St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: RV/RV St. John’s vs DePaul
St. John’s Men’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Pitino, Simeon Wilcher, Deivon Smith and DePaul Head Coach Chris Holtmann spoke with the media following the team’s 89-61 win over DePaul on Tuesday at Carnesecca Arena
Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening statement…
“I was shocked tonight. Shocked is the only word we used as a staff. We were sick over this game. We were preparing as if it was the last game of the season and we had to win it because of the way they shoot the ball. Our defense tonight was absolutely brilliant. ... Their [three-point] attempts were way down. That's when you know you're playing great defense, when the attempts are way down. We watch film and [DePaul] is really a good basketball team, as you're going to see in BIG EAST play. They can really play. But we were brilliant tonight on defense. It was by far our best game of the season at all phases of the game, rebounding, 41 to 29, we were 15 for 20 in transition, which you have to play great defense to get that. Real proud of our guys, totally locked in, we have great respect for DePaul, and they showed it tonight with that type of defense.”
On tonight's performance…
“When we're locked in like that defensively, it shows great respect for your opponent. They watched so much film, hours upon hours of film with DePaul. They have three guys that shoot 47% from three. You don't see that college basketball and we only made three threes in the game and won by that margin. So, you're playing great defense, 15 for 20 on the break. We didn't turn it over. They had 20 [tunovers]. We had nine. We had 14 steals. Deivon [Smith] was great. [Simeon Wilcher] was great. All the guys were terrific. So, I'm really proud of them.”
On Deivon Smith’s contributions…
“Deivon, the interesting thing about him, he's not only very fast, but a very smart young man. He ignites you because he rebounds the ball well. He's unselfish. I decided to go with him because we weren't getting out of the blocks with our break and he makes the break go. It also takes a lot of heat off of Kadary [Richmond], he plays better.”
On Kadary Richmond…
“I think Kadary is just getting used to a new style of play. He played for a very well-drilled, well-coached basketball team at Seton Hall. Now he goes to a polar opposite style of play, a very fast, up-and-down team, and he just has to get adjusted to that. And he's adjusting. He's getting better and better in practice, but I was impressed with all of them. Their focus was absolutely great.”
On DePaul…
“To be perfectly honest, we thought this game was going to be won within five points, because we watched them on film play Wichita State and score 17 of 33 threes and beat them by 19. Wichita State is a good team. And then they played Texas Tech at Texas Tech and played very well. So our team had total respect for them today, and they were totally locked in. We were really good.”
On if his team has taken a massive step…
“I think we played great tonight. I think we have the potential to be an outstanding team. I haven't seen it, except the Virginia game, and tonight. I've seen them put together two halves totally focused on every little thing. We did a lot of good things on offense. When they knew they could get Zuby [Ejiofor] the ball, they got Zuby the ball. The break was great. The defense was great. Yes, we played great tonight. So you have to give them credit.”
St. John’s guard Simeon Wilcher
On if there was motivation for tonight’s game after hearing Coach Pitino talk about DePaul’s three-point shooting…
“I wouldn't say that it motivated us more than just us being basketball players and wanting to get a win regardless, but in their last game, they shot like 50-something percent from the three. We know that taking the three away gave us a higher probability of winning this game. So, that's just something that we focused on a lot throughout the week.”
On if he thinks the team we saw tonight will be the same team throughout BIG EAST play…
“One thousand percent. We are just going to keep getting better as the games go on.”
On how Deivon Smith’s plays brought energy to the team…
“It turned everybody up because we see what he could do every day, and just to have the environment that we're in, especially being at home, and then him just hopping into his bag like he usually does. It just it turns everybody up and gives everybody a little boost of confidence.”
On Kadary Richmond’s second half performance…
“It was Kadary just being Karady. It's not like, ‘Oh, whoa. What is that? Oh, who is this?’ We know who he is and we know what he does day in and day out. Maybe in the beginning, he was trying to figure it out, but I feel like he's figured everything out that he needs to and he just went out there and was himself tonight.”
St. John’s guard Deivon Smith
On the team’s defensive performance tonight…
“I think we made a huge jump. That's been a strong, strong plea from Coach [Pitino] - stopping the three ball, just engaging with the ball. We probably had a few lapses today, but we did a good job on a good shooting team. We limited them to a certain amount and didn't let their best players get going. So, I think it was a good collective win.”
