud of that.
On the depth of this team…
“Yeah, I think Deivon (Smith) is going to be terrific. He's just got to learn a lot of little things about the position. But he's got great talent, and I'm talking about little things like spacing and not picking up his dribble when he sees pressure with that type of speed. Take the five men on, try to draw the foul. Once he learned those things, I think it's not going to be a problem, but Kadary [Richmond] is a great, great basketball player. All his shots tonight were exactly the way I wanted him to shoot it. It was on the right-hand side with no hitch, so I'm happy with that as well. But one of the big keys in the game, besides our offensive movement, was the fact that we had nine turnovers in the first half and only turned it over twice in the second half. Thus we shot a percentage of 57% from two, 50 percent from three, and it was a totally different basketball team once they got the feel of each other. I think this team's got a very high ceiling. We have to do now is we got to develop our backup fives, and once we develop that, I think we'll be a much better basketball team. We've got to develop both Ruben [Prey] as well as Vince [Iwuchuckwu], because he's he played so hard. He was amazing tonight. Truly amazing.”
On what he liked from his team tonight…
“I think the adjustments that they made from first half to second half. I think that's a big adjustment. I think RJ learned a lot. I think Deivon learned a lot. I think all the guys learned. What we're trying to do right now is just mesh with everybody, get to know each other, so they know the cuts, like RJ made a great baseline cut. I thought he was going to bank it in, but he shot it straight in. He'll make his free throws. He changed it a little bit with too much arc, but he gets fouled all the time. He's a great offensive rebounder.”
On Simeon Wilcher…
“[Simeon Wilcher] played great. You know what I love about Sim? Sim was playing really well, but I went with Deivon because I wanted to just get him some experience in a tough game, because he's got a lot to learn. Deivon's got a lot to learn about the position. Sim would have been a better choice in certain positions, but I wanted him to learn certain things, and he did learn. But the best part about Sim is he comes in and, he didn't play, he just kept saying, ‘we only have two turnovers in the second half’. That's awesome and that's what Sim is all about. Sim is already is a great player, but I've got a lot of great players in this team, a lot. It's not just the two guys here.”
On the advantage of playing tough exhibition games…
“Yeah, at that point we're trying to win the game. I think college exhibitions are a lot different than the NBA. This was important because we booked Rutgers on the road and Towson. Rutgers is highly ranked and Towson picked to win the league. We wanted to because we weren't ready early in the year last year, so we wanted to play to win in the second half. We wanted to get everybody in the first half but play to win in the second half.”
St John’s forward Zuby Ejiofor:
On tonight’s victory…
“Like Coach P [Pitino] said, ‘A win like this shows a lot about who we are as a team, our character.’ We dug deep tonight. We made some changes in the second half that ultimately got us the win. And we never gave up. It was one possession at a time, little by little. Just dug deep on the defensive end, that's what was going to get us to win tonight. …They made a lot of tough shots. It was the next possession every time, everybody had their heads high and we ultimately got the win.”
St. John’s forward RJ Luis Jr.:
On his health entering the year…
“I mean, I just want to start out by saying thank you God for everything. You know, I had a tough surgery on both of my legs. I mean, it was a tough rehab process, but I feel like everything happens for a reason. I'm glad I'm back on the court. Coach Pitino is allowing me to practice this time, so I get time to play with my teammates. I just take it day by day and I feel like it's good to go through adversity like we did. We were down and we came back, and it showed that we didn't give up. So, I feel like that was important. That was a big lesson that we learned today.”
On Zuby Ejiofor…
“I love Zuby. That's my dog. He has been my roommate since last year, so it's just great to be on the floor with him more this year than last year. I feel like Zuby stepped into a big role, he's a captain, he's a leader and I'm just really excited for him. I was happy when he got the dunk in the middle of the game. Zuby and I have a really close relationship and I feel like he played his butt off tonight.”
