St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: ST. JOHN’S VS. BAYLOR
St. John’s Men’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Pitino, senior guard Oziyah Sellers and graduate student forward/guard Bryce Hopkins spoke with the media after defeating Baylor 96-81 at the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas
Head Coach Rick Pitino
On bouncing back and responding with maturity…
“A classy team really focuses in, doesn’t hang their heads and brings it, and these guys did. For the first seven or eight minutes, we could have given the Knicks a game before losing by 40, so it was a brilliant first eight minutes of the game. And [Bryce Hopkins and Oziyah Sellers] were both great. I haven’t begged very often for players to shoot the ball, but I’ve begged these two guys to take shots, and they did tonight.”
On offensive progression…
“We have two point-forwards. Bryce [Hopkins] and Dillon [Mitchell] can play like gods in terms of handling the basketball and passing. That does wonders for you. I thought tonight they did a lot of great things offensively. It was a good bounce-back game, and as this team grows together, we have the potential to be very good.”
On learning from past losses…
“Even more than Alabama, I thought we played a really good game [against Iowa State]. We just got dominated on the backboard in the final four minutes. Watching Iowa State today, they dominated the offensive glass too. We wanted to play in this tournament to get all these new guys ready for this type of competition, and I think today they witnessed what great preparation is all about.”
On realizing the team was ready to respond…
“They were so dialed in. During film, they were asking a lot of questions. Usually we get one or two, but last night there were seven or eight. The walkthrough was the best we’ve had all season. I walked away telling the coaches: ‘It’ll be our night.’”
Senior guard Oziyah Sellers
On being aggressive…
“The conversations with Coach [Pitino] have been pretty simple. He’s just told me: ‘Shoot the ball.’ Even in moments when I felt like I wasn’t really open, he wanted me to take it. Having that confidence from him makes me want to go out there and play free.”
On the emotional sting of the Iowa State loss…
“It definitely hurts when you play a full game and lose by one possession. That feeling sticks with you. We were super bought in on moving on and locking in today to get the win. We didn’t want to sit in that same feeling again.”
Graduate student guard/forward Bryce Hopkins
On his growing confidence…
“I feel like the confidence comes from the work that we put in every day. We wake up in the morning and we’re in the gym for individual workouts. After that, we lift and keep going. It’s just the consistency in the work. As the season goes on and teams try to game-plan for us, I’m that much more confident in taking my shots because I know how much time we’ve put in.”
On the mindset after falling to Iowa State…
“Among us players, the conversation was simple. We do not want to feel how we felt last night. So we had to do something about it. We had a good walk-through this morning, we prepared for Baylor and I think we did a good job sticking to the gameplan.”
On bouncing back and responding with maturity…
“A classy team really focuses in, doesn’t hang their heads and brings it, and these guys did. For the first seven or eight minutes, we could have given the Knicks a game before losing by 40, so it was a brilliant first eight minutes of the game. And [Bryce Hopkins and Oziyah Sellers] were both great. I haven’t begged very often for players to shoot the ball, but I’ve begged these two guys to take shots, and they did tonight.”
On offensive progression…
“We have two point-forwards. Bryce [Hopkins] and Dillon [Mitchell] can play like gods in terms of handling the basketball and passing. That does wonders for you. I thought tonight they did a lot of great things offensively. It was a good bounce-back game, and as this team grows together, we have the potential to be very good.”
On learning from past losses…
“Even more than Alabama, I thought we played a really good game [against Iowa State]. We just got dominated on the backboard in the final four minutes. Watching Iowa State today, they dominated the offensive glass too. We wanted to play in this tournament to get all these new guys ready for this type of competition, and I think today they witnessed what great preparation is all about.”
On realizing the team was ready to respond…
“They were so dialed in. During film, they were asking a lot of questions. Usually we get one or two, but last night there were seven or eight. The walkthrough was the best we’ve had all season. I walked away telling the coaches: ‘It’ll be our night.’”
Senior guard Oziyah Sellers
On being aggressive…
“The conversations with Coach [Pitino] have been pretty simple. He’s just told me: ‘Shoot the ball.’ Even in moments when I felt like I wasn’t really open, he wanted me to take it. Having that confidence from him makes me want to go out there and play free.”
On the emotional sting of the Iowa State loss…
“It definitely hurts when you play a full game and lose by one possession. That feeling sticks with you. We were super bought in on moving on and locking in today to get the win. We didn’t want to sit in that same feeling again.”
Graduate student guard/forward Bryce Hopkins
On his growing confidence…
“I feel like the confidence comes from the work that we put in every day. We wake up in the morning and we’re in the gym for individual workouts. After that, we lift and keep going. It’s just the consistency in the work. As the season goes on and teams try to game-plan for us, I’m that much more confident in taking my shots because I know how much time we’ve put in.”
On the mindset after falling to Iowa State…
“Among us players, the conversation was simple. We do not want to feel how we felt last night. So we had to do something about it. We had a good walk-through this morning, we prepared for Baylor and I think we did a good job sticking to the gameplan.”