St. John's blown out by Auburn in second half, Pitino calls three games in Vegas 'a very disappointing trip'
St. John's coach Rick Pitino calls out to players during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game between St. John's and Auburn in the Players Era tournament on Wednesday in Las Vegas. Credit: AP/Steve Marcus
LAS VEGAS — “Are you up or are you down?”
It’s probably the most frequently asked question for those who are in or are leaving this place. St. John’s is definitely leaving down.
The 14th-ranked Red Storm were in a position to fly home for Thanksgiving from this three-game excursion with a considerable profit when they took an 11-point lead on No. 21 Auburn early in the second half Wednesday night. But they disintegrated in the final 10 minutes of the contest and once they fell behind, they couldn’t catch up in an 85-74 Players Era Festival consolation-round loss at Michelob Ultra Arena.
The Red Storm really struggled to defend Auburn’s Tahaad Pettiford and Keyshawn Hall in the second half. Pettiford had 18 of his 27 points and Hall 18 of his 20 in the final 20 minutes as the Tigers went for 55 points on 64% shooting after the break.
St. John’s (4-3) ended up going 1-2 in the three games in the tournament and lost its best chances for the kind of wins that will get noticed by the NCAA Tournament selection committee when they form their field of 68 teams — a one-point loss to No. 15 Iowa State on Monday and Wednesday night’s defeat to the Tigers (6-2). The 15-point win over Baylor still may bring dividends as the Bears perennially round into an NCAA Tournament program.
“It’s disappointing going home 1-2,” Storm coach Rick Pitino said. “We would have liked 2-1, so it was a very disappointing trip.”
Zuby Ejiofor had 24 points, but the other veteran standouts — Oziyah Sellers, Dillon Mitchell and Bryce Hopkins — were a combined 5-for-24 shooting and totaled 17 points. Sophomore Joson Sanon had 16 points for the Storm.
St. John’s starting point guard Dylan Darling was limited to seven minutes on the floor by what Pitino called a hamstring injury. He exited after just four minutes and tried to come back late in the game but could give little resistance in the few minutes he tried guarding Pettiford.
Pitino gave no projections on the severity of Darling’s injury, but the Storm don’t have a game until Dec. 6 against Ole Miss at the Garden.
“It was collectively a bad night by just about the entire senior class,” Pitino said. “Our upperclassmen just had a horrendous night shooting the basketball and scoring. . . . They were 5-for-24 and you’re not going to win very many games shooting that type of percentage.”
The Storm shot 38% from the floor for the game and 28% on three-point attempts. They committed 14 turnovers that Auburn turned into 20 points; the Tigers scored off five of their six second-half turnovers.
St. John’s held a 41-30 lead in the early going of the second half and was still ahead 61-55 with just under 10 minutes to play. Auburn erupted on a 20-6 burst that included 14 points from Pettiford.
Over the final 9:53 of the game, St. John’s was outscored 30-13. Over that span the Tigers made seven of nine shots while the Storm went 3-for-13.
“This is a very average defensive team,” Pitino said. “They are not locked in like last year’s [team]. . . This is not a locked-in defensive team because they’re new to each other and they’re going to get it or they’re going to continue losing. It’s a matter of wanting to get it, wanting to be a great defensive team. And if they do, they’ll get it. If not, they won’t have a long season.”
“Everybody’s trying to compare last year’s team to this year’s team and this year’s team is a whole different team,” Sadiku Ibine Ayo said. “I think we have to figure out . . . how we can win games together.”
Ejiofor and the Storm did a fine job of rallying back from a bad start that saw them trailing 21-14. Ibine Ayo was a spark off the bench and his two steals and five points in seven minutes keyed a 17-3 run to close the half for a 39-30 lead at the break.
But it didn’t last. And where St. John’s looked like it might have turned a corner with the win over Baylor, this was clearly a step back.
“I never thought this was a great team from Day One defensively,” Pitino said. “We have a lot of work to do on defense. We can get there, but it’s going to take a different mindset by some of our younger players, that scoring is not the ultimate — it’s defense and you’ve got to buy into it.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