Opening statement…
“What you want to get out of an exhibition game is a tough game. It's a road environment and I couldn't be prouder of our guys. In the first half, we didn't move the basketball or get out and run our break. We were just trying to dribble too much. In the second half, we started passing the ball, moving the ball, cutting, and it was a thing of beauty to watch. So real proud of our guys, my man here [Zuby Ejiofor], they said when I first got him that, you know, he's just a 12-foot player, and he's a little bit limited in what he can do, and I think you see what he can do. 27 points, 13 rebounds, only one turnover. I was trying to get him to pop out more and take open threes. He made one, and he said he wanted to keep his percentage up so he wouldn't take anymore. And RJ [Luis Jr.] learned a lot of valuable lessons tonight himself because when he moves without the basketball, he's lethal. He's a lethal passer, he's unguardable. He's a great offensive rebounder, just as good a player as I've coached. He's a tremendous young man and tremendous player, and this was a great win for us, because to come back on the road, I wanted to see the character of our basketball team, and I saw it tonight, and I'm real proud of that.
On the depth of this team…
“Yeah, I think Deivon (Smith) is going to be terrific. He's just got to learn a lot of little things about the position. But he's got great talent, and I'm talking about little things like spacing and not picking up his dribble when he sees pressure with that type of speed. Take the five men on, try to draw the foul. Once he learned those things, I think it's not going to be a problem, but Kadary [Richmond] is a great, great basketball player. All his shots tonight were exactly the way I wanted him to shoot it. It was on the right-hand side with no hitch, so I'm happy with that as well. But one of the big keys in the game, besides our offensive movement, was the fact that we had nine turnovers in the first half and only turned it over twice in the second half. Thus we shot a percentage of 57% from two, 50 percent from three, and it was a totally different basketball team once they got the feel of each other. I think this team's got a very high ceiling. We have to do now is we got to develop our backup fives, and once we develop that, I think we'll be a much better basketball team. We've got to develop both Ruben [Prey] as well as Vince [Iwuchuckwu], because he's he played so hard. He was amazing tonight. Truly amazing.”
On what he liked from his team tonight…
“I think the adjustments that they made from first half to second half. I think that's a big adjustment. I think RJ learned a lot. I think Deivon learned a lot. I think all the guys learned. What we're trying to do right now is just mesh with everybody, get to know each other, so they know the cuts, like RJ made a great baseline cut. I thought he was going to bank it in, but he shot it straight in. He'll make his free throws. He changed it a little bit with too much arc, but he gets fouled all the time. He's a great offensive rebounder.”
On Simeon Wilcher…
“[Simeon Wilcher] played great. You know what I love about Sim? Sim was playing really well, but I went with Deivon because I wanted to just get him some experience in a tough game, because he's got a lot to learn. Deivon's got a lot to learn about the position. Sim would have been a better choice in certain positions, but I wanted him to learn certain things, and he did learn. But the best part about Sim is he comes in and, he didn't play, he just kept saying, ‘we only have two turnovers in the second half’. That's awesome and that's what Sim is all about. Sim is already is a great player, but I've got a lot of great players in this team, a lot. It's not just the two guys here.”
On the advantage of playing tough exhibition games…
“Yeah, at that point we're trying to win the game. I think college exhibitions are a lot different than the NBA. This was important because we booked Rutgers on the road and Towson. Rutgers is highly ranked and Towson picked to win the league. We wanted to because we weren't ready early in the year last year, so we wanted to play to win in the second half. We wanted to get everybody in the first half but play to win in the second half.”
St John’s forward Zuby Ejiofor:
On tonight’s victory…
“Like Coach P [Pitino] said, ‘A win like this shows a lot about who we are as a team, our character.’ We dug deep tonight. We made some changes in the second half that ultimately got us the win. And we never gave up. It was one possession at a time, little by little. Just dug deep on the defensive end, that's what was going to get us to win tonight. …They made a lot of tough shots. It was the next possession every time, everybody had their heads high and we ultimately got the win.”
St. John’s forward RJ Luis Jr.:
On his health entering the year…
“I mean, I just want to start out by saying thank you God for everything. You know, I had a tough surgery on both of my legs. I mean, it was a tough rehab process, but I feel like everything happens for a reason. I'm glad I'm back on the court. Coach Pitino is allowing me to practice this time, so I get time to play with my teammates. I just take it day by day and I feel like it's good to go through adversity like we did. We were down and we came back, and it showed that we didn't give up. So, I feel like that was important. That was a big lesson that we learned today.”
On Zuby Ejiofor…
“I love Zuby. That's my dog. He has been my roommate since last year, so it's just great to be on the floor with him more this year than last year. I feel like Zuby stepped into a big role, he's a captain, he's a leader and I'm just really excited for him. I was happy when he got the dunk in the middle of the game. Zuby and I have a really close relationship and I feel like he played his butt off tonight.”