St. John's Men's Basketball Post Game Quotes - Oct. 25, 2026
St. John’s Men’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Pitino, Keyshawn Hall and Tounde Yessoufou speak on the Red Storm’s 87-74 exhibition win over Texas
Head Coach Rick Pitino
On Ian Jackson’s game today…
“I thought this was, by far, his best overall game, defensively, it was great. He did all of the right things defensively, and he didn't force the offense. He just looked like a complete player at every phase of the game. He had six rebounds, for assists, two steals. I thought it was terrific.”
On the team’s growth from the Rutgers game…
“I felt that we had to make a quantum leap from the Rutgers game. I was on them constantly about certain things, and they made a quantum leap tonight.”
On the message he sent to the team after the Rutgers game…
“I was on them pretty strong for about 4 or 5 days. All individuals, collectively, we were not a team. I said that there's only one member of this basketball team that understands what team is all about, and that’s Quinn Ellis, the rest of you guys don't have a clue, all you want to do is score. So that sounded pretty hot, and tonight, they got to message him, it was very, very unselfish, moving basketball well.”
Graduate forward Keyshawn Hall
On his scoring and Coach Pitino taking his game to the next level…
“It’s the little things. He knew I could score coming here. He's going to give me freedom to let me do what I have to do (to score). But he's showing me the little things, that I don't have to play on the ball all day, we can play off ball back screens. Do all the little things, like make an assist. So that's the main thing. I just come here to learn from him and win.”
Sophomore guard Tounde Yessoufou
On the team coming out after the 4OT game vs. Rutgers…
“I think we played together way better (today) because we didn’t want to come out again like that. They got on us. They took us off the bounce, so we wanted to not fight back and have to claw back into the game. We wanted to come out and set the standard and that is be dominant on our home court in front of some of the best fans. So we had to not let them get ahead of us or be more physical than us and play harder than us.”
On Ian Jackson’s game today…
“I thought this was, by far, his best overall game, defensively, it was great. He did all of the right things defensively, and he didn't force the offense. He just looked like a complete player at every phase of the game. He had six rebounds, for assists, two steals. I thought it was terrific.”
On the team’s growth from the Rutgers game…
“I felt that we had to make a quantum leap from the Rutgers game. I was on them constantly about certain things, and they made a quantum leap tonight.”
On the message he sent to the team after the Rutgers game…
“I was on them pretty strong for about 4 or 5 days. All individuals, collectively, we were not a team. I said that there's only one member of this basketball team that understands what team is all about, and that’s Quinn Ellis, the rest of you guys don't have a clue, all you want to do is score. So that sounded pretty hot, and tonight, they got to message him, it was very, very unselfish, moving basketball well.”
Graduate forward Keyshawn Hall
On his scoring and Coach Pitino taking his game to the next level…
“It’s the little things. He knew I could score coming here. He's going to give me freedom to let me do what I have to do (to score). But he's showing me the little things, that I don't have to play on the ball all day, we can play off ball back screens. Do all the little things, like make an assist. So that's the main thing. I just come here to learn from him and win.”
Sophomore guard Tounde Yessoufou
On the team coming out after the 4OT game vs. Rutgers…
“I think we played together way better (today) because we didn’t want to come out again like that. They got on us. They took us off the bounce, so we wanted to not fight back and have to claw back into the game. We wanted to come out and set the standard and that is be dominant on our home court in front of some of the best fans. So we had to not let them get ahead of us or be more physical than us and play harder than us.”