St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John’s vs. Marquette
St. John’s Men’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Pitino, Oziyah Sellers and Bryce Hopkins met with the media after to the Red Storm’s 76-70 win at Marquette
Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening Statement…
“My message to the guys was, [Marquette] won three out of the last four games. Blew out Creighton, blew out Butler, lost to Villanova by three, and won a close game against Xavier. So they're a terrific home court team that's playing better and better and better in the month of January and February. I said, ‘don't panic.’ We've been here before. We're going to have our run and they one hundred percent didn't panic, played like a veteran team, and so proud of these two guys. Bryce [Hopkins], once again, for the second time in three [games], won the Big Bell Award. We rang the bell in the locker room which is great. … It was a great win, really proud of the guys, and we continue to be undefeated on the road.”
On the defense in the later stages of the second half…
“Nigel James is tough to guard because he's not going to stop until he gets to the rim. We're trying to take away the three point shot, which we did, I thought, an excellent job of it.”
On building a brotherhood…
“I said to them before ‘What you accomplishing is very difficult in the BIG EAST, because everybody plays well at home.’ Bryce [Hopkins] just said we're trying to build a brotherhood. It's really difficult. Bryce never knew Oziyah [Sellers]. Bryce never knew, Zuby [Ejiofor]. Oziyah never knew, [Sadiku Ibine Ayo]. They didn't know each other so you can't build a brotherhood overnight. You got to go through some tough times. Adversity brings them close together, and those early games brought them close together, and they don't panic. They just picked up their defense, made good plays on offense, and that's the way you win on the road. Make you free throws, and don't be afraid of failure.”
Bryce Hopkins
On teammates having his back:
“We knew what type of environment we were going into, and you know, this brotherhood that we keep on building, we love it, and it starts in practice, and we just play off for each other, and we love each other.”
On the BIG EAST standings:
“We still have to prepare the same way. We still have five tough games and we got to take it one game at a time. One day at a time in practice. We can't overlook any opponent, because it's easy to let a game slip, so we just have to stay locked into every opponent and prepare the same way and practice.”
Oziyah Sellers
On Bryce Hopkin’s play:
“Bryce was great tonight. He definitely carried us down the stretch, made a lot of good plays, and you definitely need that tonight, and I'm glad we won.”
On defense in the last 11 minutes:
“We’ve just been trying to find ways to win. We were down for a minute. Coach [Pitino] told us not to panic, so we didn't, and we found a way to get stops.”
Opening Statement…
“My message to the guys was, [Marquette] won three out of the last four games. Blew out Creighton, blew out Butler, lost to Villanova by three, and won a close game against Xavier. So they're a terrific home court team that's playing better and better and better in the month of January and February. I said, ‘don't panic.’ We've been here before. We're going to have our run and they one hundred percent didn't panic, played like a veteran team, and so proud of these two guys. Bryce [Hopkins], once again, for the second time in three [games], won the Big Bell Award. We rang the bell in the locker room which is great. … It was a great win, really proud of the guys, and we continue to be undefeated on the road.”
On the defense in the later stages of the second half…
“Nigel James is tough to guard because he's not going to stop until he gets to the rim. We're trying to take away the three point shot, which we did, I thought, an excellent job of it.”
On building a brotherhood…
“I said to them before ‘What you accomplishing is very difficult in the BIG EAST, because everybody plays well at home.’ Bryce [Hopkins] just said we're trying to build a brotherhood. It's really difficult. Bryce never knew Oziyah [Sellers]. Bryce never knew, Zuby [Ejiofor]. Oziyah never knew, [Sadiku Ibine Ayo]. They didn't know each other so you can't build a brotherhood overnight. You got to go through some tough times. Adversity brings them close together, and those early games brought them close together, and they don't panic. They just picked up their defense, made good plays on offense, and that's the way you win on the road. Make you free throws, and don't be afraid of failure.”
Bryce Hopkins
On teammates having his back:
“We knew what type of environment we were going into, and you know, this brotherhood that we keep on building, we love it, and it starts in practice, and we just play off for each other, and we love each other.”
On the BIG EAST standings:
“We still have to prepare the same way. We still have five tough games and we got to take it one game at a time. One day at a time in practice. We can't overlook any opponent, because it's easy to let a game slip, so we just have to stay locked into every opponent and prepare the same way and practice.”
Oziyah Sellers
On Bryce Hopkin’s play:
“Bryce was great tonight. He definitely carried us down the stretch, made a lot of good plays, and you definitely need that tonight, and I'm glad we won.”
On defense in the last 11 minutes:
“We’ve just been trying to find ways to win. We were down for a minute. Coach [Pitino] told us not to panic, so we didn't, and we found a way to get stops.”