Rick Pitino usually has colorful comments when St. John's faces Seton Hall
St. John's Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino reacts in the first half of a Big East men’s basketball game against the Providence Friars at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Jan. 3. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The first two months of this season brought a handful of truly disappointing losses for St. John’s, but now the Red Storm appear to have picked up the beat. They’ve won four straight games, ascended to sole possession of second place in the Big East behind second-ranked Connecticut and, in the AP Top 25 poll released Monday afternoon, are one spot from returning to the national rankings.
St. John’s (13-5, 6-1) looks to keep rolling when it faces Seton Hall (14-4, 4-3) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Garden.
In the three seasons in which Rick Pitino has coached the Red Storm, most of their games against the Pirates have been passionately competitive and often have been followed by some of the Hall of Fame coach’s most memorable words.
Here are Pitino’s five most memorable quotes following contests against the Pirates, in chronological order, and the circumstances of each:
1. “I’ve enjoyed every single minute of every single season I’ve coached, with the exception of this one . . . I’m not going to lie to you: This has been the most unenjoyable experience of my lifetime.” — Feb. 24, 2024
It took Pitino’s first Red Storm team a long time to come together and win consistently. This 68-62 loss after leading by 19 felt like rock bottom, was their eighth defeat in 10 games and dropped their record to 14-12.
2. “I think they're unathletic — I don't think they move well laterally.” — Feb. 24, 2024
This was part of the same news conference after the six-point loss to the Pirates at UBS Arena. It turned into a national news story as Pitino called out a half-dozen players by name: Joel Soriano, Chris Ledlum, Sean Conway, Brady Dunlap, Jordan Dingle and Drissa Traore.
Pitino has a reputation as a good motivator and the next day, he told Newsday he had no regrets, adding: “I sometimes want my players to hear my words and read my words — that was my intention.”
3. “I said to my players, ‘Look I apologize for hurting your feelings, but too damn bad. You’ve got to get quicker laterally [and] you’ve got to get tougher, and they did. They rose to the occasion.” — March 14, 2024
St. John’s finally scored a win over Seton Hall, 91-72, in a Big East Tournament quarterfinal. The Pirates had swept the regular-season series from the Red Storm, and the second defeat proved to be a turnaround after Pitino criticized several of the players. It was the Red Storm’s sixth win in a row, made their record 20-12 and appeared to have them back on track for the NCAA Tournament. They lost to eventual national champion UConn by five points the next night and got snubbed by the NCAA Tournament selection committee two days after that.
4. “Every one of those students and everybody in the building would have done the same thing he did. If the [NIL] money was the same, he would be playing for [Seton Hall]. If the money was close, he’d be playing for Shaheen [Holloway].” — Feb. 18, 2025
Kadary Richmond’s decision to transfer from Seton Hall to St. John’s for the 2024-25 season had been huge news. To no one’s surprise, the Pirates fans were hostile about the move. And after the 79-51 Red Storm win, Pitino was asked about it and laid out the hard truth.
5. “Lou means a lot to a lot of people. I coached against him. He was the gentleman of gentlemen, a fierce competitor, a great basketball coach. We're real proud of the fact that, in the year that he passed, we can honor him with this championship.” — March 1, 2025
When Pitino was hired in March 2023, he promised to restore the Red Storm to the greatness they achieved under St. John’s icon Lou Carnesecca. Carnesecca passed away at age 99 during the first month of the 2024-25 season. The Red Storm’s 71-61 win over the Pirates at the Garden that night clinched their first outright Big East regular-season title since 1985. They won their first conference tournament title since 2000 exactly three weeks later.
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.
