St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s Men’s Basketball vs. Bryant
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino and Zuby Ejiofor spoke with the media after St. John’s 99-77 win over Bryant
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening Statement …
“We worked very hard on preparing for this team because they have a lot of offensive talent and are very difficult to play because they play five out. Everybody's going five out. We struggle with that. We struggle because we foul too much one-on-one. Our team defense is good. Our one-on-one defense, we got to really work hard on that because we're fouling too much.”
On the team’s strong second-half play…
“When you play a really good team, they're going to make comebacks, and we're going to make comebacks. As I look at the BIG EAST, it's all evenly matched teams. Marquette is playing the best right now because it's December. We don't know who's going to play the best in February. Basketball is a game of runs. It's not a game of first half, second half. We played excellent on offense tonight, and we struggled a little bit guarding the basketball defensively, but that's more [Bryant’s] ability. I just think basketball is a game of runs…and as long as you have the run to win the game, like we did, that's the good thing.”
On Deivon Smith and his second-half putback dunk…
“I think Deivon is pushing the pace, gets everybody to play fast. To be honest with you, I've seen a lot of great plays in my time, what he did on that follow-up is not to be believed. I don't know any player I've ever coached that could get up that high. I was speechless when I saw that. He can do some amazing things, but he gave us a big lift because he picked up the pace, got everybody going with easy shots and he only played 16 minutes.”
On Zuby Ejiofor’s work ethic…
“Everybody doesn't have it. Working hard is a skill, and I've coached for 50 years, every player can't work like Zuby. … Nobody on the team works like Zuby because he's relentless in everything he does and he doesn't get many breaks.”
On if the team is ready for BIG EAST play…
“I think we're more than ready. I think we're playing really good offensive basketball. We're sharing the ball, a lot of assists, moving the ball.”
St. John’s forward Zuby Ejiofor
On what he thinks the team does better in the second half of games…
“I can't really tell you that, but we always preach that we're going to come in every single game and play two halves. For some reason, we haven't been doing that and the second half has been totally different from the first. That's something that we really got to work on. We're going to be watching film and figure out what we need to work on. The little details, the little things that are going to get us a big lead in the first half.”
On how ready he feels for BIG EAST Conference play…
“We're just taking that one game at a time. Like I said, there's a lot of things that we did wrong, but there's also a lot of things that we did right in the game. We're going to be watching film and we're going to figure out what we need to fix to get ready for conference play.”
On if there is a specific message at halftime of games…
“No, not exactly. We say the same thing and obviously our coaching staff does a really good job of trying to pump us up. They do that in the first half as well, but like I said, we need to figure some things out. They instill energy and we're always talking energy, playing for each other and locking in defensively. I think we did a pretty good job with that.”
On Deivon Smith’s putback dunk…
“I mean, I lost my mind. I'm pretty sure it wasn't just me that was going crazy. The whole crowd was into it. Our whole bench was into it as well. It was just a fantastic play. I give him the best bounce of the team, as of right now.”
On what he pinpoints to helping him find his groove…
“I just been playing with a lot more passion and a lot more energy. As you said, to start the season, I didn't come out exactly the way I wanted to. I don't know exactly what it is, but there's was a kind of switch, obviously, and I've been playing better down stretch of these past few games. I look to keep it going but there's nothing special to it. I just come out and try to outwork every single person that's in front of me, play with tons of energy and just show what I'm able to capable of doing.”
Opening Statement …
“We worked very hard on preparing for this team because they have a lot of offensive talent and are very difficult to play because they play five out. Everybody's going five out. We struggle with that. We struggle because we foul too much one-on-one. Our team defense is good. Our one-on-one defense, we got to really work hard on that because we're fouling too much.”
On the team’s strong second-half play…
“When you play a really good team, they're going to make comebacks, and we're going to make comebacks. As I look at the BIG EAST, it's all evenly matched teams. Marquette is playing the best right now because it's December. We don't know who's going to play the best in February. Basketball is a game of runs. It's not a game of first half, second half. We played excellent on offense tonight, and we struggled a little bit guarding the basketball defensively, but that's more [Bryant’s] ability. I just think basketball is a game of runs…and as long as you have the run to win the game, like we did, that's the good thing.”
On Deivon Smith and his second-half putback dunk…
“I think Deivon is pushing the pace, gets everybody to play fast. To be honest with you, I've seen a lot of great plays in my time, what he did on that follow-up is not to be believed. I don't know any player I've ever coached that could get up that high. I was speechless when I saw that. He can do some amazing things, but he gave us a big lift because he picked up the pace, got everybody going with easy shots and he only played 16 minutes.”
On Zuby Ejiofor’s work ethic…
“Everybody doesn't have it. Working hard is a skill, and I've coached for 50 years, every player can't work like Zuby. … Nobody on the team works like Zuby because he's relentless in everything he does and he doesn't get many breaks.”
On if the team is ready for BIG EAST play…
“I think we're more than ready. I think we're playing really good offensive basketball. We're sharing the ball, a lot of assists, moving the ball.”
St. John’s forward Zuby Ejiofor
On what he thinks the team does better in the second half of games…
“I can't really tell you that, but we always preach that we're going to come in every single game and play two halves. For some reason, we haven't been doing that and the second half has been totally different from the first. That's something that we really got to work on. We're going to be watching film and figure out what we need to work on. The little details, the little things that are going to get us a big lead in the first half.”
On how ready he feels for BIG EAST Conference play…
“We're just taking that one game at a time. Like I said, there's a lot of things that we did wrong, but there's also a lot of things that we did right in the game. We're going to be watching film and we're going to figure out what we need to fix to get ready for conference play.”
On if there is a specific message at halftime of games…
“No, not exactly. We say the same thing and obviously our coaching staff does a really good job of trying to pump us up. They do that in the first half as well, but like I said, we need to figure some things out. They instill energy and we're always talking energy, playing for each other and locking in defensively. I think we did a pretty good job with that.”
On Deivon Smith’s putback dunk…
“I mean, I lost my mind. I'm pretty sure it wasn't just me that was going crazy. The whole crowd was into it. Our whole bench was into it as well. It was just a fantastic play. I give him the best bounce of the team, as of right now.”
On what he pinpoints to helping him find his groove…
“I just been playing with a lot more passion and a lot more energy. As you said, to start the season, I didn't come out exactly the way I wanted to. I don't know exactly what it is, but there's was a kind of switch, obviously, and I've been playing better down stretch of these past few games. I look to keep it going but there's nothing special to it. I just come out and try to outwork every single person that's in front of me, play with tons of energy and just show what I'm able to capable of doing.”