St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: BIG EAST TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL ST. JOHN’S VS. SETON HALL
St. John’s Men’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Pitino, senior forwards Zuby Ejiofor and Dillon Mitchell and sophomore guard Joson Sanon spoke with the media on Friday after defeating Seton Hall, 78-68, in the BIG EAST Tournament Semifinal.
Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening statement…
“We bent a little bit down the stretch after playing great basketball, but we never broke, and Seton Hall breaks everybody. They come back against everybody because of their intensity, so really proud of our guys. They made their free throws. They made good defensive plays down the stretch. Certainly, when you can break pressure and make your free throws, you’re always going to have a great chance of maintaining your lead. So, [we] did a lot of good things tonight offensively. I thought we were excellent the entire night.”
On the team’s resilience…
“I’ve been impressed in so many segments of this season with the way we responded against Connecticut to Villanova, [and] the way we responded at Seton Hall to get that victory when there was a lot on the line, and the way we responded tonight. So, we’re proud of our guys. We know we have a road ahead of us. It’s going to be very difficult, whoever we play, and we’ll just take it one game at a time.”
On the 2025-26 squad…
“I got lucky this year because we have a brand-new team and they’re just as good attitude-wise as the team before. We went after character this year more than anything else. We went after character. It starts with [Joson Sanon and Dillon Mitchell]. [Joson] never complains, and I love Bryce [Hopkins] and Dillon [Mitchell] because when they mess up and they come back they just go, ‘it’s on me, it’s on me.’ They don’t even give me a chance to get on them because they’re such pros. And I’ve said it all along, Joson is physically the most talented ball player on the team. He’s only going to grow.”
On Dillon Mitchell…
“Five assists, no turnovers, six rebounds, 13 points and played all those minutes and didn’t turn the ball over. Pretty special.”
Senior forward Zuby Ejiofor
On preparing for another BIG EAST Tournament Championship game…
“It’s truly special. It shows the work of what Coach Pitino has been doing the past two to three years here. And the staff, they do a really great job of just showing us areas [to improve] and countless hours of film and showing us areas where we could exploit the defense and come out with the best chance to win games.”
On the team’s success…
“It’s just our mentality coming in. I think we came in with the right mentality, especially to start. We were a little bit sloppy throughout the end of the game. That was because Seton Hall is obviously a great team because of how they apply pressure. So, we’re going to look at areas that we can improve, but now we just got to worry about the next game. It’s a big opportunity to win a BIG EAST Tournament Championship game here at [Madison Square Garden]. Truly a special moment.”
On rising to the occasion…
“I live for these moments. Having the opportunity to go win and advance, I just predicate myself on playing the right way each and every time on the floor, doing whatever it takes to win. Whatever it is on defense or whenever my team needs me to get a bucket, that’s what I’m willing to do.”
Senior forward Dillon Mitchell
On the opportunity to win a BIG EAST Tournament Championship…
“Us in the locker room, we know what we’re playing for. We try to stay level-headed, understand that it’s 40 minutes and it doesn’t matter who you play, anybody can come out there and beat you for 40 minutes. All it takes is one game. So just staying level-headed, understanding the scouting report, understanding what we got to do, coming out playing as hard as we can, and for us new guys who weren’t part if the team last year, we want it just as bad.”
On the team’s chemistry…
“I think we’ve been through a lot early on in the season. One of the hardest things, like Coach Pitino said, is playing with a lead. That’s something we’ve learned, we don’t want to get into a position where we’re down 15 like we have against Xavier and Seton Hall and trying to fight back. So it’s just staying level-headed as a team, coming together. And it really starts with the off-the-court stuff for us, just hanging of all the time, chatting and just being together. It really helps on the court. So, when we get to those positions, we know to trust each other and have each other’s back.”
Sophomore forward Joson Sanon
On shooting 3-of-5 from beyond the arc…
“When I was on the bench, I told Coach Mas [Masiello], we need some threes, and then when Coach put me in, I did my thing.”
On his confidence as a shooter…
“I feel like my confidence has always been the same.”
