St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: ST. JOHN’S VS. NORTHERN IOWA
St. John’s Men’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Pitino, senior forward Zuby Ejiofor and graduate forward/guard Bryce Hopkins spoke with the media after defeating No. 12 Seed Northern Iowa, 79-53, at Viejas Arena on Friday.
Head Coach Rick Pitino
Opening statement…
“Well, our guys did a tremendous job. The coaches were, including myself, we watched about 12 films of these guys, and the players watched about five and we knew what we had to do to win this game. The obvious thing is we had to get our tempo. … We had to win the 3-point line. So, we had to stop it, choke it down and make our threes and tonight obviously it was 30 to nine [attempts] from the 3-point line, which was big. Rebounding wise, it was 45-29. Bryce Hopkins, to my right, is playing great basketball right now. He just does all the little things that are making us win. Played a lot of minutes and Zuby [Ejiofor] got a lot of rest. So, he's ready for the winner of this game.”
On the team’s three-point shooting and its importance moving forward…
“Well, remember, [Northern Iowa] is a team that holds their opponents to like 28 percent from the 3-point line. When I left the locker room, I said, we know the keys to this game. We know the backboard; we know the turnovers. But the key to the game is stopping the three and making our threes. It's all we talked about all week because these guys, they looked up at the board and they see six guys that shoot it better than 35 percent. We've got to beat them at that line. We'll beat them in the other areas, but we've got to beat them at that line, and the guys did. They played a fantastic first half. Second half they held serve. They didn't play great, but they held serve and did a good job. But the first half was a brilliant performance on offense, brilliant performance on defense.”
On preparation and intensity contributing to the team’s fast starts…
“I don't think I've ever watched more film on an opponent myself than this team. We were really concerned about this game because of their pace. I played them twice with a championship team, and it was tough to beat them and then in the Bahamas, we beat them by five. If you allow them to control their tempo, they can beat anybody. We didn't allow them to control tempo. We got out there off our defense and that was the key to the game. They're much better than this final score. So, we were overly concerned. Now, you only have one day to prepare [our next opponent].
Senior forward Zuby Ejiofor
On whether he’s playing his best basketball or still has more to reach…
“Absolutely. The best, even for me and the rest of this team, I think our ceiling is still high. There's a lot of things we can improve on. We're playing really good basketball right now. The effort is there. We're competing on both sides of the ball. But I feel we can still take it to a whole new level.”
On the team’s fast starts and the importance of maintaining leads throughout the game…
“One of these things we're appreciating to ourselves is coming out and setting the tone early. Like you said, with the BIG EAST Tournament and now this game, we came out really strong, and we were able to hold the lead. They were a really tough opponent, but we played together. We competed at a high level, and we understand, nobody wants to go home. This is one step to the bigger goal.”
On executing the game plan and leading from the three-point line…
“It's what Coach P preaches. We have our defensive identity. So, defense is our calling card. Offense is going to come, if you have the 3-point shot and you're able to take it. Like you said, we want to get up as many threes as possible. We have so many great 3-point shooters on this team. Coming in, especially for the rest of the tournament, we know that obviously it's going to be really huge for us hitting threes, and holding the opponent down to less threes as well is going to be really good for us.”
Graduate forward/guard Bryce Hopkins
On his recent offensive efficiency and improved play…
“I feel it's just being comfortable. We're playing some really good basketball. We're playing together as a team. And we're not thinking out there on offense. Coach [Pitino] gives us all the confidence and freedom in the world to play, which makes it easy for us to play. Our focus is on the defensive end, and that makes it easier for us on the offensive end.
On the team’s recent fast starts and what’s contributing to them…
“First starting off in the BIG EAST Tournament, I feel like Coach [Pitino] preached to us that we have to treat this like the March Madness tournament. We have to come out fast. We can't come out lackadaisical, because once we get to March Madness it's win or go home. I feel like that was the biggest thing in our mindset is just coming out fast and knowing that we can't come out slow, because we're only guaranteed 40 minutes every night. We have to play like that. We can't take any plays off, and we just have to come out fast for sure.”
