St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: RV/RV St. John’s at Providence
St. John’s Men’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Pitino, Deivon Smith and Zuby Ejiofor spoke with the media following the team’s 72-70 win over Providence on Friday at Amica Mutual Pavilion
Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening statement…
“If you go 11-for-26 from the line, you are supposed to lose the game. We could have won it comfortably if we made them, but we didn’t. We wanted the tough win.”
On Zuby Ejiofor and Aaron Scott…
“Zuby [Ejiofor’s] a monster, always has been. Aaron [Scott] made two big plays, the offensive rebound, diving on the floor and making the steal. Two big plays on defense. We're not built like Providence to make threes like they do. We’re built to stop people and grab rebounds.”
On his team’s turnaround tonight…
“I told the guys in one timeout, ‘This is nothing. I've been down 30 points with 15:30 to go on the road. It's nothing. You're going to come back and win this game. Just be patient, take your time, one possession at a time.”
On what he said at halftime…
“We feel that we're turning the corner in a lot of areas. But all I talked about at halftime was you guys got to know how to handle adversity in life. You got to stop getting down about a missed free throw. Stop getting down about a missed shot. This is the road and the road is tough to win on. So, give them credit, they played a great half and won the game.”
On Billy Donovan being named a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee…
“Billy [Donovan] is like a son to me. He deserves to be up in that rafter. There are only two Final Fours in the history of [Providence]. Billy carried our basketball team. Without Billy the Kid, those dreams can't come true, so he deserves it. There are only eight coaches in the history of the game that have won back-to-back championships, and as a player, he played in the Final Four. Naismith [Memorial Basketball] Hall of Fame is calling and I couldn't be any happier.”
On his team’s improvements…
“I think they're mentally maturing. I think three weeks ago, with missing all those free throws, all those shots, we lose by 12 to 16 points. But they're maturing mentally and getting tougher because, tonight, we didn't have it offensively. We weren't doing many good things and they still found a way to win on the road in a tough environment.”
St. John’s guard Deivon Smith:
On Zuby Ejiofor’s game-winner…
“I missed, so it took so much pressure off of me, and I didn’t want it going into overtime. Zuby played good. He played hard all night.”
On what Coach Pitino said during timeouts…
“What we're down by on the board, just chip it away. Stops, defense, just play together. Basically, take away the three. [Providence] hit one three in the second half. That was the big difference.”
On how he helped the team comeback…
“I think I’m pretty good at reading the game, just picking my spots and getting everybody involved. I knew I needed to be more aggressive because our energy was down. Just being that energy boost, once I see something going, a couple of guys started hitting their shots. Zuby played harder, RJ played harder.”
St. John’s forward Zuby Ejiofor
On the emotion tonight…
“Obviously, it was good to be on the good side of a buzzer beater and just win on the road. Showing your toughness, fighting through adversity, coming back in the second half and taking care of business. Everybody can go home and enjoy Christmas.”
On having multiple players scoring in double figures…
“My philosophy and Coach [Pitino] says every shot is essentially my rebound. I have pride in going and getting my team a second chance. That's exactly what I did, find a way to get an offensive rebound and put it in the rim.”
On the team’s second-half success…
“I think it's our will to just keep going and we take a lot of pride in just playing for each other and having fun. That's something we didn't do in the first half, necessarily, including myself. I didn't come out exactly the way I usually do. We all knew what was on the line. This was going to be a tough game for us and we knew that if we could win this game, that we would be in a really good spot. We just dug deeper and deeper every single possession, and we came out with the win.”
On what this win showed about the team…
“It really shows that we can fight through adversity when things are down. We pick each other up, we lift each other and we play off each other. This is a tough environment to win in and that's exactly what we did. Now we just look forward to the next game. Right now, we're just mainly focused on going home and spending a little bit of time with family.”
Opening statement…
“If you go 11-for-26 from the line, you are supposed to lose the game. We could have won it comfortably if we made them, but we didn’t. We wanted the tough win.”
On Zuby Ejiofor and Aaron Scott…
“Zuby [Ejiofor’s] a monster, always has been. Aaron [Scott] made two big plays, the offensive rebound, diving on the floor and making the steal. Two big plays on defense. We're not built like Providence to make threes like they do. We’re built to stop people and grab rebounds.”
On his team’s turnaround tonight…
“I told the guys in one timeout, ‘This is nothing. I've been down 30 points with 15:30 to go on the road. It's nothing. You're going to come back and win this game. Just be patient, take your time, one possession at a time.”
On what he said at halftime…
“We feel that we're turning the corner in a lot of areas. But all I talked about at halftime was you guys got to know how to handle adversity in life. You got to stop getting down about a missed free throw. Stop getting down about a missed shot. This is the road and the road is tough to win on. So, give them credit, they played a great half and won the game.”
On Billy Donovan being named a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee…
“Billy [Donovan] is like a son to me. He deserves to be up in that rafter. There are only two Final Fours in the history of [Providence]. Billy carried our basketball team. Without Billy the Kid, those dreams can't come true, so he deserves it. There are only eight coaches in the history of the game that have won back-to-back championships, and as a player, he played in the Final Four. Naismith [Memorial Basketball] Hall of Fame is calling and I couldn't be any happier.”
On his team’s improvements…
“I think they're mentally maturing. I think three weeks ago, with missing all those free throws, all those shots, we lose by 12 to 16 points. But they're maturing mentally and getting tougher because, tonight, we didn't have it offensively. We weren't doing many good things and they still found a way to win on the road in a tough environment.”
St. John’s guard Deivon Smith:
On Zuby Ejiofor’s game-winner…
“I missed, so it took so much pressure off of me, and I didn’t want it going into overtime. Zuby played good. He played hard all night.”
On what Coach Pitino said during timeouts…
“What we're down by on the board, just chip it away. Stops, defense, just play together. Basically, take away the three. [Providence] hit one three in the second half. That was the big difference.”
On how he helped the team comeback…
“I think I’m pretty good at reading the game, just picking my spots and getting everybody involved. I knew I needed to be more aggressive because our energy was down. Just being that energy boost, once I see something going, a couple of guys started hitting their shots. Zuby played harder, RJ played harder.”
St. John’s forward Zuby Ejiofor
On the emotion tonight…
“Obviously, it was good to be on the good side of a buzzer beater and just win on the road. Showing your toughness, fighting through adversity, coming back in the second half and taking care of business. Everybody can go home and enjoy Christmas.”
On having multiple players scoring in double figures…
“My philosophy and Coach [Pitino] says every shot is essentially my rebound. I have pride in going and getting my team a second chance. That's exactly what I did, find a way to get an offensive rebound and put it in the rim.”
On the team’s second-half success…
“I think it's our will to just keep going and we take a lot of pride in just playing for each other and having fun. That's something we didn't do in the first half, necessarily, including myself. I didn't come out exactly the way I usually do. We all knew what was on the line. This was going to be a tough game for us and we knew that if we could win this game, that we would be in a really good spot. We just dug deeper and deeper every single possession, and we came out with the win.”
On what this win showed about the team…
“It really shows that we can fight through adversity when things are down. We pick each other up, we lift each other and we play off each other. This is a tough environment to win in and that's exactly what we did. Now we just look forward to the next game. Right now, we're just mainly focused on going home and spending a little bit of time with family.”