St. John's University Athletics
PREGAME QUOTES: St. John's Men's Basketball at Seton Hall
St. John’s Men’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Pitino, forward Aaron Scott and guard Brady Dunlap spoke with the media ahead of the team’s matchup at Seton Hall on Saturday night at the Prudential Center
Head Coach Rick Pitino:
On Kadary Richmond returning to Seton Hall…
“It's not going to make a difference in winning and losing. He's fully aware that if you go to a rival school, when you play them, the fans will get on him, but it's not going to make a difference whether the ball goes in or whether he rebounds or plays some defense. So, we're really not going to pay too much attention to it.”
On how he thinks Kadary Richmond will handle returning to Seton Hall…
“I don't think he's going to be affected either way. I don't think he'll play better. I don't think he'll play worse. I think he's just handling it like another game, and he knows how much this game means to our team. Everybody's totally focused on that. It's not a bigger game than any other game for any of us. It's just another BIG EAST game that's going to be very difficult to win.”
On Seton Hall…
“I like his [Seton Hall Head Coach Shaheen Holloway] team. I like the way they shoot the ball. I think they are young and talented. Sometimes, with young teams, you can have this type of up-and-down season. But they played Providence tough. They've got very good offensive talent. They're very good at doing what they do well, I think they're going to progress. They're going to get better because they're young. So, it's a long season. I wouldn't call it a bad season yet. I wouldn't call it a good season yet. A lot of games to be played.”
On Simeon Wilcher…
“You know, Sim is progressing nicely. He still has a lot of areas he can get a lot better at, and that's a positive thing. I want him to shoot more, and the only way he can shoot more is moving more, and that's something we're working on. He's having a good season. Certainly, makes a lot of big plays down the stretch, like he did the other night [against Georgetown], making the three, getting the back tip. He's improved immensely at the defensive end. So, he's a big factor whether we win or lose.”
On if potentially being ranked after Saturday means anything to him…
“Not to me personally, I don't think to the team personally. They just want to win. They're trying right now to win every game they play and prepare. They know how poorly they played in the first half [against Georgetown]. It was a very difficult film to watch, very difficult. The pace was awful and we got to give a lot of credit to Georgetown. They made us look bad, so we'll give credit to them.”
On bringing publicity to St. John’s…
“I got a lot of publicity when I came here, certainly, because I'm old and I've been around a long time. I want St John's to get the publicity now for it as a university, academically, athletically, the other sports, the more publicity we get brings us back on the map. That's what we're trying to do here. Anything we can do to promote this place is a major positive.”
St John’s forward Aaron Scott:
On his improved three-point shooting over the past couple of games…
“As I said a couple weeks ago, just got to stay confident. I knew it was going to happen. Can't get too low, can't get too high. Just got to remain sane and just keep going.”
On the team’s mentality now that shots are beginning to fall…
“We knew it was going to happen eventually. We just got to continue playing how he was playing before it happened. We knew it was going to happen, so we're not surprised.”
On working through his shooting slump…
“We shoot every day. You know, we are working on our shot every day. So, me personally, I needed that to happen too. I've been working every day to try to get (my shot) off a little faster, you know, just finding ways. But sometimes, you just got to shoot. Can't think about it, just shoot.”
On playing with Kadary Richmond
“Being a three-point shooter, its great because you know he finds you, you know he gets downhill and makes the defense help. My man helps off me and gets me an open shot. He also can finish. So, it's been great.”
On having Kadary Richmond’s back against Seton Hall…
“Oh, yeah, we always have his back. That's every game. We are treating this like a normal game; we don't want to get into all the nonsense and all the extra stuff. We just want to keep the main thing, the main thing, and that's getting the win.”
On getting everyone’s best shot every night…
“I expect to get everybody's best shot just because we're a good team. We're at the top of the standings in the BIG EAST. So I think we're going to get everybody's best shot. You know, we just got to be ready for it.”
St. John’s forward Brady Dunlap:
On Kadary Richmond…
“[Kadary Richmond] is quiet, but I feel like it's more like confidence. He's a quiet, confident dude. I feel like the guys in the room who are boasting and talking about themselves are the most insecure people in the room and they're kind of hiding some part of themselves that they people don't want to see. He's kind of just a quiet, calm killer. Just looking to him when I was playing and having that sort of calmness in the locker room kind of calmed me down, knowing that I have a guy on my team who is mature enough and calm enough. He just knows who he is and knows how good he is.”
On how Kadary Richmond impacts games…
“I think [Kadary Richmond] has risen to the occasion multiple times this year and in multiple games this year. You get to the end of the game and you give him the ball, he's going to get something done and he's going to win the game for us. I think he's done that in a few different games, even dating back to our exhibition at Rutgers. I feel like he really controlled the end of that game.”
On the team’s mentality following injuries…
“I think our team is very mature beyond our years. We have a bunch of young guys that really understand how to play the game, especially Ruben [Prey]. I feel like Ruben, with all of his experience overseas, brings a different mentality to the team. So, when guys go down, it's just the next-man-up mentality. I feel like all of us are very confident in that. We have wars in practice every day where my white team would go against the red team. We go at it every day. So, I feel like when someone goes down, obviously, it hurts and we hurt for the player, but at the end of the day, there's a job to get done, and the job is to win games.”
