Iona basketball: Despite coasting past Manhattan, Rick Pitino 'not pleased' with his team

NEW ROCHELLE - Almost no matter what he was asked or how the question was phrased, Rick Pitino offered scant praise of his team. In fact, every statement quickly led back to the one item that left the Hall-of-Fame coach seething: Foul shooting.

"I'm very, very close to having a heart attack," he said.

Iona had just romped past Manhattan 88-76 Friday night in a game it led tip to buzzer, improving its record to 13-3 overall and 5-0 in the MAAC, but the weakness in the Gaels' considerable armor resulted in some harsh criticism from a dissatisifed coach.

"I don't think we're playing great basketball right now and that bothers me," Pitino said. "Where am I at in the season right now? I'm not pleased. It's up to us to do something about it. We're certainly happy with winning any game. But we're not happy with the way we played against Marist. We're not happy with the way we played against Saint Louis. And we're certainly not happy with the way we shot free throws tonight."

For posterity's sake, the Gaels finished a long, foul-plagued night 21 of 38 (55.3%), with starters Tyson Jolly, Berrick JeanLouis and Nelly Junior Joseph a combined 5 of 13. It was the lone blemish in a game where they shot over 61% from the field and had 23 assists on 30 made baskets.

But in the locker room afterward, Pitino reminded his players how a missed layup and two missed free throws cost them a road win on Jan. 8 against Saint Louis.

The message was purposeful, but it got through.

"I feel like we played one of our best offensive games this year. If we didn't miss free throws, we would've had, like, 110 points, and blown it out the roof with that," said Jolly, who had 16 points and six assists, was a plus-28, and led four players in double figures.

"We played OK, but we have certain goals this year — trying to go undefeated, trying to make national noise — but we definitely feel as a team that we could've played better," said Dylan van Eyck, who had 11 points, five rebounds and four assists off the bench. "There were some mishaps on the offensive and defensive end. We have to get better."

Pitino reiterated that — and with urgency. "They're not in school," he said, noting the time between semesters. "They can live in the gym."

Iona entered Friday leading the nation in free throw attempts per game, just a hair ahead of Manhattan. The Gaels also ranked third in made free throws, but their 71.0% shooting as a team ranked just 164th.

"What I told them in the locker room was I didn't come to Iona for mediocrity. I didn't," Pitino said. "I came for greatness. Greatness is every phase of the game of basketball. I'm not talking about Donovan Mitchell out there, (Terry) Rozier — I'm not talking about talent. I'm talking about them executing like great players tonight and shot free throws like a bad basketball team.

"I'm not happy with the team. I'm just not happy with the team. I'm not pleased at all. I'm not pleased with losing to Saint Louis. I'm not pleased with losing to Belmont. But my expectations are very high, very high."

Josh Thomson is the Sports Editor for The Journal News and Poughkeepsie Journal. He can be reached by e-mail at jthomson@lohud.com, on Twitter at @lohudinsider, and on Instagram at @lohudinsider.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Rick Pitino not pleased after Iona basketball beats rival Manhattan