St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s Men’s Basketball vs No. 15/15 Creighton
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino, Glenn Taylor Jr., Daniss Jenkins and Jordan Dingle met with the media following the Red Storm’s 80-66 win over No. 15/15 Creighton on Sunday at Madison Square Garden
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening Statement…
“I really don’t know what to boast on because I’m not sure if the offense was better than the defense or the defense was better than the offense. When you have 24 assists and only three turnovers, that’s a special offensive night. When you hold them to 39 [percent from the floor] and 23 [percent from three], especially in the first half, the defense was great. So many times the shot clock was ready to go off and that’s when you know you are playing great defense. I’m really proud of the guys. It was a great performance. We had two really good days of practice. … Our strengths have always been the fast break and pushing the pace and I don’t want you to let up from pushing the pace because they are not going to sub much. I wanted their legs to have to sprint back and play you in transition as well as against the press and the guys did a fabulous job.”
On if this was the best team performance of the season…
“No question. No question because we played both ends of the floor and we kept trying to push it, win the game and not be afraid to lose the game. I told them, ‘Don’t look at the scoreboard, keep pushing.’ As I said, we had two great days of practice. Believe it or not, we played a terrible game against Georgetown. Awful defensively, we gave up like 13 uncontested layups and I said that has to stop and we have to push the pace. I said everyone is going to play, be ready to play, be ready to go in and they were. I told Glenn Taylor [Jr.], you got to rebound the ball for us. He did a fabulous job tonight.”
On Glenn Taylor Jr.’s performance…
“I met with him and said ‘Glenn, you are not driving to the basket, you are not rebounding, you are not playing great defense. I need you to start doing that. You are capable of it; you are a great athlete.’ He did it tonight. He rebounded, he played great defense, he did a lot of really good things.”
On if tonight gave the team belief it can win games in the BIG EAST Tournament…
“I think our guys have always believed it could be done. Sometimes, because they are new, they don’t know how to get it done. They get frustrated sometimes and they try to play so hard, they try to get it back in the next 10 seconds. We told them every four minutes that we want to make sure we are moving the basketball. They did a fabulous job with it.”
St. John’s guard Daniss Jenkins
On the win over Creighton…
“From the beginning when we walked out for shootaround, we didn’t see people in the arena, but we saw all the shirts and the white out. We knew it was going to be a great environment. The last time we played them, if I got that rebound, we win the game. So, keeping these things in mind, we played even harder. It was really great to see. I think we got better. We finished the second half like we haven’t done all season. With a team full of new guys like this and what’s all going on and everyone talking about St. John’s, we just stayed with each other. This builds brotherhood and it’s just amazing to see games like this. It was about time and that’s what I said in the locker room. We had to get one.”
On the second half of today’s game…
“You just have to play. In those other games where we lost in the second half, we have been playing not to lose and scared to win the game. There’s a lot of pressure on every shot, there’s a lot of pressure on each defensive possession, there’s a lot of pressure on whatever you help or not. Just thinking too much and worrying about the score. I didn’t look at the scoreboard one time in the second half because if you keep looking, you’re thinking you want the game to be over. Before we started the second half, we said ‘We are not just going to finish the game, we are going to play every possession to get better.’ I think that was the difference. We played to get better every possession and to dominate every possession instead of finishing the game.”
St. John’s guard Jordan Dingle
On his mentality coming back into the game in the second half…
“The only thing I was really telling myself was to stay ready. You know, my guys were playing so hard today, they gave me a chance to get a break. If I were to come in and give anything but my all, it would have been all for nothing. The way they were playing was inspiring, so it didn’t matter how long I was sitting when I came back in, I was going to give it everything I had.”
On Glenn Taylor Jr.’s defense…
“I mean we’ve been seeing it for months now in practice. This dude is a great competitor. It wasn’t just the defense [today], he came and gave us a huge spark on the boards. You know 10 rebounds, he was amazing on the offensive glass. Glenn is a do-it-all type of guy and it’s not surprising to those of us who know. I’m just happy it came in a big win.”