On Kadary Richmond returning to Seton Hall…
“It's not going to make a difference in winning and losing. He's fully aware that if you go to a rival school, when you play them, the fans will get on him, but it's not going to make a difference whether the ball goes in or whether he rebounds or plays some defense. So, we're really not going to pay too much attention to it.”
On how he thinks Kadary Richmond will handle returning to Seton Hall…
“I don't think he's going to be affected either way. I don't think he'll play better. I don't think he'll play worse. I think he's just handling it like another game, and he knows how much this game means to our team. Everybody's totally focused on that. It's not a bigger game than any other game for any of us. It's just another BIG EAST game that's going to be very difficult to win.”
On Seton Hall…
“I like his [Seton Hall Head Coach Shaheen Holloway] team. I like the way they shoot the ball. I think they are young and talented. Sometimes, with young teams, you can have this type of up-and-down season. But they played Providence tough. They've got very good offensive talent. They're very good at doing what they do well, I think they're going to progress. They're going to get better because they're young. So, it's a long season. I wouldn't call it a bad season yet. I wouldn't call it a good season yet. A lot of games to be played.”
On Simeon Wilcher…
“You know, Sim is progressing nicely. He still has a lot of areas he can get a lot better at, and that's a positive thing. I want him to shoot more, and the only way he can shoot more is moving more, and that's something we're working on. He's having a good season. Certainly, makes a lot of big plays down the stretch, like he did the other night [against Georgetown], making the three, getting the back tip. He's improved immensely at the defensive end. So, he's a big factor whether we win or lose.”
On if potentially being ranked after Saturday means anything to him…
“Not to me personally, I don't think to the team personally. They just want to win. They're trying right now to win every game they play and prepare. They know how poorly they played in the first half [against Georgetown]. It was a very difficult film to watch, very difficult. The pace was awful and we got to give a lot of credit to Georgetown. They made us look bad, so we'll give credit to them.”
On bringing publicity to St. John’s…
“I got a lot of publicity when I came here, certainly, because I'm old and I've been around a long time. I want St John's to get the publicity now for it as a university, academically, athletically, the other sports, the more publicity we get brings us back on the map. That's what we're trying to do here. Anything we can do to promote this place is a major positive.”
St John’s forward Aaron Scott:
On his improved three-point shooting over the past couple of games…
“As I said a couple weeks ago, just got to stay confident. I knew it was going to happen. Can't get too low, can't get too high. Just got to remain sane and just keep going.”
On the team’s mentality now that shots are beginning to fall…
“We knew it was going to happen eventually. We just got to continue playing how he was playing before it happened. We knew it was going to happen, so we're not surprised.”
On working through his shooting slump…
“We shoot every day. You know, we are working on our shot every day. So, me personally, I needed that to happen too. I've been working every day to try to get (my shot) off a little faster, you know, just finding ways. But sometimes, you just got to shoot. Can't think about it, just shoot.”
On playing with Kadary Richmond
“Being a three-point shooter, its great because you know he finds you, you know he gets downhill and makes the defense help. My man helps off me and gets me an open shot. He also can finish. So, it's been great.”
On having Kadary Richmond’s back against Seton Hall…
“Oh, yeah, we always have his back. That's every game. We are treating this like a normal game; we don't want to get into all the nonsense and all the extra stuff. We just want to keep the main thing, the main thing, and that's getting the win.”
On getting everyone’s best shot every night…
“I expect to get everybody's best shot just because we're a good team. We're at the top of the standings in the BIG EAST. So I think we're going to get everybody's best shot. You know, we just got to be ready for it.”
St. John’s forward Brady Dunlap:
On Kadary Richmond…
“[Kadary Richmond] is quiet, but I feel like it's more like confidence. He's a quiet, confident dude. I feel like the guys in the room who are boasting and talking about themselves are the most insecure people in the room and they're kind of hiding some part of themselves that they people don't want to see. He's kind of just a quiet, calm killer. Just looking to him when I was playing and having that sort of calmness in the locker room kind of calmed me down, knowing that I have a guy on my team who is mature enough and calm enough. He just knows who he is and knows how good he is.”
On how Kadary Richmond impacts games…
“I think [Kadary Richmond] has risen to the occasion multiple times this year and in multiple games this year. You get to the end of the game and you give him the ball, he's going to get something done and he's going to win the game for us. I think he's done that in a few different games, even dating back to our exhibition at Rutgers. I feel like he really controlled the end of that game.”
On the team’s mentality following injuries…
“I think our team is very mature beyond our years. We have a bunch of young guys that really understand how to play the game, especially Ruben [Prey]. I feel like Ruben, with all of his experience overseas, brings a different mentality to the team. So, when guys go down, it's just the next-man-up mentality. I feel like all of us are very confident in that. We have wars in practice every day where my white team would go against the red team. We go at it every day. So, I feel like when someone goes down, obviously, it hurts and we hurt for the player, but at the end of the day, there's a job to get done, and the job is to win games.”