St. John's Coach Rick Pitino Pokes Fun At Kansas State's "Large Salary Cap"
The Kansas State Wildcats play the St. John's Red Storm Saturday in the battle of the 6-2 teams.
St. John's coach Rick Pitino had a lot of positive things to say about Kansas State ahead of the matchup, stressing the importance of preparing for an opponent of their caliber.
“Right now we've got a big game with Kansas State, who will be the most talented team that we've faced this year top to bottom so far this season,” Pitino said on a Monday afternoon segment of WFAN with Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata.
Pitino jokingly attributed their success to their "very large salary cap" amongst their star players. In addition to veteran talent like David N'guessan, Kansas State acquired players like Coleman Hawkins and Dug McDaniel from the transfer portal. Hawkins reportedly received an NIL deal worth $2 million.
But above all, Pitino says the Wildcats' strength lies in their 3-point production.
“They’re the deepest and most talented team and they’re very athletic," Pitino said. "What they do is our weakness, that's the thing that scares me the most. They are a great 3-point shooting team. They shoot almost 39 percent, 38.2 percent from the three. Great shooting team, and there’s one area that we haven failed at so far in the early season is we haven’t defended the 3-point shot well.”
Kansas State is shooting well from the arc, with their latest display shooting 21-of-40 from 3 in their historic victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff. On the other hand, St. John's has been lackluster in 3-point shooting (33.7) and defending shots from the arc (34.2).
The Wildcats travel to Carnesecca Arena for the early morning matchup.
Jayden Armant is a contributor to Kansas State Wildcats On SI. He can be reached at jaydenshome14@gmail.com
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Jayden is a journalism school graduate of Howard University. He was the 2024 recipient of the Terez Paylor scholarship award. He previously worked at the Orlando Sentinel.