St. John’s forward Glenn Taylor Jr.
On his minutes today against Creighton.…
“I really just try and fight for my guys on the court. It doesn’t matter if I play one minute or 20 minutes. I was just trying to give it my all and do whatever I could on the floor to lead to winning. That was the big thing in my head. I knew I wasn’t playing as well as I could late in the season or early in the season. I just came out here and gave it my all for the team.”
On if this game was a must-win.…
“I feel like coming into this game we weren’t thinking ahead. We are just trying to take it game-by-game. We knew this was a big one coming off their win against UConn. But there was no doubt in our head that we were going to win this game. I just felt like we have to continue to do that and stack games. Who knows where we could go.”
Creighton Head Coach Greg McDermott
On St. John’s…
“Congrats to St. John’s. They played a heck of a game. [Daniss] Jenkins was obviously difficult for us to stop, I was concerned coming in. What we do really well defensively is what forces teams into what [St. John’s] does really well. We got away with it at home, but we weren’t able to get away with it today. Anytime we tried to be a little bit more aggressive [defensively], they made the extra pass and turned a good shot into a better shot. 24 assists and 3 turnovers, I’m not sure [we’ve seen that]. We don’t give up a lot of assists with our defense, we haven’t all season long. They moved it so well today and found the open guy.”
On St. John’s improvement as a team…
“Well, St. John’s played really well at our place. Obviously, on film, they’ve given up some leads to some really good teams. My point to our team was that you have to be really good to get those leads at Marquette and against Seton Hall. … This is a talented team and like I said we were really fortunate to win at home. I was impressed by [St. John’s] from the first time we played them.”
On if he thought St. John’s is an NCAA Tournament team…
“I did today. I think anyone that watched did today. Coach Pitino had to bring in a whole team and when you do that, you’re not going to be at your best in November and December. The BIG EAST is an unforgiving league, especially this year. … They can beat anybody on any given night and I hope they get the opportunity to do so.”
On St. John’s defense…
“Defensively, they knocked us out of rhythm for a good portion of the game. We had a couple stretches where our flow and pace were better, but they can throw a lot of bodies at you and they really knocked us out of our rhythm today.”
Opening Statement…
“I really don’t know what to boast on because I’m not sure if the offense was better than the defense or the defense was better than the offense. When you have 24 assists and only three turnovers, that’s a special offensive night. When you hold them to 39 [percent from the floor] and 23 [percent from three], especially in the first half, the defense was great. So many times the shot clock was ready to go off and that’s when you know you are playing great defense. I’m really proud of the guys. It was a great performance. We had two really good days of practice. … Our strengths have always been the fast break and pushing the pace and I don’t want you to let up from pushing the pace because they are not going to sub much. I wanted their legs to have to sprint back and play you in transition as well as against the press and the guys did a fabulous job.”
On if this was the best team performance of the season…
“No question. No question because we played both ends of the floor and we kept trying to push it, win the game and not be afraid to lose the game. I told them, ‘Don’t look at the scoreboard, keep pushing.’ As I said, we had two great days of practice. Believe it or not, we played a terrible game against Georgetown. Awful defensively, we gave up like 13 uncontested layups and I said that has to stop and we have to push the pace. I said everyone is going to play, be ready to play, be ready to go in and they were. I told Glenn Taylor [Jr.], you got to rebound the ball for us. He did a fabulous job tonight.”
On Glenn Taylor Jr.’s performance…
“I met with him and said ‘Glenn, you are not driving to the basket, you are not rebounding, you are not playing great defense. I need you to start doing that. You are capable of it; you are a great athlete.’ He did it tonight. He rebounded, he played great defense, he did a lot of really good things.”
On if tonight gave the team belief it can win games in the BIG EAST Tournament…
“I think our guys have always believed it could be done. Sometimes, because they are new, they don’t know how to get it done. They get frustrated sometimes and they try to play so hard, they try to get it back in the next 10 seconds. We told them every four minutes that we want to make sure we are moving the basketball. They did a fabulous job with it.”