On his progression…
“I feel like I’ve grown a lot, especially on the defensive end. Coach [is] always on me, especially Mas and all the other coaches on me about defense. Just learning little things about keeping my chest on the ball and not letting anybody beat me off the bounce.”
Opening statement…
“We bent a little bit down the stretch after playing great basketball, but we never broke, and Seton Hall breaks everybody. They come back against everybody because of their intensity, so really proud of our guys. They made their free throws. They made good defensive plays down the stretch. Certainly, when you can break pressure and make your free throws, you’re always going to have a great chance of maintaining your lead. So, [we] did a lot of good things tonight offensively. I thought we were excellent the entire night.”
On the team’s resilience…
“I’ve been impressed in so many segments of this season with the way we responded against Connecticut to Villanova, [and] the way we responded at Seton Hall to get that victory when there was a lot on the line, and the way we responded tonight. So, we’re proud of our guys. We know we have a road ahead of us. It’s going to be very difficult, whoever we play, and we’ll just take it one game at a time.”
On the 2025-26 squad…
“I got lucky this year because we have a brand-new team and they’re just as good attitude-wise as the team before. We went after character this year more than anything else. We went after character. It starts with [Joson Sanon and Dillon Mitchell]. [Joson] never complains, and I love Bryce [Hopkins] and Dillon [Mitchell] because when they mess up and they come back they just go, ‘it’s on me, it’s on me.’ They don’t even give me a chance to get on them because they’re such pros. And I’ve said it all along, Joson is physically the most talented ball player on the team. He’s only going to grow.”
On Dillon Mitchell…
“Five assists, no turnovers, six rebounds, 13 points and played all those minutes and didn’t turn the ball over. Pretty special.”
Senior forward Zuby Ejiofor
On preparing for another BIG EAST Tournament Championship game…
“It’s truly special. It shows the work of what Coach Pitino has been doing the past two to three years here. And the staff, they do a really great job of just showing us areas [to improve] and countless hours of film and showing us areas where we could exploit the defense and come out with the best chance to win games.”
On the team’s success…
“It’s just our mentality coming in. I think we came in with the right mentality, especially to start. We were a little bit sloppy throughout the end of the game. That was because Seton Hall is obviously a great team because of how they apply pressure. So, we’re going to look at areas that we can improve, but now we just got to worry about the next game. It’s a big opportunity to win a BIG EAST Tournament Championship game here at [Madison Square Garden]. Truly a special moment.”
On rising to the occasion…
“I live for these moments. Having the opportunity to go win and advance, I just predicate myself on playing the right way each and every time on the floor, doing whatever it takes to win. Whatever it is on defense or whenever my team needs me to get a bucket, that’s what I’m willing to do.”
Senior forward Dillon Mitchell
On the opportunity to win a BIG EAST Tournament Championship…
“Us in the locker room, we know what we’re playing for. We try to stay level-headed, understand that it’s 40 minutes and it doesn’t matter who you play, anybody can come out there and beat you for 40 minutes. All it takes is one game. So just staying level-headed, understanding the scouting report, understanding what we got to do, coming out playing as hard as we can, and for us new guys who weren’t part if the team last year, we want it just as bad.”
On the team’s chemistry…
“I think we’ve been through a lot early on in the season. One of the hardest things, like Coach Pitino said, is playing with a lead. That’s something we’ve learned, we don’t want to get into a position where we’re down 15 like we have against Xavier and Seton Hall and trying to fight back. So it’s just staying level-headed as a team, coming together. And it really starts with the off-the-court stuff for us, just hanging of all the time, chatting and just being together. It really helps on the court. So, when we get to those positions, we know to trust each other and have each other’s back.”
Sophomore forward Joson Sanon
On shooting 3-of-5 from beyond the arc…
“When I was on the bench, I told Coach Mas [Masiello], we need some threes, and then when Coach put me in, I did my thing.”
On his confidence as a shooter…
“I feel like my confidence has always been the same.”
On his progression…
“I feel like I’ve grown a lot, especially on the defensive end. Coach [is] always on me, especially Mas and all the other coaches on me about defense. Just learning little things about keeping my chest on the ball and not letting anybody beat me off the bounce.”