St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s Men’s Basketball vs. Seton Hall
Red Storm Head Coach Rick Pitino met with the media following the team’s 68-62 loss against Seton Hall on Sunday at UBS Arena
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening Statement…
“Well, if I said I was disappointed that would be the understatement of the year. Our lateral quickness and our toughness are just something I’ve never witnessed in all my years of coaching. We are so non-athletic that we can’t guard anybody without fouling. It’s been that way [all] year, but we came out there in the second half and we knew that they would come after us, but you have to move the ball. We just took four minutes of rushed shots. ... We’ve got five more [regular season] games and the BIG EAST Tournament to play, so we will try to improve and make the best of it.”
On the second half of the last few games…
“I think the other team makes adjustments and we need to make adjustments to move the basketball and take good shots. We just lack toughness, and we just don’t move our feet on defense. Look, they shot 37 free throws. Throw out the stats, you see it every game, the amount of free throws [other teams] take and the amount of free shows we shoot. ... All the toughness things are why we give up leads because we foul or we miss free throw shots down the stretch when the other team makes free throws. So, like I said, I knew this summer we were in trouble, but we won some games that I was pleased with. But after watching the film, there are only like three games that I was saying ‘That’s a great offensive performance, we are moving the basketball, that’s blocking out. That’s doing all the fundamental things.’ So, it’s disappointing. ... It’s a good group, they try hard but they aren’t that tough.”
On the second half today…
“Well in the second half, we took bad shots that led to our demise. In the first nine minutes [of the half], I think we scored four points because we took bad shots, we didn’t reverse the basketball, didn’t make the defense move. In the first half, we made the defense move, so it led to our demise.”
On Seton Hall…
“I think [Shaheen Holloway] put together a [team] that mimics his personality, of all tough kids. ... Every one of his kids are really tough, everyone. Kadary Richmond is one of the best passers and we did a good job in the first half on him. But look, they are a very good free throw shooting team and you put them on the line 37 times. Their staff did a very good job, we did not do a good job.”
Opening Statement…
“Well, if I said I was disappointed that would be the understatement of the year. Our lateral quickness and our toughness are just something I’ve never witnessed in all my years of coaching. We are so non-athletic that we can’t guard anybody without fouling. It’s been that way [all] year, but we came out there in the second half and we knew that they would come after us, but you have to move the ball. We just took four minutes of rushed shots. ... We’ve got five more [regular season] games and the BIG EAST Tournament to play, so we will try to improve and make the best of it.”
On the second half of the last few games…
“I think the other team makes adjustments and we need to make adjustments to move the basketball and take good shots. We just lack toughness, and we just don’t move our feet on defense. Look, they shot 37 free throws. Throw out the stats, you see it every game, the amount of free throws [other teams] take and the amount of free shows we shoot. ... All the toughness things are why we give up leads because we foul or we miss free throw shots down the stretch when the other team makes free throws. So, like I said, I knew this summer we were in trouble, but we won some games that I was pleased with. But after watching the film, there are only like three games that I was saying ‘That’s a great offensive performance, we are moving the basketball, that’s blocking out. That’s doing all the fundamental things.’ So, it’s disappointing. ... It’s a good group, they try hard but they aren’t that tough.”
On the second half today…
“Well in the second half, we took bad shots that led to our demise. In the first nine minutes [of the half], I think we scored four points because we took bad shots, we didn’t reverse the basketball, didn’t make the defense move. In the first half, we made the defense move, so it led to our demise.”
On Seton Hall…
“I think [Shaheen Holloway] put together a [team] that mimics his personality, of all tough kids. ... Every one of his kids are really tough, everyone. Kadary Richmond is one of the best passers and we did a good job in the first half on him. But look, they are a very good free throw shooting team and you put them on the line 37 times. Their staff did a very good job, we did not do a good job.”