St. John's head basketball coach Rick Pitino, like any fan watching his team on November 9, was not pleased with the Red Storm after falling behind Quinnipiac 39-35 at halftime. But after the Johnnies outscored the Bobcats by 27 points in the second half, Pitino was complimentary of his squad following a Jekyll and Hyde transformation throughout the 96-73 win.

"Sometimes you get what you deserve. We had two of the worst practices this week that we've had all season... but good teams come out and win in the second half, and they did that," Pitino said in his opening remarks postgame (h/t SNY).

Pitino believes the Red Storm would've lost this exact game last year.

"I think last year at this time we would have lost this game. But this team did the right things to win this game," he said.

Pitino made it a point before the team's opener not to get complacent - telling The New York Post that he understands where his team suffered last year in the 2023-24 season's opening weeks.

"It stuck with me, in terms of we got to be ready early in the season," Pitino said. "This year's schedule is much tougher than last year's schedule. We're more primed to be ready for the first game out."

Against lesser tri-state area competition, Pitino has coached the Red Storm to two emphatic victories early during the 2024-25 season.

During the team's 92-60 win over Fordham, which upset Seton Hall 57-56 at Walsh Gymnasium, the team assisted on over 50% of its buckets. Against Quinnipiac, the Red Storm assisted on 20 of their 32 made field goals.

St. John's takes on Wagner at Carnesecca Arena on Wednesday, November 13 with a chance to start the season 3-0.