St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: RV/24 St. John’s vs Delaware
St. John’s Men’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Pitino, Deivon Smith and Zuby Ejiofor spoke with the media following the team’s 97-76 win over Delaware on Saturday at Carnesecca Arena
Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening statement…
“Well, obviously anytime you win you should be pleased, but to be honest with you, I'm anything but pleased. I think sometimes when you're getting ready for your next opponent, being Creighton, you don't get as focused because this next game is coming up. We did a lot of good things on offense, but we really didn't do the things defensively in the second half. As you can see, they shot 58 percent. Let's give credit to number two, [John] Camden. We knew he was a great 3-point shooter, but he does more than 3-point shooting. He's just an outstanding basketball player. He does it all. He plays the five a little bit for them, but he's really a four-man. Terrific basketball player. We wanted to take away his three and he was 9-for-11. Give him credit, 35 points, four assists and three steals. Wonderful performance.”
On reflecting on the non-conference schedule…
“I think we did our job. I don't think we're near our potential, which is a good thing, not a bad thing. But I think we have to get better defensively. It's just guys understanding personnel. If I had to point out our biggest weakness, obviously free-throw shooting is glaring, but I think our biggest weakness is absorbing the scouting report. Guys from winning programs that come back know how important college scouting is. It's much more important than in the NBA. Every single thing, from out-of-bounds plays to press offenses, is important and we're struggling with that a little bit. The other area we are doing a good job in is passing the ball. I think Deivon has picked up his game to Zuby’s level, which is great. He's really playing hard and if we can get the rest of the pack to join in at those levels, from an intensity standpoint, it'd be great.”
On Deivon Smith and Vince Iwuchukwu…
“I mean, anytime a point guard gets 13 rebounds, pushes the pace and forces everybody to run, that's really a strong suit. I thought that our center is really improving and Vince, now he gave up some threes, but he's not used to guarding a three-point shooter at the five spot like that. But, in the low post, he's really improving his game. We're going to need him for Creighton, certainly.”
On playing on the road…
“We played really well on the road last year. We lost at the buzzer on a tough call last year at Creighton. We lost a tough call at UConn. We were a pretty good road team. If this team can get to where last year's team was at the end of the year, with this type of talent, we will be a tough team come March.”
On Jaiden Glover…
“[Jaiden] has no fear, and that's what I love about him. He has no fear as a freshman. He goes in there and he wants a dunk on somebody, wants to score on somebody, but he's got to learn to do the other things. He's got to rebound the basketball, he's got to get a couple of steals. He's got to do other things, which he will learn. But I have a lot of confidence in playing him in BIG EAST play, and he will play.”
St. John’s guard Deivon Smith
On tonight’s game…
“I think we just locked in. I still think we need to play two complete halves. We have to stop the three ball. [John] Camden, he had a real good game. He was 9-for-11 from three point [line]. We play against a lot of good shooting teams, so we still got stuff to work on.”
On the team’s shooting…
“I think we're capable of making shots. RJ [Luis Jr.], [Simeon Wilcher], Aaron [Scott] and Kadary [Richmond] improved their shot. Even me, I pass up a lot of open threes but tonight I was really comfortable. My teammates found me. I think we're definitely going to improve on three-point shooting because we can't just keep beating teams off the bounce. We're going to need to hit threes and free throws. So, I think we're going to get better. We're putting a lot of work into our jump shot.”
On the team’s rebounding against Delaware…
“Before the game, Coach [Pitino] gave us a speech ‘Play like Zuby’, so I tried to get more rebounds than Zuby tonight. That’s my game, though. I like to rebound, I like to get guys going and play fast. Just me rebounding, I get to start the break a lot faster and get guys involved. So, in order to win this game, I knew we were going to have to compete with their speed and their pace because they are a fast-playing team and they shoot the three ball well. So, I just tried to do what I could to help my team win.”
On the team clicking with one another…
“It's just a lot of sacrifice. Every guy, one through five could play on a Power Five team and have 20 each and every night. Just a lot of sacrifice, sharing the ball and knowing each other's talents. We spend a lot of time in the gym together, so we really feed off each other's energy. Just play for each other and that's how we get those assists. Just sharing the ball, having fun, honestly.”
On where the team needs to improve going deeper into BIG EAST play…
“I think we need to put together two halves and stop the three ball. Just take our matchups seriously and pay attention to scout. Get it all together so we can win a championship.”
St. John’s forward Zuby Ejiofor
On playing two complete halves…
“Our philosophy is playing two halves. We wanted to come out with a lot of energy, obviously, and just play for each other. And that's exactly what we did. We were having fun, and everything was going good, and we just gotta be locked in on the second half and play a full 40-minute game.”
On facing Creighton and Ryan Kalkbrenner on New Year's Eve…
“It's going to be really exciting. It's obviously going to be a challenge, given who he is as a player and who he is as a defensive player as well. So, I think what would help me a lot is going to be doing my work early and trying to deny him post touches as much as possible and keep him away from the post.”
On where the team is following the conclusion of non-conference play…
“There's a lot of room to improve, obviously, on our communication and just talking with each other out there, but I think we're in a solid spot. We know that as the competition arises, we have to be a lot better, because the BIG EAST is a challenge, and it's an open book. As Coach says, ‘anybody has the opportunity to win and beat each other’, so it's going to be really important that we come out the first half and set an early statement at Creighton because it's a tough place to play.”
