St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s Men’s Basketball vs Butler
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino, forward Chris Ledlum and forward Glenn Taylor Jr. met with the media following to the Red Storm’s 82-59 win at Butler on Wednesday inside Hinkle Fieldhouse
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening Statement…
“We are becoming a total team. From the beginning, we relied on [Daniss Jenkins] but now we have Jordan [Dingle], Ledlum, Glenn, we’re just becoming a total team. I thought our offense was brilliant. I told the team, ‘We are going to continue to try to score, do not play to lose. Score, score, score’. I want them to keep scoring and obviously play the defense that we did. They did a great job. We had a record-high deflections with 38 tonight and that was terrific. It was a great team victory in a tough road environment to play in and I’m really proud of these guys.”
On Glenn Taylor Jr. …
“Glenn, like [Simeon Wilcher] can play 7-8 minutes and you will think he played 37 minutes. He’s just a great team guy, but now, he’s doing the things we expected of him. His personality is so good, he’s so team oriented and he never really thinks about himself. He’s got to get it drilled into his mind to be a better offensive basketball player. What I told him is that we work so hard on player development, we take thousands of shots, so I want him to shoot the ball. He did right from the first play of the game. Chris [Ledlum] is playing fantastic basketball as well, but they are all being very aggressive on offense with movement. We had 17 assists, shot a good percentage, so they are all playing terrific. It’s not just one person.”
On Daniss Jenkins…
“[Daniss] is one of the premium guards in the country. … He’s a legitimate NBA prospect because of his size, leadership and his ability to go by people. He does it for us every game, he never lets up in practice. He’s a big-time basketball player and one of the premium guards in the country.”
On the evolution of the team since the Seton Hall loss…
“Every game has its reason of why you win and why you lose. Tonight, we were just relentless on defense, we were very aggressive on offense. These guys try so hard, they want to do it badly. What I said was all staged to get them to wake them up and they woke up in a big way because right now they are playing great basketball. What I told them is you beat a really good team on the road but don’t let up. Keep improving, keep your goals high and I think they will because they are a tremendous group.”
On what is working for his team…
“What I love about them is that when they make a mistake they say ‘Coach, that’s my fault’ right away. I say, ‘Okay no problem’. They all own up to it right away. Just like tonight, we got 11 steals because these guys are helping each other on any dribble penetration, everybody has each other’s back. … Both [Taylor and Ledlum] have gotten a lot better on defense. Chris has gotten a lot better. Glenn is becoming a stopper right now and that’s what we need.”
St. John’s forward Chris Ledlum
On team’s recent success…
“I would say just consistency. Like Coach [Pitino] said we bring it every day in practice and in those past games we may not have played our best. But we just get to practice, keep grinding hard and eventually we play like tonight.”
On Coach Pitino’s message to the team…
“I say it all the time, I know [Coach Pitino’s] statements are out of love. He loves us, he cares for us and just wants us to reach our full potential. He tells us that all the time. When he says those types of things, it’s just tough love. We don’t take it personally.”
St. John’s forward Glenn Taylor Jr.
On his improvement this season…
“I feel like I came to the decision to keep it short and just work on winning. I feel like that helped me a lot. Going into the game, I just worried about my defense and let my offense do it. That was my only focus.”
On the team’s defense…
“I feel like we are making defensive strides. I feel like we are filling in the gaps more. We are talking to each other more. I hear guys now and it makes me feel more comfortable on the defensive side.”
Opening Statement…
“We are becoming a total team. From the beginning, we relied on [Daniss Jenkins] but now we have Jordan [Dingle], Ledlum, Glenn, we’re just becoming a total team. I thought our offense was brilliant. I told the team, ‘We are going to continue to try to score, do not play to lose. Score, score, score’. I want them to keep scoring and obviously play the defense that we did. They did a great job. We had a record-high deflections with 38 tonight and that was terrific. It was a great team victory in a tough road environment to play in and I’m really proud of these guys.”
On Glenn Taylor Jr. …
“Glenn, like [Simeon Wilcher] can play 7-8 minutes and you will think he played 37 minutes. He’s just a great team guy, but now, he’s doing the things we expected of him. His personality is so good, he’s so team oriented and he never really thinks about himself. He’s got to get it drilled into his mind to be a better offensive basketball player. What I told him is that we work so hard on player development, we take thousands of shots, so I want him to shoot the ball. He did right from the first play of the game. Chris [Ledlum] is playing fantastic basketball as well, but they are all being very aggressive on offense with movement. We had 17 assists, shot a good percentage, so they are all playing terrific. It’s not just one person.”
On Daniss Jenkins…
“[Daniss] is one of the premium guards in the country. … He’s a legitimate NBA prospect because of his size, leadership and his ability to go by people. He does it for us every game, he never lets up in practice. He’s a big-time basketball player and one of the premium guards in the country.”
On the evolution of the team since the Seton Hall loss…
“Every game has its reason of why you win and why you lose. Tonight, we were just relentless on defense, we were very aggressive on offense. These guys try so hard, they want to do it badly. What I said was all staged to get them to wake them up and they woke up in a big way because right now they are playing great basketball. What I told them is you beat a really good team on the road but don’t let up. Keep improving, keep your goals high and I think they will because they are a tremendous group.”
On what is working for his team…
“What I love about them is that when they make a mistake they say ‘Coach, that’s my fault’ right away. I say, ‘Okay no problem’. They all own up to it right away. Just like tonight, we got 11 steals because these guys are helping each other on any dribble penetration, everybody has each other’s back. … Both [Taylor and Ledlum] have gotten a lot better on defense. Chris has gotten a lot better. Glenn is becoming a stopper right now and that’s what we need.”
St. John’s forward Chris Ledlum
On team’s recent success…
“I would say just consistency. Like Coach [Pitino] said we bring it every day in practice and in those past games we may not have played our best. But we just get to practice, keep grinding hard and eventually we play like tonight.”
On Coach Pitino’s message to the team…
“I say it all the time, I know [Coach Pitino’s] statements are out of love. He loves us, he cares for us and just wants us to reach our full potential. He tells us that all the time. When he says those types of things, it’s just tough love. We don’t take it personally.”
St. John’s forward Glenn Taylor Jr.
On his improvement this season…
“I feel like I came to the decision to keep it short and just work on winning. I feel like that helped me a lot. Going into the game, I just worried about my defense and let my offense do it. That was my only focus.”
On the team’s defense…
“I feel like we are making defensive strides. I feel like we are filling in the gaps more. We are talking to each other more. I hear guys now and it makes me feel more comfortable on the defensive side.”