St. John's coach Rick Pitino is frank about his team's lack of 'attitude'
St. John's coach Rick Pitino reacts during the second half of the team's NCAA basketball game against UConn on Dec. 23, 2023, in Hartford, Conn. Credit: AP/Michael Dwyer
The last time Rick Pitino was seen in the Big East, his team had become the dominant force.
Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Connecticut and Georgetown were the conference powers when Louisville joined up in 2005. By the time they exited after 2013, Pitino’s Cardinals had won three of the previous five conference tournaments.
On Friday, as St. John’s readied to face No. 17 Marquette in Saturday’s noon matchup at the Garden, Pitino was asked why his teams performed so well in conference tournaments. He started his reply by saying those Louisville teams kept improving during the season and peaked in March before drawing a contrast with his current team.
“Those guys were killers,” Pitino added. “They were killers every single game. They wanted to go out there every single game and dominate, and that type of attitude is not what we have now . . . You don’t have to have extraordinary talent to have that type of attitude. We don’t have that. Two of our guys do, [Daniss Jenkins] and [Zuby Ejiofor].”
Pitino has taken a group filled with offensive-minded players and shaped it into a very solid defensive team. But can he now coax the attitude adjustment to turn them into, as he said, “killers”?
“You have to be upbeat every single day, you can’t be moody,” he said. “You have to be upbeat, you have to be positive. You have to forget about Seton Hall. We’ll know that tomorrow.”
Pitino never used the word “consistency,” but that is what he is pleading for right now from his team.
On Wednesday, St. John’s (12-6, 4-3) turned in its worst performance in months, allowing 28 straight points in a beatdown at Seton Hall while Pitino was absent with COVID-19.
“We just had one of those nights where we didn’t bring it, and if this team is not clicking on all cylinders from an effort standpoint, they’re going to get beat — we have no chance of winning,” he said. “We’re not talented [enough], tall enough, athletic enough to overcome not giving an extraordinary effort.”
If one looks up and down the Red Storm roster during the last handful of games, virtually every player has had a substandard game or two. Not Jenkins and not Ejiofor, though. Jenkins may not always shoot well, but he brings it on both ends. Ejiofor has played very well off the bench and is 10-for-15 shooting with nine blocked shots in his last four games.
“I look at their motors, their work ethic — that’s how I judge people, on their work ethic,” Pitino said. “That’s why I love Daniss so much. That’s why I love Zuby so much. Because of their work ethic. They bring it every day in practice . . . They are dependable.”
Of the other players, he added: “Nothing is going to change if nothing changes, and they’ve got to make the changes if they want to be great. Greatness comes by giving extraordinary effort.”
There’s no such thing as a “must-win” game in January, but there is no denying that after back-to-back losses, this game against the Golden Eagles (12-5, 3-3) has some heft. It was bound to after a week when the conversation around the Red Storm went from “will they crack the Top 25?” to “can they bounce back from a heartbreaker in Omaha?” to “can they keep their heads above water?”
“We’re more than halfway through the season at this point,” Chris Ledlum said. “Every game matters throughout the season, but games are starting to matter even more.”
And the stretch St. John’s is entering — four of the next five games at home — may be very meaningful. Yes, the Red Storm still have four games against doormats Georgetown and DePaul, but Pitino can see missteps.
“I hate to say this, but if one of us falls to DePaul or Georgetown, you’re probably going to go into an abyss and lose so much NET [rankings] space, so to speak, that it’s going to hurt you,” Pitino said. “Those teams on any given night can beat anybody. Losing to Seton Hall, losing to Creighton, it’s not gonna kill you. But you’ve got to watch your wins and your losses right now because you don’t want to rely on the Big East Tournament to get you a bid [to the NCAA Tournament].”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.