St. John’s guard Daniss Jenkins
On the win over Creighton…
“From the beginning when we walked out for shootaround, we didn’t see people in the arena, but we saw all the shirts and the white out. We knew it was going to be a great environment. The last time we played them, if I got that rebound, we win the game. So, keeping these things in mind, we played even harder. It was really great to see. I think we got better. We finished the second half like we haven’t done all season. With a team full of new guys like this and what’s all going on and everyone talking about St. John’s, we just stayed with each other. This builds brotherhood and it’s just amazing to see games like this. It was about time and that’s what I said in the locker room. We had to get one.”
On the second half of today’s game…
“You just have to play. In those other games where we lost in the second half, we have been playing not to lose and scared to win the game. There’s a lot of pressure on every shot, there’s a lot of pressure on each defensive possession, there’s a lot of pressure on whatever you help or not. Just thinking too much and worrying about the score. I didn’t look at the scoreboard one time in the second half because if you keep looking, you’re thinking you want the game to be over. Before we started the second half, we said ‘We are not just going to finish the game, we are going to play every possession to get better.’ I think that was the difference. We played to get better every possession and to dominate every possession instead of finishing the game.”
St. John’s guard Jordan Dingle
On his mentality coming back into the game in the second half…
“The only thing I was really telling myself was to stay ready. You know, my guys were playing so hard today, they gave me a chance to get a break. If I were to come in and give anything but my all, it would have been all for nothing. The way they were playing was inspiring, so it didn’t matter how long I was sitting when I came back in, I was going to give it everything I had.”
On Glenn Taylor Jr.’s defense…
“I mean we’ve been seeing it for months now in practice. This dude is a great competitor. It wasn’t just the defense [today], he came and gave us a huge spark on the boards. You know 10 rebounds, he was amazing on the offensive glass. Glenn is a do-it-all type of guy and it’s not surprising to those of us who know. I’m just happy it came in a big win.”
St. John’s forward Glenn Taylor Jr.
On his minutes today against Creighton.…
“I really just try and fight for my guys on the court. It doesn’t matter if I play one minute or 20 minutes. I was just trying to give it my all and do whatever I could on the floor to lead to winning. That was the big thing in my head. I knew I wasn’t playing as well as I could late in the season or early in the season. I just came out here and gave it my all for the team.”
On if this game was a must-win.…
“I feel like coming into this game we weren’t thinking ahead. We are just trying to take it game-by-game. We knew this was a big one coming off their win against UConn. But there was no doubt in our head that we were going to win this game. I just felt like we have to continue to do that and stack games. Who knows where we could go.”
Creighton Head Coach Greg McDermott
On St. John’s…
“Congrats to St. John’s. They played a heck of a game. [Daniss] Jenkins was obviously difficult for us to stop, I was concerned coming in. What we do really well defensively is what forces teams into what [St. John’s] does really well. We got away with it at home, but we weren’t able to get away with it today. Anytime we tried to be a little bit more aggressive [defensively], they made the extra pass and turned a good shot into a better shot. 24 assists and 3 turnovers, I’m not sure [we’ve seen that]. We don’t give up a lot of assists with our defense, we haven’t all season long. They moved it so well today and found the open guy.”
On St. John’s improvement as a team…
“Well, St. John’s played really well at our place. Obviously, on film, they’ve given up some leads to some really good teams. My point to our team was that you have to be really good to get those leads at Marquette and against Seton Hall. … This is a talented team and like I said we were really fortunate to win at home. I was impressed by [St. John’s] from the first time we played them.”
On if he thought St. John’s is an NCAA Tournament team…
“I did today. I think anyone that watched did today. Coach Pitino had to bring in a whole team and when you do that, you’re not going to be at your best in November and December. The BIG EAST is an unforgiving league, especially this year. … They can beat anybody on any given night and I hope they get the opportunity to do so.”
On St. John’s defense…
“Defensively, they knocked us out of rhythm for a good portion of the game. We had a couple stretches where our flow and pace were better, but they can throw a lot of bodies at you and they really knocked us out of our rhythm today.”