St. John's University Athletics
PREGAME QUOTES: St. John’s vs Quinnipiac
St. John’s Men’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Pitino, guard Deivon Smith and center Vince Iwuchukwu spoke with the media ahead of the team’s matchup against Quinnipiac on Saturday at Carnesecca Arena
Head Coach Rick Pitino
On Deivon Smith…
“… He brings so many positive things to the table. You want to see players get better and reach their potential. I always tell these guys, the older guys especially, if you think you've stopped reaching your potential, then you are a European Division I basketball player. That's all you are. If you're coming here to get a lot better, then obviously your limits are not there.”
On Aaron Scott’s performance against Fordham and his message to the team…
“Aaron was good. See, you guys are looking for greatness in November. Even my 1996 team [at Kentucky], which is one of the greatest teams of all time in college basketball, wasn't great in November. They were great in December and January, February, March, but they weren't great in November. I tell these guys the same story all the time about this guy on 65th Street and Lexington at a coffee shop, I met a guy who said, ‘Coach Pitino, big fan and good luck this season.’ I said, ‘Nice, great. What do you do for a living?’ Struck up a conversation because the booths are very small. He said, ‘Well, I'm an actor. I can really sing and dance. I'm trying to get on Broadway, but it's been very difficult, so I'm bartending, waiting, doing whatever I can do to survive.’ I said, ‘Yeah, it's a tough business you're in.’ He says, ‘Well, yours is not easy.’ I said, ‘Yeah, yours is a lot tougher.’ I said, ‘What's it going to take to get you on Broadway?’ And he said, ‘All I need is an opportunity coach, just because I can really sing and dance, I wish you could see me.’ And I said, ‘Well, best of luck to you. I hope you make it. Hope you get to Broadway.’ And I tell my team right now, to get to Broadway, you’ve got to get to March Madness. Once you get to March Madness, the whole world can see whether you can play or not, whether you can sing or dance. This was my speech before the game the other night. I said, ‘People are going find out whether you can sing or dance, but if you don't get to March, people aren't going to see whether you could sing or dance.’ So right now, we're off-Broadway, and whether we get on Broadway someday remains to be seen.”
St John’s guard Deivon Smith:
On playing with three guards in St. John’s backcourt…
“I missed some time just due to a few injuries before the start of the season, so that kind of set me back, but it's kind of easy to play. I played with three guards in AAU and high school. ... We all get to run and play off each other. I feel like all three of us are unguardable. I feel like we all take advantage of our matchups and create for each other and be productive for this team.”
On adjusting to a new team…
“It's a little early, still working out the kinks. It’s a new offense, new team. I’m still trying to fill my guys out, getting used to playing at the pace [Coach] Pitino wants to play at as well, but it's early. I think just the end of that Rutgers game and just those second halves show what we're capable of doing once we all put it together. It's just a matter of time before it all shows for everyone.”
On the depth of this team…
“Like [Coach] Pitino said, we have a lot of guys that could [start]. Vince could start one game for Zuby, somebody could replace me. I feel like we have eight or nine guys ready to play big games and we do have some big games coming up. I've come off the bench a lot [throughout my career], so it's not really a difference for me. I just want to close the games out.”
On being able to have success early in the season…
“We play a lot in practice. Practice is basically a game. So just being able to be on teams in practice, just building that chemistry and playing super hard, it translates easily to the game and makes it easier. I think we should be ready for the big games we’ve got down the road.”
On playing with Simeon Wilcher and Kadary Richmond…
“We are super fast. We're good friends off the court and on the court, so that makes it easier to handle business there. It makes it fun just to see our progress and see our hard work being shown. They're just good guys. … We're playing for a good coach on a super, super stage. I could speak for all of us when we say we're blessed to be in the position just to play with each other and other great players.”
St. John’s center Vince Iwuchukwu
On how he played against Fordham…
“I just did what I could to help the team win. I don't really look at too much of how I played, just more about, you know, how the team played, and just what we can get better at.”
