St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: 2024 BIG EAST Tournament Semifinals vs. No. 1 UConn
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino, Jordan Dingle, Daniss Jenkins and Chris Ledlum spoke with the media after the 95-90 loss to No. 1 UConn in the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals on Friday at MSG
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening Statement…
“I want to congratulate Connecticut. They’re very deserving of a defending champion. They’re just a great offensive basketball team. Real proud of our guys. I saw some things in Jordan Dingle that I absolutely loved tonight, a competitive fire in him that was great to see. Daniss [Jenkins] has always had it. Jordan [Dingle] just keeps getting better and better. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t get a run to get over the top. Biggest problem was our transition defense. They were 8-for-9 in the first half and that put us in the box. Sometimes you can’t always go to the offensive glass, you have to get back. But these guys played their tails off and I’m really proud of them. We were hoping for a BIG EAST [Tournament] crown but the other team was better than us. We’ve played them three times to the wire and they find a way to win. Cam Spencer does all the things that are terrific. Tristen Newton was great. They have a great basketball team. Somebody said to me how does it feel to play at home where they say you’re the road team. I said “well I coached quite a few years at Kentucky, we were always the home team wherever we went. They’re the Kentucky of the East. They have the greatest fan base in basketball and Kentucky has the greatest fan base in that part of the country. Kansas has the greatest fanbase in their part of the country. We lost a lot of fans in the last 20 years. We got to get them back. I think efforts like tonight will get them stimulated and get them back.”
On the team’s fight in tonight’s contest…
“That was something I was very impressed with. Because one thing about Connecticut, they do it all the time, you think you're in the game, you're up one or two at halftime, ten-minute mark, they're only down four or six and they win by 25. Happens all the time. But it hasn't happened against us. So I'm real proud of them [for that].”
On looking forward to Selection Sunday…
“I want to see who we're going to play, obviously, and prepare and get ready. Jordan [Dingle] came here to play in the tournament, going to get his wishes. And we'll see who we play. We'll see what's going to go on. We played a really tough schedule this year, guys. Really tough schedule. You know, we haven't had too many easy games, and we've played Marquette twice, tough. We beat Creighton. Should have beat them on the road. With the exception of Seton Hall [on the road], we've played really well in the BIG EAST. The BIG EAST is a hell of a conference, as you know.”
On UConn …
“Pretty much. You get behind on them and they can burn you, certainly. But they're a great basketball team. You got to give credit. They do a lot of things really, really well. You know, they're building a hell of a program, a hell of a program. They've built a hell of a program from Jim Calhoun on. Kevin Ollie won the championship.”
St. John’s guard Jordan Dingle
On the team’s competitive spirit…
“To be honest with you, I don't think that we played a great game for all 40 minutes, and that's kind of what it comes down to. We've gotten a lot better with that as the course of the season has gone on and our ability to fight back like DJ [Daniss Jenkins] pointed out earlier. I'm really proud of us for that. Our competitive spirit never died and never wavered, and we believed in ourselves till the very end. I think that's the big takeaway for today's game and I'm going to keep going forward.”
On looking forward to Selection Sunday…
“Selection Sunday for my career has been -- the first year, you know, sitting at home, COVID like everybody else. And then the last two years watching Yale and Princeton play in the Ivy League championship, knowing that my season was over. But this year is different. So I'm really looking forward to it this time. Selection Sunday really hasn't meant anything to me because I, unfortunately, was never a part of it, never had the ability to be. I'm really grateful to God that I'm here with this group of guys and I'm going to get that chance.”
St. John’s guard Daniss Jenkins
On his overall assessment of tonight’s game…
“I think we showed great character by not letting them run away with the game, but at the same time, we had too many little mistakes when they went on their run that you can’t have against a team like that. I think the effort was great, but as far as execution, I don’t really grade it that high.”
On if he feels good about the way the team has been playing…
“Yeah, I do. Besides this game defensively, like I said with the offensive rebounds and the little mistakes in transition, I like the way we are playing.”
On if he is excited for the Selection Show on Sunday…
“Yes, we are. We had a great schedule; the strength of the schedule is good. We think we are in and should be in. If we keep playing the way we have been playing and taking away the little mistakes within the stuff that we can control like the offensive rebounds, losing a shooter, turning the ball over, I think we are pretty good. I think we are capable of doing anything.”
On the team’s effort…
“I mean, we fought today. It wasn't our best game. We had the sole intentions on winning the BIG EAST Tournament, but at the same time I'm really proud of the team. Because what I've been saying the whole year is we could have easily went the other way. When you lose eight out of ten games, it was all bad. Nothing was good from that. We thought postseason was over at that time. But as I've been saying, we've showed our real character. I mean, we showed pride, and we fought. That's all you can ask for. We came in every day, practiced hard, tried to get better at the things we were bad at, and we came together as a team. I've never played with Jordan Dingle, the [second] leading scorer last year in the country. And then he comes here and playing off the ball and things like that. So everything was different. But I was just really proud to see us bond together and really just try to be special. Yes, tonight was a step forward for St. John's. But like Coach said, there's a lot more work to do and we're looking forward to the [NCAA] Tournament.”
St. John’s forward Chris Ledlum
On the loss…
“Anytime you lose it's disappointing, especially knowing we were in the game. It got away from us a little bit but we could have won. So, it's extremely disappointing.”
On UConn…
“I mean they are a great team. Everybody can shoot, everybody can pretty much do everything. They run a lot of good sets. They are well-coached. It's definitely a tough team to play.”
On how he feels the team is playing going into the NCAA Tournament…
“I feel good. We definitely made some costly mistakes today, but you know that’s basketball, it happens. Unfortunately for us, we weren’t able to win with that happening tonight.”
