St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: No. 22/25 St. John’s Men’s Basketball vs. Wagner
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino, Kadary Richmond, Zuby Ejiofor and Wagner Head Coach Donald Copeland met with the media after the Red Storm’s 66-45 win against the Seahawks
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening Statement
“I've coached 50 years and a lot of times when you are playing a team that you're supposed to beat and the game gets tight, the players get tight, and you win by a couple of points. This team didn't play well offensively tonight because of the free-throw line. The free-throw line kept taking the air out of us because we would run good stuff, drive, get fouled, and then they missed free throws, which is like a turnover. That was the cause of us not playing well offensively. But I'm impressed, even though we're much more talented than Wagner, players will get tight in this type of game because you're supposed to win and everybody's expecting it. And what happens? It's a three-point game and you panic. Instead, they turned up the heat, made shots and they were very poised when it counted. I think the missed free throws really took the staunch out of us early on, but the defense was good most of the night.”
On Kadary Richmond and RJ Luis Jr. not starting against Wagner…
“I know Kadary [Richmond] is ready to play. I know RJ [Luis Jr.] is ready to play. I wanted to see some of the other guys and see some of the lineups. Probably [Kadary] will start every single game for the rest of the season but I wanted to experiment a little bit, see certain things, because [Wagner] is a slowdown team. I wanted to see how they executed.”
On the challenging upcoming schedule …
“We will have to play great offense as well as great defense to beat New Mexico and to beat a Baylor or Tennessee or Georgia. We're going to have to play much better at both ends of the floor.”
On Kadary Richmond’s contributions…
“Our fast break tonight was 15 for 19. Kadary is very unselfish. I think he's trying to feel out his teammates. He doesn't panic. He's a cool customer. I think he's going to be fine. The better talent he goes against, the better he's going to play.”
On where his team stands three games into the season…
“Well, look at [Wagner] tonight. Shot 29 percent from the field, 20 percent from three, we contested almost every shot. I think we're ready defensively. I think offensively, we just got to get a feel for each other a little bit more but there's something unique about this basketball team. When we went down nine or 10 against Rutgers, there was no panic. When it was three tonight, there was no panic. They took the shots that were there. I have confidence in this team, but we're going to have to play great to beat New Mexico. We'll have to play great to beat Baylor. We know that.”
On needing support from the fanbase…
“There's only one way to get fans [in New York] and that's to win. We need our fans there on Sunday at noon. We need our fans and we're going to need them in the Bahamas as well. But I'm excited. This type of competition gets you excited.”
St. John’s guard Kadary Richmond
On the final 10 minutes of the game …
“I would say we showed toughness and we pulled together, similar to the Rutgers game. I would say that's a stepping stone for us in the right direction and we just got to get better moving on.”
On the impact of the second-half block that started a run…
“Just making a key stop that we probably needed. We prevented a basket. I stepped up, helped one of my teammates block the shot and made a play on the end. Seeing the ball go through the net for us was a good thing. I feel like that was a game-changer to start the 18-0 run.”
St. John’s forward Zuby Ejiofor
On his mindset through three games this season…
“My last couple of games have not met the expectations of myself and the coaching staff. I haven't been playing with a lot of energy and we're still trying to figure that out. My mindset coming into this game was to go out there and play with unbelievable energy like I know I'm capable of doing and that I do every day in practice. That's where I started from today. And yeah, just like I said, just coming out, playing with energy and see where that takes me, and we're fortunate enough to come out with the win.”
On the team’s performance in the second half…
“The second half, I thought we played a lot better, especially myself included, and the whole team as a group. We came in, we locked in, especially on the defensive end. We have a lot of things to clean up on the offensive end, myself included. I had five turnovers. It’s still a work in progress what I'm able to do night in and night out but yeah, I felt comfortable about the second half. I felt like we were doing a lot of great things together, collectively. On the defensive end, we came in and locked in, and we ended up winning the game. That's all that matters.”
Wagner Head Coach Donald Copeland
On how his team kept it close in the first half against St. John’s…
“I think we did a good job of just defending, scrapping it up. I think they shot 50 percent, but we were aggressive, which I wanted to be. The fouls were a part of that, but that comes with aggressiveness. We made the game kind of ugly and stagnant, which I thought we needed to do. Offensively, I thought we executed and took care of the ball as best we could. I thought we had some late turnovers that kind of disoriented us a little bit. I thought in those moments when we hit a tough drought offensively, which has happened, [St. John’s] picked up the tempo in transition and the crowd got into it.