On the team gelling on the court early on…
“It's not surprising because we play every day in practice against each other, so we know
what each person does well, what each person needs to work on. It's kind of been clockwork from there on out. I mean, I think ‘practice how you play,’ it's kind of how it's been for us.”
On Deivon Smith…
“… He brings so many positive things to the table. You want to see players get better and reach their potential. I always tell these guys, the older guys especially, if you think you've stopped reaching your potential, then you are a European Division I basketball player. That's all you are. If you're coming here to get a lot better, then obviously your limits are not there.”
On Aaron Scott’s performance against Fordham and his message to the team…
“Aaron was good. See, you guys are looking for greatness in November. Even my 1996 team [at Kentucky], which is one of the greatest teams of all time in college basketball, wasn't great in November. They were great in December and January, February, March, but they weren't great in November. I tell these guys the same story all the time about this guy on 65th Street and Lexington at a coffee shop, I met a guy who said, ‘Coach Pitino, big fan and good luck this season.’ I said, ‘Nice, great. What do you do for a living?’ Struck up a conversation because the booths are very small. He said, ‘Well, I'm an actor. I can really sing and dance. I'm trying to get on Broadway, but it's been very difficult, so I'm bartending, waiting, doing whatever I can do to survive.’ I said, ‘Yeah, it's a tough business you're in.’ He says, ‘Well, yours is not easy.’ I said, ‘Yeah, yours is a lot tougher.’ I said, ‘What's it going to take to get you on Broadway?’ And he said, ‘All I need is an opportunity coach, just because I can really sing and dance, I wish you could see me.’ And I said, ‘Well, best of luck to you. I hope you make it. Hope you get to Broadway.’ And I tell my team right now, to get to Broadway, you’ve got to get to March Madness. Once you get to March Madness, the whole world can see whether you can play or not, whether you can sing or dance. This was my speech before the game the other night. I said, ‘People are going find out whether you can sing or dance, but if you don't get to March, people aren't going to see whether you could sing or dance.’ So right now, we're off-Broadway, and whether we get on Broadway someday remains to be seen.”
St John’s guard Deivon Smith:
On playing with three guards in St. John’s backcourt…
“I missed some time just due to a few injuries before the start of the season, so that kind of set me back, but it's kind of easy to play. I played with three guards in AAU and high school. ... We all get to run and play off each other. I feel like all three of us are unguardable. I feel like we all take advantage of our matchups and create for each other and be productive for this team.”
On adjusting to a new team…
“It's a little early, still working out the kinks. It’s a new offense, new team. I’m still trying to fill my guys out, getting used to playing at the pace [Coach] Pitino wants to play at as well, but it's early. I think just the end of that Rutgers game and just those second halves show what we're capable of doing once we all put it together. It's just a matter of time before it all shows for everyone.”
On the depth of this team…
“Like [Coach] Pitino said, we have a lot of guys that could [start]. Vince could start one game for Zuby, somebody could replace me. I feel like we have eight or nine guys ready to play big games and we do have some big games coming up. I've come off the bench a lot [throughout my career], so it's not really a difference for me. I just want to close the games out.”
On being able to have success early in the season…
“We play a lot in practice. Practice is basically a game. So just being able to be on teams in practice, just building that chemistry and playing super hard, it translates easily to the game and makes it easier. I think we should be ready for the big games we’ve got down the road.”
On playing with Simeon Wilcher and Kadary Richmond…
“We are super fast. We're good friends off the court and on the court, so that makes it easier to handle business there. It makes it fun just to see our progress and see our hard work being shown. They're just good guys. … We're playing for a good coach on a super, super stage. I could speak for all of us when we say we're blessed to be in the position just to play with each other and other great players.”
St. John’s center Vince Iwuchukwu
On how he played against Fordham…
“I just did what I could to help the team win. I don't really look at too much of how I played, just more about, you know, how the team played, and just what we can get better at.”
On the team gelling on the court early on…
“It's not surprising because we play every day in practice against each other, so we know
what each person does well, what each person needs to work on. It's kind of been clockwork from there on out. I mean, I think ‘practice how you play,’ it's kind of how it's been for us.”