St. John's University Athletics
PREGAME QUOTES: St. John’s Men’s Basketball at No. 7/7 Marquette
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino, Nahiem Alleyne and Daniss Jenkins met with the media ahead of the Red Storm’s matchup with No. 7/7 Marquette on Saturday at Fiserv Forum.
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino
On Marquette …
“Every game in the BIG EAST takes on a different defensive assignment. Against Marquette last time, they really hurt us in transition. Not that we weren’t getting back, they just bullied us to the basket and physically just took us to the basket on a one-on-one situation. We weren’t able to guard them in the open court one-on-one. Their percentage on the fastbreak was awesome. The half court was different, but they are great in transition. … Every game is different. It brings a different challenge whether its home or on the road.”
On importance of the upcoming two-game road trip…
“We have to get to 11 or 12 wins, whatever it takes to get [to the NCAA Tournament]. I try to tell them to play every game as if it’s the last game you are going to play at this time of year, in February. … You have to keep getting better every practice. … I was real happy the way they played DePaul. They never let up, they stayed after them even though we were much better than them at the time. They didn’t let up. They played to the scouting report, which was good. I thought every single guy gave it everything he had, even with a big lead, so that was good.”
St. John’s guard Nahiem Alleyne
On Coach Pitino’s message to him…
“Me and [Coach Pitino] talked earlier in the week. He was just emphasizing that you need to be you out there and play Nahiem Alleyne basketball. Score, defend, do all the little things that you know how to do. I have just taken a lot of emphasis on that, so I kind of just try to start all that in practice so it will translate to the game.”
On what St. John’s needs to do to make the NCAA Tournament…
“It’s the little things that have lost us games. The loose balls, the rebounds, getting hands on everything, boxing out. Little things like that. I told him, the little details are going to help us win those big games. All those games we lost, except for Seton Hall, it was the little things. Until we figure that out, we won’t be where we want to be, but I feel like Coach has emphasized it enough that if we do the fundamentals, do the little things right, pay attention to the scout, we are going to have a great game, especially against Marquette. They are a great team. We thought we had them beat, but we know it’s going to be a tougher matchup this time because they are at home, they are comfortable and we know what we need to do.”
St. John’s guard Daniss Jenkins
On the mindset following the win over DePaul…
“It’s just about us doing the things we haven’t been good at in tough games. Until we do it, until we get over the hump of winning a tough game like that and doing the little things different, it’s going to be the same thing that we come in here and talk about because those are the things we have to work on. Those are the things we need to be better at to win these games. We know it’s really important to focus and have a great practice, have a lot of confidence. We don’t need to do everything totally different. When I go back and look at these games, we had these games won. We had a win but there was just something, a possession, a rebound, something little like that, that may have gone the other way.”
On how the team views this upcoming road trip…
“… We want to get both. ... Both would be great. At the end of the day, even though there is pressure on the games, it’s a game. It’s still the season. We don’t want to lose. We are coming out with energy and got a lot of pressure because we don’t want to lose. Nobody likes to lose, no matter what is at stake. It should add a little more, but it’s still just a game that we don’t want to lose. Each game we are going into, we are trying to do everything we can to win.”
On Marquette …
“Every game in the BIG EAST takes on a different defensive assignment. Against Marquette last time, they really hurt us in transition. Not that we weren’t getting back, they just bullied us to the basket and physically just took us to the basket on a one-on-one situation. We weren’t able to guard them in the open court one-on-one. Their percentage on the fastbreak was awesome. The half court was different, but they are great in transition. … Every game is different. It brings a different challenge whether its home or on the road.”
On importance of the upcoming two-game road trip…
“We have to get to 11 or 12 wins, whatever it takes to get [to the NCAA Tournament]. I try to tell them to play every game as if it’s the last game you are going to play at this time of year, in February. … You have to keep getting better every practice. … I was real happy the way they played DePaul. They never let up, they stayed after them even though we were much better than them at the time. They didn’t let up. They played to the scouting report, which was good. I thought every single guy gave it everything he had, even with a big lead, so that was good.”
St. John’s guard Nahiem Alleyne
On Coach Pitino’s message to him…
“Me and [Coach Pitino] talked earlier in the week. He was just emphasizing that you need to be you out there and play Nahiem Alleyne basketball. Score, defend, do all the little things that you know how to do. I have just taken a lot of emphasis on that, so I kind of just try to start all that in practice so it will translate to the game.”
On what St. John’s needs to do to make the NCAA Tournament…
“It’s the little things that have lost us games. The loose balls, the rebounds, getting hands on everything, boxing out. Little things like that. I told him, the little details are going to help us win those big games. All those games we lost, except for Seton Hall, it was the little things. Until we figure that out, we won’t be where we want to be, but I feel like Coach has emphasized it enough that if we do the fundamentals, do the little things right, pay attention to the scout, we are going to have a great game, especially against Marquette. They are a great team. We thought we had them beat, but we know it’s going to be a tougher matchup this time because they are at home, they are comfortable and we know what we need to do.”
St. John’s guard Daniss Jenkins
On the mindset following the win over DePaul…
“It’s just about us doing the things we haven’t been good at in tough games. Until we do it, until we get over the hump of winning a tough game like that and doing the little things different, it’s going to be the same thing that we come in here and talk about because those are the things we have to work on. Those are the things we need to be better at to win these games. We know it’s really important to focus and have a great practice, have a lot of confidence. We don’t need to do everything totally different. When I go back and look at these games, we had these games won. We had a win but there was just something, a possession, a rebound, something little like that, that may have gone the other way.”
On how the team views this upcoming road trip…
“… We want to get both. ... Both would be great. At the end of the day, even though there is pressure on the games, it’s a game. It’s still the season. We don’t want to lose. We are coming out with energy and got a lot of pressure because we don’t want to lose. Nobody likes to lose, no matter what is at stake. It should add a little more, but it’s still just a game that we don’t want to lose. Each game we are going into, we are trying to do everything we can to win.”