"Would never want to embarrass them": St. Johns' Rick Pitino regrets furious rant of his own team after they bounce back with a win over Georgetown

St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino had comforting words for his teammates after their 90-85 win over George Town. It was rather contrasting from the outburst he had against them four days earlier, which came after the team's 68-62 loss against Seton Hall. Pitino was severely critical of his team in that assessment.

Pitino joined the camp of Red Storm in March 2023. He is a Hall of Fame coach and had his previous stint at Iona. There he maintained a decent 64-22 record and led his team to the NCAA tournament on two occasions. He has a 14-2 record this season for the Red Storm, with five games remaining in the regular season.

Participating in the media interaction after the victory, Rick Pitino said:

"My family and my players, outside of breathing air, they're the most important thing in my life. That's why I'm still coaching today. They are the air that I breathe. I love them dearly."

Expressing his feelings about last week's comments, he added:

"I would never want to embarrass them or hurt them."

What had Rick Pitino said earlier?

The Red Storm failed to capitalize on the 19-point lead against Seton Hall and eventually suffered a 68-62 loss five days ago. It triggered the ire of their coach, who went on to lambast his team.

Pitino called Sean Conway and Drissa Traore “slow laterally” with Brady Dunlap being labelled as “physically weak.” He did not train guns at individuals alone as he called the game the “most unenjoyable experience” of his lifetime.

With a 6-9 record in the Big East play, the team has little chance of making it to the NCAA Tournament. After the loss to Seton Hall, Rick Pitino had also expressed:

"Our lateral quickness and our toughness is just something I've never witnessed in all my years of coaching."