St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: RV/RV St. John's Men's Basketball vs. Villanova
St. John’s Men’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Pitino, guard Simeon Wilcher, forward RJ Luis Jr. and Villanova Head Coach Kyle Neptune spoke with the media following the team’s 80-68 win over Villanova on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden
Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening statement…
“Well, that was a fabulous game with an incredible atmosphere. And these two guys (RJ Luis Jr. and Simeon Wilcher) were part of a team that just willed this win tonight. Sim gave us big minutes. He made big steals, did all the right things. It may not show in the stat sheet, but he played tremendous. And RJ, I've said this all along, RJ is one of the most gifted players I've coached. You don't see it as much, but he's got great vision, but he just refused to not rebound the ball with the game on the line like five different times. His toughness was incredible. He got to the floor before everybody. I can't say enough accolades for RJ tonight, putting aside his great talent, his hustle was amazing to me. I'm proud of both of these guys. It was a great win for us.”
On his team’s defensive effort against Villanova…
“They are really a tough team to play against. They shoot at all positions. They put you in situations where it's very difficult to rebound. But in the end, they shot 39 percent and they normally shoot 47 percent and 38 percent from three, and obviously, a great free throw shooting team. So, wonderful performance.”
On RJ Luis Jr.s’ second half performance…
“Well, I took him out early in the second half and said to him, I said, ‘Look, you are going right back in. But I want to tell you, if you don't pick this up, we're not winning this game. So go back in. You got to pick this thing up.’ He went in there and he picked it up.”
On the team rallying after Deivon Smith got hurt…
“You know, the amazing thing is, he was the high scorer. He had, I believe, 12 points at halftime. He was playing great, and then you lose him. But these guys rallied, and it speaks volumes of what they're all about.”
On RJ Luis Jr.s’ Development…
“Well, he's physically stronger than what he was. He has, and this is a good thing. It's not a selfish thing. He has an incredible desire to score. I think his best quality, besides obviously scoring, is he's a great passer. Now, you don't see as much because we needed him to score tonight, and he makes all those free throws tonight. He did a great job on defense. RJ is a pro. I think somebody's going to get a player that's going to get better and better and better and better.”
St John’s guard Simeon Wilcher:
On the character of the team…
“It just goes to show the toughness that we have as a group. Although Deivon [Smith] went down and how important he is to the team, we just felt like we had to gather together even more. Although we came out in the second half a little slow and they were able to go in their little run, that’s just a part of the game. The game is full of ups, downs and runs and it goes both ways. So, we just knew, with Coach [Pitino] after the [early second-half] timeout, that it was time for us to hone in and make sacrifices that will make sure that we came out with the [win] tonight.”
On his minutes tonight…
“We were a little tired, but in that situation, in the heat of the moment, you kind of zone out and just have to worry about the task at hand.”
St. John’s forward RJ Luis Jr.
On how they responded to Villanova’s early run in the second half…
“When [Villanova] went on the little run, Coach Pitino called a timeout. He gathered and got us together and said, ‘If you want to win this game, we got to play harder and we have to hustle more.’ That's what we did when we came out of the timeout.”
On his game tonight…
“I get going when I start the defensive end. It's really just trying to make plays and just play hard, The ball kind of finds me, and I just try to be aggressive and attack the glass on both sides of the floor.”
On the team’s effort…
“As a team, collectively, we're all crashing the boards, and I'm the one who ended up coming up with the rebound. That's what Coach [Pitino] said, we have that hustle and that grid to just play hard. Even if the shots aren't falling like you guys are going to see on paper, saying that our three-point percentage is lacking, I think it's scary because we were winning these big games and we're not shooting the ball well. I just feel like the sky's the limit. We just need to keep playing hard as a group.”
On the environment at Madison Square Garden…
“I love it. I feel like the whole ‘New Era’ campaign that we are doing is happening and people are starting to see what type of program we are and what Coach Pitino is doing in his second year. Everybody knows analytically what [Coach Pitino] does and what he means to the program. I think it was great. I feel like the energy was rocking, it was jumping. I just want to continue and have the fans keep coming out and supporting us. We need all the energy we can get. I feel like we're going to finish out the season. We're going to play hard and try to win as many games as possible.”
