St. John's University Athletics
PREGAME QUOTES: ST. JOHN’S VS. VILLANOVA
St. John’s Men’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Pitino, senior forward Dillon Mitchell and senior guard Oziyah Sellers spoke to the media prior to Saturday’s matchup against Villanova at 8 p.m. inside Madison Square Garden
Head Coach Rick Pitino
On the message to the team after Wednesday’s game at UConn…
“Leading up to the game, we had our best practices and we had the best walkthrough of the season. So, it's really a shame that we gave that type of performance, and it kept mushrooming more as we kept missing shots and missing shots and missing shots. My message to them was that I've experienced this before. … In 2008, I think it was, we lost to Notre Dame by 31 points and then won 13 straight, went to the Elite Eight. I told them that the following year in 2009, we lost to Providence by 31 points and went to the Final Four. So, I said, whether you lose by one or 30, it doesn't matter. It's how you're going to play ball going forward. That's the message, going forward is what's important.”
On expectations of the team heading into the Villanova game…
“They're a great group. I am extremely disappointed, but they're equally sharing their disappointment. They're just as disappointed in the way they played as I am. That's a good thing and it really is. I say it, if you lose by one or two and you lose by 30, it's the same thing. It's a loss and sometimes an embarrassing loss can even help more than losing by two.”
On the importance of starting fast against Villanova…
“I don't think their confidence will be shaken, but I will say this, when you look at the metrics, our two-point shooting is one of the worst in the conference, if not the country. So, we've got to get away from what I call the Joson shot. We got to get away from that difficult two because it's metric-wise, it's one of the worst in the country. We've got to start taking better shots mid-range-wise and touch the paint a little bit more and we have to take more corner threes. One of the weaknesses of this team is they don't get to the corner and we're shooting 37 percent in the corner, but it's only seven percent of our shots. So, we've got to get more to the corners.”
On a potential third matchup against UConn at the BIG EAST Tournament…
“Danny [Hurley] said, ‘I have a feeling we'll meet again’ and I said, ‘I hope you're right’, because we know we can.”
Senior forward Dillon Mitchell
On the last 48 hours for the team following the matchup at UConn…
“Honestly, just coming together, keeping our heads up. We’re still in a fight for something, and no matter what the score was, it's one loss. Moving on to the next one, we got another great team coming up that's part of our scheduling and the fight for what we're after. So just coming together, learning from the losses, learning from the mistakes, picking up on what we have to work on, and just continuing how we're supposed to.”
On the team’s character and confidence heading into Saturday’s game with Villanova…
“I think it's just our mindset. Knowing that it's a long season and what we're still fighting for is right there ahead of us. So, we can't dwell on it. We can only just learn from it, learn from the mistakes we made, just pick up and come out with the right intensity Saturday, which is going to be against a great team and a big part of accomplishing what we want to do. We've definitely just turned the page and look forward to tomorrow's game and coming out with the right energy and picking up where we left off.
Senior guard Oziyah Sellers
On whether this team has the ability to turn the page quickly…
“Yes, I feel like we've been together enough. We've fought through a lot of close games up until this moment. I definitely feel like it's something that we're capable of and I know that we'll be fine going forward.”
On what people can expect to see on Saturday…
“A bounce-back game. Obviously, we know that people want to see how we respond to this, if we're able to respond to this or if we crumble. I feel like none of us have that personality, and I feel like we'll be able to bounce back in the right way. I know we're all going to play hard. We're all bought into this scout and we look forward to it.”
On the message to the team after Wednesday’s game at UConn…
“Leading up to the game, we had our best practices and we had the best walkthrough of the season. So, it's really a shame that we gave that type of performance, and it kept mushrooming more as we kept missing shots and missing shots and missing shots. My message to them was that I've experienced this before. … In 2008, I think it was, we lost to Notre Dame by 31 points and then won 13 straight, went to the Elite Eight. I told them that the following year in 2009, we lost to Providence by 31 points and went to the Final Four. So, I said, whether you lose by one or 30, it doesn't matter. It's how you're going to play ball going forward. That's the message, going forward is what's important.”
On expectations of the team heading into the Villanova game…
“They're a great group. I am extremely disappointed, but they're equally sharing their disappointment. They're just as disappointed in the way they played as I am. That's a good thing and it really is. I say it, if you lose by one or two and you lose by 30, it's the same thing. It's a loss and sometimes an embarrassing loss can even help more than losing by two.”
On the importance of starting fast against Villanova…
“I don't think their confidence will be shaken, but I will say this, when you look at the metrics, our two-point shooting is one of the worst in the conference, if not the country. So, we've got to get away from what I call the Joson shot. We got to get away from that difficult two because it's metric-wise, it's one of the worst in the country. We've got to start taking better shots mid-range-wise and touch the paint a little bit more and we have to take more corner threes. One of the weaknesses of this team is they don't get to the corner and we're shooting 37 percent in the corner, but it's only seven percent of our shots. So, we've got to get more to the corners.”
On a potential third matchup against UConn at the BIG EAST Tournament…
“Danny [Hurley] said, ‘I have a feeling we'll meet again’ and I said, ‘I hope you're right’, because we know we can.”
Senior forward Dillon Mitchell
On the last 48 hours for the team following the matchup at UConn…
“Honestly, just coming together, keeping our heads up. We’re still in a fight for something, and no matter what the score was, it's one loss. Moving on to the next one, we got another great team coming up that's part of our scheduling and the fight for what we're after. So just coming together, learning from the losses, learning from the mistakes, picking up on what we have to work on, and just continuing how we're supposed to.”
On the team’s character and confidence heading into Saturday’s game with Villanova…
“I think it's just our mindset. Knowing that it's a long season and what we're still fighting for is right there ahead of us. So, we can't dwell on it. We can only just learn from it, learn from the mistakes we made, just pick up and come out with the right intensity Saturday, which is going to be against a great team and a big part of accomplishing what we want to do. We've definitely just turned the page and look forward to tomorrow's game and coming out with the right energy and picking up where we left off.
Senior guard Oziyah Sellers
On whether this team has the ability to turn the page quickly…
“Yes, I feel like we've been together enough. We've fought through a lot of close games up until this moment. I definitely feel like it's something that we're capable of and I know that we'll be fine going forward.”
On what people can expect to see on Saturday…
“A bounce-back game. Obviously, we know that people want to see how we respond to this, if we're able to respond to this or if we crumble. I feel like none of us have that personality, and I feel like we'll be able to bounce back in the right way. I know we're all going to play hard. We're all bought into this scout and we look forward to it.”