Opening statement…
“Well, our guys did a tremendous job. The coaches were, including myself, we watched about 12 films of these guys, and the players watched about five and we knew what we had to do to win this game. The obvious thing is we had to get our tempo. … We had to win the 3-point line. So, we had to stop it, choke it down and make our threes and tonight obviously it was 30 to nine [attempts] from the 3-point line, which was big. Rebounding wise, it was 45-29. Bryce Hopkins, to my right, is playing great basketball right now. He just does all the little things that are making us win. Played a lot of minutes and Zuby [Ejiofor] got a lot of rest. So, he's ready for the winner of this game.”
On the team’s three-point shooting and its importance moving forward…
“Well, remember, [Northern Iowa] is a team that holds their opponents to like 28 percent from the 3-point line. When I left the locker room, I said, we know the keys to this game. We know the backboard; we know the turnovers. But the key to the game is stopping the three and making our threes. It's all we talked about all week because these guys, they looked up at the board and they see six guys that shoot it better than 35 percent. We've got to beat them at that line. We'll beat them in the other areas, but we've got to beat them at that line, and the guys did. They played a fantastic first half. Second half they held serve. They didn't play great, but they held serve and did a good job. But the first half was a brilliant performance on offense, brilliant performance on defense.”
On preparation and intensity contributing to the team’s fast starts…
“I don't think I've ever watched more film on an opponent myself than this team. We were really concerned about this game because of their pace. I played them twice with a championship team, and it was tough to beat them and then in the Bahamas, we beat them by five. If you allow them to control their tempo, they can beat anybody. We didn't allow them to control tempo. We got out there off our defense and that was the key to the game. They're much better than this final score. So, we were overly concerned. Now, you only have one day to prepare [our next opponent].
Senior forward Zuby Ejiofor
On whether he’s playing his best basketball or still has more to reach…
“Absolutely. The best, even for me and the rest of this team, I think our ceiling is still high. There's a lot of things we can improve on. We're playing really good basketball right now. The effort is there. We're competing on both sides of the ball. But I feel we can still take it to a whole new level.”
On the team’s fast starts and the importance of maintaining leads throughout the game…
“One of these things we're appreciating to ourselves is coming out and setting the tone early. Like you said, with the BIG EAST Tournament and now this game, we came out really strong, and we were able to hold the lead. They were a really tough opponent, but we played together. We competed at a high level, and we understand, nobody wants to go home. This is one step to the bigger goal.”
On executing the game plan and leading from the three-point line…
“It's what Coach P preaches. We have our defensive identity. So, defense is our calling card. Offense is going to come, if you have the 3-point shot and you're able to take it. Like you said, we want to get up as many threes as possible. We have so many great 3-point shooters on this team. Coming in, especially for the rest of the tournament, we know that obviously it's going to be really huge for us hitting threes, and holding the opponent down to less threes as well is going to be really good for us.”
Graduate forward/guard Bryce Hopkins
On his recent offensive efficiency and improved play…
“I feel it's just being comfortable. We're playing some really good basketball. We're playing together as a team. And we're not thinking out there on offense. Coach [Pitino] gives us all the confidence and freedom in the world to play, which makes it easy for us to play. Our focus is on the defensive end, and that makes it easier for us on the offensive end.
On the team’s recent fast starts and what’s contributing to them…
“First starting off in the BIG EAST Tournament, I feel like Coach [Pitino] preached to us that we have to treat this like the March Madness tournament. We have to come out fast. We can't come out lackadaisical, because once we get to March Madness it's win or go home. I feel like that was the biggest thing in our mindset is just coming out fast and knowing that we can't come out slow, because we're only guaranteed 40 minutes every night. We have to play like that. We can't take any plays off, and we just have to come out fast for sure.”