On having multiple players scoring in double figures…
“Honestly, I think five or six guys could be in double digits. We had a few missed shots, but just playing fast, changing the pace, sharing the ball with our teammates, just staying on the move. I mean, a couple of guys getting 10 shots, eight shots, so just not letting the ball stick allows everybody to have a chance to have a good game.”
On what stood out most about tonight’s game…
“I would say putting two halves together. I said that in the pregame, our biggest goal is putting two halves together, not starting out slow, finishing those last four minutes of the first half, and then coming out strong [in the second half]. I definitely think we did that today. We started out pretty strong in both halves. The most impressive thing is just watching the guys have fun. Everybody shared the ball and had multiple guys and double figures. We practiced really, really hard. We played five-on-five full court today, so just allowing our work to show and be transparent on the court. I think that's a good feeling.”
On what it was like to pull away so quickly in the second half…
“I mean, honestly, it's fun. I think once we put all the stuff we can't control to the side and just lock in and play for each other, we play our best basketball. I think today was our best game collectively like Coach Pitino said. But I just think once we lock in, lock in with each other, play for each other, we are unstoppable, honestly.”
DePaul Head Coach Chris Holtmann
On St. John’s tonight…
“They are obviously big and long. First of all, give them credit, I thought they were terrific tonight. I thought [Coach Pitino] had them ready. I think they had a few days of prep and you can tell because their defense and the way they were switching bothered us. Their physicality bothered us.”
On the sweater he wore tonight…
“[The sweater] was for Lou [Carnesecca]. When you’re my age, I’m in my early 50s, there’s a group of coaches that you grew up watching and had great respect for following the teams and following the leagues. I grew up in Kentucky and I grew up watching [Coach Carnesecca] wearing sweaters. I remember the iconic moment when he wore the sweater and [Former Georgetown Head Coach] John Thompson came out with a jacket and opened the sweater. He had a profound impact on the game and this university. So, we just wanted to pay our respects. One of my staffers found it at a thrift store and ordered it online. When we first looked it up, we found out it was the same brand as the one he had worn.”
Opening statement…
“I was shocked tonight. Shocked is the only word we used as a staff. We were sick over this game. We were preparing as if it was the last game of the season and we had to win it because of the way they shoot the ball. Our defense tonight was absolutely brilliant. ... Their [three-point] attempts were way down. That's when you know you're playing great defense, when the attempts are way down. We watch film and [DePaul] is really a good basketball team, as you're going to see in BIG EAST play. They can really play. But we were brilliant tonight on defense. It was by far our best game of the season at all phases of the game, rebounding, 41 to 29, we were 15 for 20 in transition, which you have to play great defense to get that. Real proud of our guys, totally locked in, we have great respect for DePaul, and they showed it tonight with that type of defense.”
On tonight's performance…
“When we're locked in like that defensively, it shows great respect for your opponent. They watched so much film, hours upon hours of film with DePaul. They have three guys that shoot 47% from three. You don't see that college basketball and we only made three threes in the game and won by that margin. So, you're playing great defense, 15 for 20 on the break. We didn't turn it over. They had 20 [tunovers]. We had nine. We had 14 steals. Deivon [Smith] was great. [Simeon Wilcher] was great. All the guys were terrific. So, I'm really proud of them.”
On Deivon Smith’s contributions…
“Deivon, the interesting thing about him, he's not only very fast, but a very smart young man. He ignites you because he rebounds the ball well. He's unselfish. I decided to go with him because we weren't getting out of the blocks with our break and he makes the break go. It also takes a lot of heat off of Kadary [Richmond], he plays better.”
On Kadary Richmond…
“I think Kadary is just getting used to a new style of play. He played for a very well-drilled, well-coached basketball team at Seton Hall. Now he goes to a polar opposite style of play, a very fast, up-and-down team, and he just has to get adjusted to that. And he's adjusting. He's getting better and better in practice, but I was impressed with all of them. Their focus was absolutely great.”
