Over his 50-plus years in coaching, Rick Pitino has been known for his intensity. He’s also been known for delivering quite candid responses in some interviews. And those threads collided after Pitino’s No. 12 St. John’s Red Storm edged the No. 11 Marquette Golden Eagles 70-64 in a Big East clash on FS1 Tuesday.
St. John’s trailed 31-30 at halftime in that one, and while the Red Storm built a bit of a lead early in the second half, Marquette came back to pass them at one point. It was a close one for much of the stretch, and part of the issue there was St. John’s free throw shooting: the Red Storm made just 17 of 31 from the line (54.8%) to the Golden Eagles’ 12 for 18 showing (66.7%). FS1 analyst Bill Raftery asked Pitino about that in an on-court interview afterwards, and Pitino had quite the line:
“Inside, I want to kill myself. Outside, I say ‘That’s okay, we’ll make the next one.'” Rick Pitino had quite the response to Bill Raftery’s question on his team’s issues shooting free throws. pic.twitter.com/npnww0j3XP
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 5, 2025
Raftery asks “How do you control yourself? I know the free throws…you just ignore it and keep plugging?” Pitino responds “Yeah, inside, I want to kill myself. Outside, I just say ‘That’s okay, we’ll make the next one.'” And he says it with a laugh and Raftery cracks up a bit before resuming the interview.
This fits in with quite the history of Pitino saying what he thinks. And he and the Red Storm are getting a lot of attention this year. Beyond their overall record (20-3, 11-1 in Big East play), they’re on a nine-game winning streak. And they have another high-profile game ahead, facing the UConn Huskies Friday (7 p.m. on the Fox broadcast network), and they’re featured in an upcoming Vice TV docuseries Pitino: Red Storm Rising (which will premiere next Tuesday, one day after the similar Vice series on John Calipari and Arkansas).
So the spotlight is going to keep shining on Pitino and the Red Storm for the next while (something he hasn’t always welcomed). And that may lead to further interesting interviews and soundbites.