St. John's University Athletics
PREGAME QUOTES: St. John’s Men’s Basketball vs. Butler
St. John’s guard Jordan Dingle met with the media prior to the Red Storm’s matchup with Butler on Wednesday at Hinkle Fieldhouse
St. John’s guard Jordan Dingle
On his last two games…
“To be totally honest, there is not really any secret behind it. Everything just happens according to God’s will and God’s plan. I’m just grateful that God is allowing me to play well. On the court, I’ve just been trying to have more fun and play more free, as have the rest of my teammates. I think we have enjoyed ourselves on the court more in this past week or so and I think it has translated to better performances for a lot of us.”
On battling expectations for the team…
“I think there was a big fear of not wanting to make a mistake. Obviously, a lot of us are new to St. John’s and the majority are new to Coach [Rick] Pitino. Part of the reason why [Daniss Jenkins] is a great leader for us is that he has never let [making a mistake] affect him and he’s having an amazing season because of it. All the great players say you have to have great short-term memory. If you miss your last seven shots, you have to think the next one is absolutely going in. You can’t be worried about the mistake you just made. ... You have to just keep on playing. It’s important to be able to move on to the next play, no matter what just happened. I think that we are sort of getting closer to being able to do that across the board.”
On the win against Creighton…
“I’m happy with how the team responded. We gave up a lot of points to Georgetown and Creighton is one of the best offensive teams in the country, if not the best offensive team in the country, and they were coming off beating UConn. The odds didn’t look like they were really in our favor, but we went out there and competed hard for one another, we competed hard for our fans and got a win. I was really proud of that and I’m really confident in our group going forward.”
On if the team can reach its end-of-season goals…
“Absolutely. I think that the BIG EAST is such a talented conference that we still have an opportunity to make it to the [NCAA] Tournament. But, even if that wasn’t a possibility, we owe it to one another, this coaching staff for trusting us to come here, and to Johnnies Nation for being so supportive to us all year, to go out fighting. There’s no sense of quit on this team, regardless of what our record is. I don’t get that sense at all. I think the fact that we still have a chance to accomplish all of the goals we came here for is even more encouraging.”
On his last two games…
“To be totally honest, there is not really any secret behind it. Everything just happens according to God’s will and God’s plan. I’m just grateful that God is allowing me to play well. On the court, I’ve just been trying to have more fun and play more free, as have the rest of my teammates. I think we have enjoyed ourselves on the court more in this past week or so and I think it has translated to better performances for a lot of us.”
On battling expectations for the team…
“I think there was a big fear of not wanting to make a mistake. Obviously, a lot of us are new to St. John’s and the majority are new to Coach [Rick] Pitino. Part of the reason why [Daniss Jenkins] is a great leader for us is that he has never let [making a mistake] affect him and he’s having an amazing season because of it. All the great players say you have to have great short-term memory. If you miss your last seven shots, you have to think the next one is absolutely going in. You can’t be worried about the mistake you just made. ... You have to just keep on playing. It’s important to be able to move on to the next play, no matter what just happened. I think that we are sort of getting closer to being able to do that across the board.”
On the win against Creighton…
“I’m happy with how the team responded. We gave up a lot of points to Georgetown and Creighton is one of the best offensive teams in the country, if not the best offensive team in the country, and they were coming off beating UConn. The odds didn’t look like they were really in our favor, but we went out there and competed hard for one another, we competed hard for our fans and got a win. I was really proud of that and I’m really confident in our group going forward.”
On if the team can reach its end-of-season goals…
“Absolutely. I think that the BIG EAST is such a talented conference that we still have an opportunity to make it to the [NCAA] Tournament. But, even if that wasn’t a possibility, we owe it to one another, this coaching staff for trusting us to come here, and to Johnnies Nation for being so supportive to us all year, to go out fighting. There’s no sense of quit on this team, regardless of what our record is. I don’t get that sense at all. I think the fact that we still have a chance to accomplish all of the goals we came here for is even more encouraging.”