Rick Pitino clarifies comments on players, says this is ‘closest team’ he’s coached

John Fanta

College Basketball Broadcaster and Reporter

After his St. John’s team knocked off No. 15 Creighton 80-66 on Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden to keep its NCAA Tournament at-large hopes alive, Rick Pitino offered some clarity on his criticism of his group last week following a home loss to Seton Hall.

“My explanation is that I was trying to rattle my guys and get them going,” Pitino told FOX Sports in an exclusive interview following Sunday’s win. “It was never to pick on my players at all.

“This is the closest I’ve had a team from coaches and players. We are as close [as any team I’ve had]. We love each other tremendously. But today, in this society, in this world, you can’t do certain things. The only thing you can do is be man enough to apologize. If other people think it’s wrong, apologize. It didn’t affect our team negatively or positively. You know, it feels good when you apologize because you’re man enough to say: ‘no, it’s not right.’ It’s a different ballgame than 20 or 30 years ago. If this is the way society wants to create the rules, follow the rules. My guys were never bothered by it, either way.”

Pitino’s fiery style of coaching has always come from his strong desire to win, which is what ultimately led to his postgame comments after his team blew a 19-point lead in that loss to the Pirates.

“What I was trying to build more than anything else was I wanted them to hate losing as much as I hate losing,” Pitino said. “I think that’s really important in a culture. I think UConn has that. They hate losing. They stayed No. 1 for so long, and you’ve got to hate losing to build a culture. I wanted to put that across, but I was stopped. But that’s OK. We move on.”

Pitino’s team did in fact move on this week, posting a 2-0 record and notching its second Quadrant 1 win of the season with a commanding victory over Greg McDermott’s Bluejays squad.

Before Sunday’s game tipped off, Pitino walked out to Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” and a standing ovation from the 12,000-plus fans on hand at The World’s Most Famous Arena. On a day where St. John’s was holding a white-out, the 71-year-old Pitino donned an all-white jacket, shirt, pants and shoes that was reminiscent of his Louisville days.

Pitino’s all-white appearance came as a surprise and was propelled by his wife, Joanne

“My wife and kids kept saying: ‘You’ve got to wear the white suit,'” Pitino said. “I said, ‘that’s Kentucky, guys.’ They said, ‘no, you have to do it. Your players will absolutely love it.’ Until 2 p.m. yesterday, I wasn’t doing it. I called up Armani and I said: ‘That white jacket you told me about, do you have it? White pants and white shoes?’ They said ‘yep.’ So I said, ‘let’s go. Let’s do it.’

“When I got to the tailor, he said ‘I can’t do it. I’m off in three hours.’ I sweetened the pot a little bit, and he did it.”

Pitino’s players knew a win over a top-15 team on Sunday would go a long way in their quest to make the Big Dance, and his outfit certainly helped the cause.

“We knew we had to win when Coach came out with the white suit,” St. John’s junior Glenn Taylor Jr. said.

“You can’t lose. You really can’t lose when he has that on. That fit was clean,” said point guard Daniss Jenkins, who led the way with 27 points, 15 of which came in the second half.

Sunday’s victory was a breakthrough moment after a season that has been filled with several “what ifs” for St. John’s. The Johnnies started Big East play at 4-1 for the first time since 2001, but eight losses in 10 games has left them outside the NCAA Tournament picture.

The desperation of Pitino’s team showed on Sunday, and they proved that maybe this season could still be salvaged. Penn transfer Jordan Dingle looked more like the player many thought he would be this year, delivering 18 points and meshing well with Jenkins, something we haven’t seen enough of this year. The Johnnies posted 24 assists in the win and only three turnovers.

“They can beat anybody on any given night,” said McDermott, whose Jays knocked off No. 1 UConn earlier this week.

“Everybody says ‘same old St. Johns’ and this and that. Well, it’s about time,” Jenkins said. “We had to get one. We finished in the second half this time. After [last Sunday], we were either going to lay down or come together. Today, we came together. We were one tight fist.”

John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him on Twitter @John_Fanta.