On DePaul…
“To be perfectly honest, we thought this game was going to be won within five points, because we watched them on film play Wichita State and score 17 of 33 threes and beat them by 19. Wichita State is a good team. And then they played Texas Tech at Texas Tech and played very well. So our team had total respect for them today, and they were totally locked in. We were really good.”
On if his team has taken a massive step…
“I think we played great tonight. I think we have the potential to be an outstanding team. I haven't seen it, except the Virginia game, and tonight. I've seen them put together two halves totally focused on every little thing. We did a lot of good things on offense. When they knew they could get Zuby [Ejiofor] the ball, they got Zuby the ball. The break was great. The defense was great. Yes, we played great tonight. So you have to give them credit.”
St. John’s guard Simeon Wilcher
On if there was motivation for tonight’s game after hearing Coach Pitino talk about DePaul’s three-point shooting…
“I wouldn't say that it motivated us more than just us being basketball players and wanting to get a win regardless, but in their last game, they shot like 50-something percent from the three. We know that taking the three away gave us a higher probability of winning this game. So, that's just something that we focused on a lot throughout the week.”
On if he thinks the team we saw tonight will be the same team throughout BIG EAST play…
“One thousand percent. We are just going to keep getting better as the games go on.”
On how Deivon Smith’s plays brought energy to the team…
“It turned everybody up because we see what he could do every day, and just to have the environment that we're in, especially being at home, and then him just hopping into his bag like he usually does. It just it turns everybody up and gives everybody a little boost of confidence.”
On Kadary Richmond’s second half performance…
“It was Kadary just being Karady. It's not like, ‘Oh, whoa. What is that? Oh, who is this?’ We know who he is and we know what he does day in and day out. Maybe in the beginning, he was trying to figure it out, but I feel like he's figured everything out that he needs to and he just went out there and was himself tonight.”
St. John’s guard Deivon Smith
On the team’s defensive performance tonight…
“I think we made a huge jump. That's been a strong, strong plea from Coach [Pitino] - stopping the three ball, just engaging with the ball. We probably had a few lapses today, but we did a good job on a good shooting team. We limited them to a certain amount and didn't let their best players get going. So, I think it was a good collective win.”
On having multiple players scoring in double figures…
“Honestly, I think five or six guys could be in double digits. We had a few missed shots, but just playing fast, changing the pace, sharing the ball with our teammates, just staying on the move. I mean, a couple of guys getting 10 shots, eight shots, so just not letting the ball stick allows everybody to have a chance to have a good game.”
On what stood out most about tonight’s game…
“I would say putting two halves together. I said that in the pregame, our biggest goal is putting two halves together, not starting out slow, finishing those last four minutes of the first half, and then coming out strong [in the second half]. I definitely think we did that today. We started out pretty strong in both halves. The most impressive thing is just watching the guys have fun. Everybody shared the ball and had multiple guys and double figures. We practiced really, really hard. We played five-on-five full court today, so just allowing our work to show and be transparent on the court. I think that's a good feeling.”
On what it was like to pull away so quickly in the second half…
“I mean, honestly, it's fun. I think once we put all the stuff we can't control to the side and just lock in and play for each other, we play our best basketball. I think today was our best game collectively like Coach Pitino said. But I just think once we lock in, lock in with each other, play for each other, we are unstoppable, honestly.”
DePaul Head Coach Chris Holtmann
On St. John’s tonight…
“They are obviously big and long. First of all, give them credit, I thought they were terrific tonight. I thought [Coach Pitino] had them ready. I think they had a few days of prep and you can tell because their defense and the way they were switching bothered us. Their physicality bothered us.”
On the sweater he wore tonight…
“[The sweater] was for Lou [Carnesecca]. When you’re my age, I’m in my early 50s, there’s a group of coaches that you grew up watching and had great respect for following the teams and following the leagues. I grew up in Kentucky and I grew up watching [Coach Carnesecca] wearing sweaters. I remember the iconic moment when he wore the sweater and [Former Georgetown Head Coach] John Thompson came out with a jacket and opened the sweater. He had a profound impact on the game and this university. So, we just wanted to pay our respects. One of my staffers found it at a thrift store and ordered it online. When we first looked it up, we found out it was the same brand as the one he had worn.”