Opening statement…
“Well, obviously anytime you win you should be pleased, but to be honest with you, I'm anything but pleased. I think sometimes when you're getting ready for your next opponent, being Creighton, you don't get as focused because this next game is coming up. We did a lot of good things on offense, but we really didn't do the things defensively in the second half. As you can see, they shot 58 percent. Let's give credit to number two, [John] Camden. We knew he was a great 3-point shooter, but he does more than 3-point shooting. He's just an outstanding basketball player. He does it all. He plays the five a little bit for them, but he's really a four-man. Terrific basketball player. We wanted to take away his three and he was 9-for-11. Give him credit, 35 points, four assists and three steals. Wonderful performance.”
On reflecting on the non-conference schedule…
“I think we did our job. I don't think we're near our potential, which is a good thing, not a bad thing. But I think we have to get better defensively. It's just guys understanding personnel. If I had to point out our biggest weakness, obviously free-throw shooting is glaring, but I think our biggest weakness is absorbing the scouting report. Guys from winning programs that come back know how important college scouting is. It's much more important than in the NBA. Every single thing, from out-of-bounds plays to press offenses, is important and we're struggling with that a little bit. The other area we are doing a good job in is passing the ball. I think Deivon has picked up his game to Zuby’s level, which is great. He's really playing hard and if we can get the rest of the pack to join in at those levels, from an intensity standpoint, it'd be great.”
On Deivon Smith and Vince Iwuchukwu…
“I mean, anytime a point guard gets 13 rebounds, pushes the pace and forces everybody to run, that's really a strong suit. I thought that our center is really improving and Vince, now he gave up some threes, but he's not used to guarding a three-point shooter at the five spot like that. But, in the low post, he's really improving his game. We're going to need him for Creighton, certainly.”
On playing on the road…
“We played really well on the road last year. We lost at the buzzer on a tough call last year at Creighton. We lost a tough call at UConn. We were a pretty good road team. If this team can get to where last year's team was at the end of the year, with this type of talent, we will be a tough team come March.”
On Jaiden Glover…
“[Jaiden] has no fear, and that's what I love about him. He has no fear as a freshman. He goes in there and he wants a dunk on somebody, wants to score on somebody, but he's got to learn to do the other things. He's got to rebound the basketball, he's got to get a couple of steals. He's got to do other things, which he will learn. But I have a lot of confidence in playing him in BIG EAST play, and he will play.”
St. John’s guard Deivon Smith
On tonight’s game…
“I think we just locked in. I still think we need to play two complete halves. We have to stop the three ball. [John] Camden, he had a real good game. He was 9-for-11 from three point [line]. We play against a lot of good shooting teams, so we still got stuff to work on.”
On the team’s shooting…
“I think we're capable of making shots. RJ [Luis Jr.], [Simeon Wilcher], Aaron [Scott] and Kadary [Richmond] improved their shot. Even me, I pass up a lot of open threes but tonight I was really comfortable. My teammates found me. I think we're definitely going to improve on three-point shooting because we can't just keep beating teams off the bounce. We're going to need to hit threes and free throws. So, I think we're going to get better. We're putting a lot of work into our jump shot.”
On the team’s rebounding against Delaware…
“Before the game, Coach [Pitino] gave us a speech ‘Play like Zuby’, so I tried to get more rebounds than Zuby tonight. That’s my game, though. I like to rebound, I like to get guys going and play fast. Just me rebounding, I get to start the break a lot faster and get guys involved. So, in order to win this game, I knew we were going to have to compete with their speed and their pace because they are a fast-playing team and they shoot the three ball well. So, I just tried to do what I could to help my team win.”
On the team clicking with one another…
“It's just a lot of sacrifice. Every guy, one through five could play on a Power Five team and have 20 each and every night. Just a lot of sacrifice, sharing the ball and knowing each other's talents. We spend a lot of time in the gym together, so we really feed off each other's energy. Just play for each other and that's how we get those assists. Just sharing the ball, having fun, honestly.”
On where the team needs to improve going deeper into BIG EAST play…
“I think we need to put together two halves and stop the three ball. Just take our matchups seriously and pay attention to scout. Get it all together so we can win a championship.”
St. John’s forward Zuby Ejiofor
On playing two complete halves…
“Our philosophy is playing two halves. We wanted to come out with a lot of energy, obviously, and just play for each other. And that's exactly what we did. We were having fun, and everything was going good, and we just gotta be locked in on the second half and play a full 40-minute game.”
On facing Creighton and Ryan Kalkbrenner on New Year's Eve…
“It's going to be really exciting. It's obviously going to be a challenge, given who he is as a player and who he is as a defensive player as well. So, I think what would help me a lot is going to be doing my work early and trying to deny him post touches as much as possible and keep him away from the post.”
On where the team is following the conclusion of non-conference play…
“There's a lot of room to improve, obviously, on our communication and just talking with each other out there, but I think we're in a solid spot. We know that as the competition arises, we have to be a lot better, because the BIG EAST is a challenge, and it's an open book. As Coach says, ‘anybody has the opportunity to win and beat each other’, so it's going to be really important that we come out the first half and set an early statement at Creighton because it's a tough place to play.”