On the mindset of the team coming into today's game…
“We did [feel confident]. We played really well yesterday and we came out with the same mindset today. We just didn’t make the plays that we needed to.”
Opening Statement…
“I want to congratulate Connecticut. They’re very deserving of a defending champion. They’re just a great offensive basketball team. Real proud of our guys. I saw some things in Jordan Dingle that I absolutely loved tonight, a competitive fire in him that was great to see. Daniss [Jenkins] has always had it. Jordan [Dingle] just keeps getting better and better. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t get a run to get over the top. Biggest problem was our transition defense. They were 8-for-9 in the first half and that put us in the box. Sometimes you can’t always go to the offensive glass, you have to get back. But these guys played their tails off and I’m really proud of them. We were hoping for a BIG EAST [Tournament] crown but the other team was better than us. We’ve played them three times to the wire and they find a way to win. Cam Spencer does all the things that are terrific. Tristen Newton was great. They have a great basketball team. Somebody said to me how does it feel to play at home where they say you’re the road team. I said “well I coached quite a few years at Kentucky, we were always the home team wherever we went. They’re the Kentucky of the East. They have the greatest fan base in basketball and Kentucky has the greatest fan base in that part of the country. Kansas has the greatest fanbase in their part of the country. We lost a lot of fans in the last 20 years. We got to get them back. I think efforts like tonight will get them stimulated and get them back.”
On the team’s fight in tonight’s contest…
“That was something I was very impressed with. Because one thing about Connecticut, they do it all the time, you think you're in the game, you're up one or two at halftime, ten-minute mark, they're only down four or six and they win by 25. Happens all the time. But it hasn't happened against us. So I'm real proud of them [for that].”
On looking forward to Selection Sunday…
“I want to see who we're going to play, obviously, and prepare and get ready. Jordan [Dingle] came here to play in the tournament, going to get his wishes. And we'll see who we play. We'll see what's going to go on. We played a really tough schedule this year, guys. Really tough schedule. You know, we haven't had too many easy games, and we've played Marquette twice, tough. We beat Creighton. Should have beat them on the road. With the exception of Seton Hall [on the road], we've played really well in the BIG EAST. The BIG EAST is a hell of a conference, as you know.”
On UConn …
“Pretty much. You get behind on them and they can burn you, certainly. But they're a great basketball team. You got to give credit. They do a lot of things really, really well. You know, they're building a hell of a program, a hell of a program. They've built a hell of a program from Jim Calhoun on. Kevin Ollie won the championship.”
St. John’s guard Jordan Dingle
On the team’s competitive spirit…
“To be honest with you, I don't think that we played a great game for all 40 minutes, and that's kind of what it comes down to. We've gotten a lot better with that as the course of the season has gone on and our ability to fight back like DJ [Daniss Jenkins] pointed out earlier. I'm really proud of us for that. Our competitive spirit never died and never wavered, and we believed in ourselves till the very end. I think that's the big takeaway for today's game and I'm going to keep going forward.”
On looking forward to Selection Sunday…
“Selection Sunday for my career has been -- the first year, you know, sitting at home, COVID like everybody else. And then the last two years watching Yale and Princeton play in the Ivy League championship, knowing that my season was over. But this year is different. So I'm really looking forward to it this time. Selection Sunday really hasn't meant anything to me because I, unfortunately, was never a part of it, never had the ability to be. I'm really grateful to God that I'm here with this group of guys and I'm going to get that chance.”
St. John’s guard Daniss Jenkins
On his overall assessment of tonight’s game…
“I think we showed great character by not letting them run away with the game, but at the same time, we had too many little mistakes when they went on their run that you can’t have against a team like that. I think the effort was great, but as far as execution, I don’t really grade it that high.”
On if he feels good about the way the team has been playing…
“Yeah, I do. Besides this game defensively, like I said with the offensive rebounds and the little mistakes in transition, I like the way we are playing.”
On if he is excited for the Selection Show on Sunday…
“Yes, we are. We had a great schedule; the strength of the schedule is good. We think we are in and should be in. If we keep playing the way we have been playing and taking away the little mistakes within the stuff that we can control like the offensive rebounds, losing a shooter, turning the ball over, I think we are pretty good. I think we are capable of doing anything.”
On the team’s effort…
“I mean, we fought today. It wasn't our best game. We had the sole intentions on winning the BIG EAST Tournament, but at the same time I'm really proud of the team. Because what I've been saying the whole year is we could have easily went the other way. When you lose eight out of ten games, it was all bad. Nothing was good from that. We thought postseason was over at that time. But as I've been saying, we've showed our real character. I mean, we showed pride, and we fought. That's all you can ask for. We came in every day, practiced hard, tried to get better at the things we were bad at, and we came together as a team. I've never played with Jordan Dingle, the [second] leading scorer last year in the country. And then he comes here and playing off the ball and things like that. So everything was different. But I was just really proud to see us bond together and really just try to be special. Yes, tonight was a step forward for St. John's. But like Coach said, there's a lot more work to do and we're looking forward to the [NCAA] Tournament.”
St. John’s forward Chris Ledlum
On the loss…
“Anytime you lose it's disappointing, especially knowing we were in the game. It got away from us a little bit but we could have won. So, it's extremely disappointing.”
On UConn…
“I mean they are a great team. Everybody can shoot, everybody can pretty much do everything. They run a lot of good sets. They are well-coached. It's definitely a tough team to play.”
On how he feels the team is playing going into the NCAA Tournament…
“I feel good. We definitely made some costly mistakes today, but you know that’s basketball, it happens. Unfortunately for us, we weren’t able to win with that happening tonight.”
On the mindset of the team coming into today's game…
“We did [feel confident]. We played really well yesterday and we came out with the same mindset today. We just didn’t make the plays that we needed to.”