Rick Pitino knows exactly what buttons to push in order to motivate his players and he’s already working on unlocking a new side of Providence transfer Bryce Hopkins prior to the start of the St. John’s basketball season.
Nearly a week after Hopkins and the rest of the Red Storm starters dominated the team’s bench during a scrimmage inside Madison Square Garden, Pitino announced on Thursday during St. John’s media day that he would be starting Dillon Mitchell over Hopkins in Saturday’s exhibition game against Towson.
Pitino added that there will be a lot of fluidity in the starting lineups early in the season, pointing out that he didn’t start RJ Luis or Kadary Richmond in the first preseason game last year, he noted that he’s looking to see more out of the former All-Big East forward.
“He’s been good and solid the entire summer and [in the preseason], and I’m not after good and I’m not after solid,” Pitino added. “I’m after great and passionate.”
“He’s trying to be good, and I want him to be great. I want him to have a ‘Mamba Mentality’ and he doesn’t have it. And if he develops that, he’ll be one of the premier players in the country, not just our team.”
Hopkins is coming off of two seasons in which he didn’t play much because of a knee injury. He was limited to just 14 games during the 2023-24 season after tearing his ACL and played only three games last year following a bone bruise in the same knee.
Prior to the injury, he was one of the best players in the conference, being named to the First Team All-Big East in 2023, his first year with the Friars after transferring from Kentucky.
“The players that don’t take plays off will play the most minutes,” Pitino added. “The players that are starting out against Towson are the players that consistently haven’t taken plays off.”
While the motivation tactic from Rick Pitino might be new to Bryce Hopkins, he is ready to take on the challenge and knows that there will be players that are sacrificing a bigger role on the team in order to win games.
“I’m always a motivated player when I step onto the court,” he said. “I know what I bring to the table.”
“I knew coming here, we have a great team, and it’s going to be tough, and people are going to have to make sacrifices, so, it’s not that big of a deal to me.”
Hopkins and the rest of the Johnnies are hoping that Saturday’s exhibition (2:00 p.m. ET, ESPN+) is just the first small step in a very long and successful season.