St. John’s is having a dream season under Rick Pitino — and now it’s no question why his guys are playing so hard.
In the first episode of Vice TV’s “Pitino: Red Storm Rising,” viewers got an inside look from the St. Johns locker room during a Pitino halftime speech.
In a December game on the road against Providence, St. John’s was trailing by 13 at the half and shooting just 35 percent from the field, 1-for-9 from deep and 2-for-7 from the free-throw line.
Pitino was not pleased at their effort against one of the lesser teams in the Big East.
“Dig in and be a basketball player. Dig in! Every time you miss a shot, your game deflates,” Pitino shouted at his guys. “We don’t care about your missed shots. Play f–king defense! You guys keep blowing opportunity upon opportunity upon opportunity.”
It had its intended effect as the Red Storm willed its way to a 72-70 comeback victory over the Friars with a dominant second half.
“You’re like children with bad things happening. Instead of digging in and being tougher, you wilt!” Pitino said.
Pitino’s son Richard, the head coach of the New Mexico men’s basketball team, joked on X that the speech gave him “PTSD of the time I didn’t make my bed” on X.
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But Pitino’s words weren’t just about basketball — and they weren’t just comparing his team’s play to whiny children either.
“Where is your f–king toughness? Where have you guys been raised that you’re so weak mentally that you just f–king give up when something doesn’t go right for you?” Pitino emphatically questioned to his players. “Don’t you know what adversity is all about?
“That’s the f–king game of life, not the game of basketball. You don’t f–king get down when things go wrong, you dig in and get tougher.”
For guys who may never make a professional basketball league, meshing basketball and life in a speech like this one is invaluable.
Pitino said that folks haven’t seen the half of it when it comes to his locker room lectures.
“I really wasn’t that tough on them. You should’ve seen some of my Kentucky halftimes,” Pitino told WFAN on Tuesday morning after the clip went viral.
Some may not like Pitino’s old-school, hard-nosed style of coaching and leadership — but it’s clear that his players respond well to it as St. John’s currently sits at 22-4 atop the Big East.
“Your whole life’s going to be adversity. Learn how to f–king deal with it!” Pitino said.
