‘St. John’s Sound Off’ is a segment for exclusive insights and memorable moments from the press conferences of the St. John’s University basketball teams. We deliver the most compelling quotes from coaches and players associated with the Red Storm and offer a recap of remarks made about every game.
In the semifinal round of the Big East Tournament, the St. John’s Men’s Basketball team fell just shy in a closely contested and highly physical matchup against the reigning national champions in UConn. The outcome has left fans wondering, will a 95-90 loss be enough to get them into the tournament? Rick Pitino and company sounded off on Friday night to let us know what they thought about the game.
Rick Pitino’s opening statement: “So, I want to congratulate Connecticut. They’re very deserving of a defending champion. They, they’re just a great, great offensive basketball team. Real proud of our guys. I saw some things in Jordan Dingle that I absolutely loved tonight. A competitive fire in him that was great to see. Daniss has always had it. Jordan just keeps getting better and better and better. And unfortunately, we just couldn’t get a run, get over the top. [Our] biggest problem was our transition defense. These guys played their tails off, really proud of them. We were hoping for the Big East crown, but the other team was better than us. We played ‘em three times to the wire and they, they found a way to win [every time].”
Rick Pitino’s on UConn fan turnout: “You know, somebody said to me, ‘how’s it feel to play on your home court?’ And then they say, ‘and you’re a road team?’ I said, ‘well, I coached quite a few years at Kentucky and we were always the home team wherever we went.’ [Connecticut’s] the Kentucky of the [Big] East. They got the greatest fan base in basketball. And Kentucky had the greatest fan base in that part of the country. We lost a lot of fans in the last 20 years. We’ve gotta get em’ back and I think with efforts like tonight we’ll get them stimulated and get em’ back.”
Rick Pitino’s on the team’s transition defense: “I think they’ve gotten better. They played great defense last night. The most important thing we’ve tried to do in the last 10 days was change our offense to play at a pace that really helps our team. I felt that we’re never gonna be a great defensive team. We’re playing a 6’5’’ power forward, who’s really a small forward. [Daniss Jenkins and Jordan Dingle] are pretty good defensive players, but the rest of the guys are just ok. So, we try hard on defense, but we’ve gotta win with good offense. You know, you score 90 points against the defending national champions, I think you’re doing a lot of things right. The transition defense really hurt us.”
Rick Pitino on Selection Sunday: “Yeah, I think I wanna see who we’re gonna play, obviously, and prepare and get ready. You know, Jordan [Dingle] came here to play in the tournament. He’s gonna get his wishes. You know, we played a really tough schedule this year, a really tough schedule. We haven’t had too many easy games and we’ve played Marquette twice tough. We beat Creighton. Should have beat them on the road. We played, with the exception of Seton Hall at Seton Hall, we’ve played really well in the Big East. The Big East is a hell of a conference, as you know.”
Rick Pitino on receiving a technical foul: “I haven’t had a technical foul in a long, long time. I was really looking forward to that moment. We were in serious foul trouble. I had to play without Soriano and without Ledlum the entire half basically at that point. And I felt that things weren’t going our way. And I will say, when I made those statements, they were contrived, and they were statements I wanted to make. And the technical is one I wanted to get.”
Jordan Dingle on his past experiences with Selection Sunday: “The first year, you know, sitting at home – Covid like everybody else. And then the last two years watching Yale and Princeton play in the Ivy League championship, knowing that my season was over. But you know, this year is different. So I’m really looking forward to it this time. You know, selection Sunday really hasn’t meant anything to me because I, you know, unfortunately was never a part of it. Never had the ability to be. And I’m really grateful to God that I’m here with this group of guys, and I’m gonna get that chance [to be a part of it].”
Daniss Jenkins on pride in the team: “You know, I mean, we fought today. It wasn’t our best game. We had the sole intention of winning the Big East Tournament, but at the same time, I’m really proud of the team because what I’ve been saying the whole year is we could have easily went the other way. When you lose eight out of 10 games, it’s like, it was all bad. You know, nothing was good from that. We thought the postseason was over at that time. But as I’ve been saying, we showed our real character. I mean, we showed pride and we fought, that’s all you can ask. When we came in every day, practiced hard, tried to get better at the things we were bad at, and we came together as a team. I’ve never played with Jordan Dingle, he’s the leading scorer last year in the country. Then he comes here and he’s like, you know, he’s off the ball, playing off the ball and things like that. So everything was different, but I was just really proud to see us bond together and really just try to be special. And yes, tonight was the step forward for St. John’s, but like, like Coach said, [there’s] a lot more work to do. And we’re looking forward to the tournament.”
Rick Pitino on the team’s season thus far: “As DJ said, they’ve worked very hard. And what I tried to point out to them was, look guys, I’ve been in this situation where you have to win eight outta 10, you have to win six, seven in a row, a lot in my life. That’s what happens when you’re old and you coach a lot. So I’ve been in that situation and teams have come through for me as a coach and they came through for me as a coach again. But it’s really about them. I live vicariously through them and I think they’re going on Selection Sunday. They’re gonna get some nice things to happen to them. I think they’re a dangerous team. I think when you score as much as we’re scoring, I think good things are gonna happen. Do we need to get better [defensively]? I think we’re doing a better job of rebounding at times. We’re making our free throws, we’re passing the ball well, but Connecticut’s Connecticut and they’re just a machine.”
Rick Pitino on UConn’s offense: “You know, they can, they can beat you a hundred different ways. You know, sometimes you can have great talent, but talent doesn’t play well together. But when you get 26 assists tonight, 23 assists. They have open shots that are really good, but they go after a better shot that’s great. And that’s the makings of a great offensive basketball team, they’re always looking for a better shot for their guys. I tell our guys, you can learn a lot from teams that you respect. We certainly have great respect for them.”
Jordan Dingle on team’s intensity: “To be honest with you, I don’t think that we played a great game for all 40 minutes and that’s kind of what it comes down to. We’ve gotten a lot better with that as the course of the season has gone on. And our ability to fight back, like DJ pointed out earlier, you know, I’m really proud of us for that. You know, our competitive spirit never died and never wavered and we believed in ourselves to the very end. So I think that’s the big takeaway from today’s game. We’re gonna keep going forward.”
Rick Pitino on his first year at St. John’s: “It’s been a real interesting experience coaching St. John’s. I don’t say that in a positive or negative way. It’s been interesting. From driving over the Throgs Neck Bridge and having people curse and cut me off. It’s been great.”
