St. John's University Athletics
PREGAME QUOTES: ST. JOHN’S VS. CREIGHTON
St. John’s Men’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Pitino, senior forwards Zuby Ejiofor and Dillon Mitchell spoke with the media before Saturday’s matchup against Creighton
Head Coach Rick Pitino
On how the non-conference schedule has helped the team become poised under pressure…
“I think it's called great competition. When you compete against great competition, you find out what you need to do, and you find out what you did well. So, when you play against, Michigan, Alabama, Baylor, and Auburn and those type teams, you learn the mistakes that you made against great competition, and then you adjust.”
On the team playing without fear of failure…
“What I keep saying to them is fear of failure. Have no fear of failure. Play to win. I saw it in their eyes the other day when Marquette came back and took a six-point lead. I saw not panic, I saw disappointment in their eyes, and I said, "Relax, long game." and I just said to them in the huddle, "When it gets to the three-minute mark, you promise me one thing, that you'll execute the layups and go against the full court press." We still had eighteen minutes to go in the game, so I wanted them to think positive.”
On keeping the team focused with only five games left in the season…
“I said, "Look, we're trying to win a [BIG EAST] regular season championship and we're going to try to win a BIG EAST [Tournament] championship, and we're going to try to go far." So I said, "But you have to take it one possession at a time, not one game at a time."
Senior forward Zuby Ejiofor
On the team still having room to reach its full potential under Coach Pitino…
“For three years now, getting to play for him that's who he's always been. He's always challenged us. He's always pushed us to even get better and exceed our expectations for ourselves and his expectations as well. But it's somebody who you would love to play for. He's never, thinking too high and he has great expectations for each and every one of us, collectively as a group as well.”
On the team’s championship goals and how attainable they feel…
“That’s obviously a testament to everything that we've been putting in for the past three weeks. Winning is not easy and that's something I tell the guys all the time and no matter what it takes, it may be ugly, and may not always be pretty each and every day, but as long as you come out with the win, I think that's the most important thing. I think winning together it builds connectivity with each other and it's good to see. Some of these guys experience, this level of success and we're still not done. Like I say, we just got to approach each and every day with a championship mindset and just be the best versions of ourselves.”
Senior forward Dillon Mitchell
On what makes Zuby Ejiofor unique…
“I think just his leadership. Obviously, he's been here a lot longer than a lot of us, but obviously, his leadership and he goes out there and gives it all he’s got every day. In practice, he doesn't get any subs, and he goes out there and competes every day, all day in practice. I mean, he just plays hard. He plays extremely hard. He gets everybody else playing hard.”
On the level of conditioning between St. John’s and other teams…
“By the way we practice now, it's a very up and down pace. It's almost like playing a full game every day in practice, just how we play and how we prepare for games and just getting up and down. That's something that Coach P preaches. We want to play fast and we have the talent for it.”
On his shot selection after not taking any shots in the last game…
“I didn't know till after the Marquette game that I didn't even attempt one, but I think it was just so much trying to get my other teammates involved and get them going. So obviously, I'm going to take it if it's open, but I’ve never been a player to try to force anything.
On how the non-conference schedule has helped the team become poised under pressure…
“I think it's called great competition. When you compete against great competition, you find out what you need to do, and you find out what you did well. So, when you play against, Michigan, Alabama, Baylor, and Auburn and those type teams, you learn the mistakes that you made against great competition, and then you adjust.”
On the team playing without fear of failure…
“What I keep saying to them is fear of failure. Have no fear of failure. Play to win. I saw it in their eyes the other day when Marquette came back and took a six-point lead. I saw not panic, I saw disappointment in their eyes, and I said, "Relax, long game." and I just said to them in the huddle, "When it gets to the three-minute mark, you promise me one thing, that you'll execute the layups and go against the full court press." We still had eighteen minutes to go in the game, so I wanted them to think positive.”
On keeping the team focused with only five games left in the season…
“I said, "Look, we're trying to win a [BIG EAST] regular season championship and we're going to try to win a BIG EAST [Tournament] championship, and we're going to try to go far." So I said, "But you have to take it one possession at a time, not one game at a time."
Senior forward Zuby Ejiofor
On the team still having room to reach its full potential under Coach Pitino…
“For three years now, getting to play for him that's who he's always been. He's always challenged us. He's always pushed us to even get better and exceed our expectations for ourselves and his expectations as well. But it's somebody who you would love to play for. He's never, thinking too high and he has great expectations for each and every one of us, collectively as a group as well.”
On the team’s championship goals and how attainable they feel…
“That’s obviously a testament to everything that we've been putting in for the past three weeks. Winning is not easy and that's something I tell the guys all the time and no matter what it takes, it may be ugly, and may not always be pretty each and every day, but as long as you come out with the win, I think that's the most important thing. I think winning together it builds connectivity with each other and it's good to see. Some of these guys experience, this level of success and we're still not done. Like I say, we just got to approach each and every day with a championship mindset and just be the best versions of ourselves.”
Senior forward Dillon Mitchell
On what makes Zuby Ejiofor unique…
“I think just his leadership. Obviously, he's been here a lot longer than a lot of us, but obviously, his leadership and he goes out there and gives it all he’s got every day. In practice, he doesn't get any subs, and he goes out there and competes every day, all day in practice. I mean, he just plays hard. He plays extremely hard. He gets everybody else playing hard.”
On the level of conditioning between St. John’s and other teams…
“By the way we practice now, it's a very up and down pace. It's almost like playing a full game every day in practice, just how we play and how we prepare for games and just getting up and down. That's something that Coach P preaches. We want to play fast and we have the talent for it.”
On his shot selection after not taking any shots in the last game…
“I didn't know till after the Marquette game that I didn't even attempt one, but I think it was just so much trying to get my other teammates involved and get them going. So obviously, I'm going to take it if it's open, but I’ve never been a player to try to force anything.