Villanova Head Coach Kyle Neptune:
On St. John’s tonight…
“Give St John's a lot of credit. They came in and set the tone. I thought they played extremely hard. They got into us defensively. A lot of credit goes to them.”
Opening statement…
“Well, that was a fabulous game with an incredible atmosphere. And these two guys (RJ Luis Jr. and Simeon Wilcher) were part of a team that just willed this win tonight. Sim gave us big minutes. He made big steals, did all the right things. It may not show in the stat sheet, but he played tremendous. And RJ, I've said this all along, RJ is one of the most gifted players I've coached. You don't see it as much, but he's got great vision, but he just refused to not rebound the ball with the game on the line like five different times. His toughness was incredible. He got to the floor before everybody. I can't say enough accolades for RJ tonight, putting aside his great talent, his hustle was amazing to me. I'm proud of both of these guys. It was a great win for us.”
On his team’s defensive effort against Villanova…
“They are really a tough team to play against. They shoot at all positions. They put you in situations where it's very difficult to rebound. But in the end, they shot 39 percent and they normally shoot 47 percent and 38 percent from three, and obviously, a great free throw shooting team. So, wonderful performance.”
On RJ Luis Jr.s’ second half performance…
“Well, I took him out early in the second half and said to him, I said, ‘Look, you are going right back in. But I want to tell you, if you don't pick this up, we're not winning this game. So go back in. You got to pick this thing up.’ He went in there and he picked it up.”
On the team rallying after Deivon Smith got hurt…
“You know, the amazing thing is, he was the high scorer. He had, I believe, 12 points at halftime. He was playing great, and then you lose him. But these guys rallied, and it speaks volumes of what they're all about.”
On RJ Luis Jr.s’ Development…
“Well, he's physically stronger than what he was. He has, and this is a good thing. It's not a selfish thing. He has an incredible desire to score. I think his best quality, besides obviously scoring, is he's a great passer. Now, you don't see as much because we needed him to score tonight, and he makes all those free throws tonight. He did a great job on defense. RJ is a pro. I think somebody's going to get a player that's going to get better and better and better and better.”
St John’s guard Simeon Wilcher:
On the character of the team…
“It just goes to show the toughness that we have as a group. Although Deivon [Smith] went down and how important he is to the team, we just felt like we had to gather together even more. Although we came out in the second half a little slow and they were able to go in their little run, that’s just a part of the game. The game is full of ups, downs and runs and it goes both ways. So, we just knew, with Coach [Pitino] after the [early second-half] timeout, that it was time for us to hone in and make sacrifices that will make sure that we came out with the [win] tonight.”
On his minutes tonight…
“We were a little tired, but in that situation, in the heat of the moment, you kind of zone out and just have to worry about the task at hand.”
St. John’s forward RJ Luis Jr.
On how they responded to Villanova’s early run in the second half…
“When [Villanova] went on the little run, Coach Pitino called a timeout. He gathered and got us together and said, ‘If you want to win this game, we got to play harder and we have to hustle more.’ That's what we did when we came out of the timeout.”
On his game tonight…
“I get going when I start the defensive end. It's really just trying to make plays and just play hard, The ball kind of finds me, and I just try to be aggressive and attack the glass on both sides of the floor.”
On the team’s effort…
“As a team, collectively, we're all crashing the boards, and I'm the one who ended up coming up with the rebound. That's what Coach [Pitino] said, we have that hustle and that grid to just play hard. Even if the shots aren't falling like you guys are going to see on paper, saying that our three-point percentage is lacking, I think it's scary because we were winning these big games and we're not shooting the ball well. I just feel like the sky's the limit. We just need to keep playing hard as a group.”
On the environment at Madison Square Garden…
“I love it. I feel like the whole ‘New Era’ campaign that we are doing is happening and people are starting to see what type of program we are and what Coach Pitino is doing in his second year. Everybody knows analytically what [Coach Pitino] does and what he means to the program. I think it was great. I feel like the energy was rocking, it was jumping. I just want to continue and have the fans keep coming out and supporting us. We need all the energy we can get. I feel like we're going to finish out the season. We're going to play hard and try to win as many games as possible.”
Villanova Head Coach Kyle Neptune:
On St. John’s tonight…
“Give St John's a lot of credit. They came in and set the tone. I thought they played extremely hard. They got into us defensively. A lot of credit goes to them.”