Opening Statement
“I've coached 50 years and a lot of times when you are playing a team that you're supposed to beat and the game gets tight, the players get tight, and you win by a couple of points. This team didn't play well offensively tonight because of the free-throw line. The free-throw line kept taking the air out of us because we would run good stuff, drive, get fouled, and then they missed free throws, which is like a turnover. That was the cause of us not playing well offensively. But I'm impressed, even though we're much more talented than Wagner, players will get tight in this type of game because you're supposed to win and everybody's expecting it. And what happens? It's a three-point game and you panic. Instead, they turned up the heat, made shots and they were very poised when it counted. I think the missed free throws really took the staunch out of us early on, but the defense was good most of the night.”
On Kadary Richmond and RJ Luis Jr. not starting against Wagner…
“I know Kadary [Richmond] is ready to play. I know RJ [Luis Jr.] is ready to play. I wanted to see some of the other guys and see some of the lineups. Probably [Kadary] will start every single game for the rest of the season but I wanted to experiment a little bit, see certain things, because [Wagner] is a slowdown team. I wanted to see how they executed.”
On the challenging upcoming schedule …
“We will have to play great offense as well as great defense to beat New Mexico and to beat a Baylor or Tennessee or Georgia. We're going to have to play much better at both ends of the floor.”
On Kadary Richmond’s contributions…
“Our fast break tonight was 15 for 19. Kadary is very unselfish. I think he's trying to feel out his teammates. He doesn't panic. He's a cool customer. I think he's going to be fine. The better talent he goes against, the better he's going to play.”
On where his team stands three games into the season…
“Well, look at [Wagner] tonight. Shot 29 percent from the field, 20 percent from three, we contested almost every shot. I think we're ready defensively. I think offensively, we just got to get a feel for each other a little bit more but there's something unique about this basketball team. When we went down nine or 10 against Rutgers, there was no panic. When it was three tonight, there was no panic. They took the shots that were there. I have confidence in this team, but we're going to have to play great to beat New Mexico. We'll have to play great to beat Baylor. We know that.”
On needing support from the fanbase…
“There's only one way to get fans [in New York] and that's to win. We need our fans there on Sunday at noon. We need our fans and we're going to need them in the Bahamas as well. But I'm excited. This type of competition gets you excited.”
St. John’s guard Kadary Richmond
On the final 10 minutes of the game …
“I would say we showed toughness and we pulled together, similar to the Rutgers game. I would say that's a stepping stone for us in the right direction and we just got to get better moving on.”
On the impact of the second-half block that started a run…
“Just making a key stop that we probably needed. We prevented a basket. I stepped up, helped one of my teammates block the shot and made a play on the end. Seeing the ball go through the net for us was a good thing. I feel like that was a game-changer to start the 18-0 run.”
St. John’s forward Zuby Ejiofor
On his mindset through three games this season…
“My last couple of games have not met the expectations of myself and the coaching staff. I haven't been playing with a lot of energy and we're still trying to figure that out. My mindset coming into this game was to go out there and play with unbelievable energy like I know I'm capable of doing and that I do every day in practice. That's where I started from today. And yeah, just like I said, just coming out, playing with energy and see where that takes me, and we're fortunate enough to come out with the win.”
On the team’s performance in the second half…
“The second half, I thought we played a lot better, especially myself included, and the whole team as a group. We came in, we locked in, especially on the defensive end. We have a lot of things to clean up on the offensive end, myself included. I had five turnovers. It’s still a work in progress what I'm able to do night in and night out but yeah, I felt comfortable about the second half. I felt like we were doing a lot of great things together, collectively. On the defensive end, we came in and locked in, and we ended up winning the game. That's all that matters.”
Wagner Head Coach Donald Copeland
On how his team kept it close in the first half against St. John’s…
“I think we did a good job of just defending, scrapping it up. I think they shot 50 percent, but we were aggressive, which I wanted to be. The fouls were a part of that, but that comes with aggressiveness. We made the game kind of ugly and stagnant, which I thought we needed to do. Offensively, I thought we executed and took care of the ball as best we could. I thought we had some late turnovers that kind of disoriented us a little bit. I thought in those moments when we hit a tough drought offensively, which has happened, [St. John’s] picked up the tempo in transition and the crowd got into it.