St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: ST. JOHN’S VS. IOWA STATE
St. John’s Men’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Pitino spoke to the media following the Red Storm’s 83-82 defeat to Iowa State
Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening statement…
“It was another tough game for us. When you play this type of schedule, you're going to be in tough games. The effort was great. The play was terrific. With the game on the line, we just didn't come up with the rebounds necessary to put the other team away. But that's credit to their incredible crashing on the offensive glass. It’s unfortunate that we lost another good game.”
On how Dylan Darling fouling out affected the end of the game...
“It had nothing to do with, the guards played excellent defense. They didn't come out with the blocking out on the glass. They got four offensive rebounds with the game on the line. It wasn't Dylan Darling. It was their ability to come up with the backboard and our inability to come up with the rebound.”
On Oziyah Sellers shot choice down the stretch…
“I wanted him to shoot a three. He was open and instead he took a tough two. We want him to get more threes up and when he's open for a glimpse, he’s got to shoot the ball. Instead, he went into the defender. It's something that's a weakness on his part right now because we need him to shoot threes.
On rebounding against the Cyclones…
“We played a terrific basketball team, and with the game on the line, we couldn't come up with the rebound. I don't look at what individuals do when they give great effort. Both Joson and Ian gave great effort. I give the other team credit for playing good defense on them. The rebounding, they've got to do a better job of”
On the struggles with physicality…
“You've got to create rebounding space and we were not doing that. The offensive play is always going to push you in the back. So it's a car crash, who wins the crash? If they crash into you, they move you to the baseline. If you crash into them, you win and we have struggled with that all season. It's been a weakness of ours.”
On the matchup against Baylor...
“First of all, I don't coach against Scott Drew, I coach against Baylor. He doesn't coach against me, he coaches against St. John's. We have a totally different basketball team this year than last year, and so does he. They're a very good basketball team. They shoot the three great. Carr's an outstanding athlete. But this tournament we knew we'd have three tough games. We just have to keep getting better.”