St. John's drops exhibition game to No. 7 Michigan in overtime
St. John’s Dillon Mitchell tries to defend against Michigan’s Yale Lendeborg’s dunk during the first half of an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
It wore the label “exhibition game,” but Saturday night’s meeting between No. 5 St. John’s and No. 7 Michigan at the Garden definitely didn’t play like one.
They waged a highly competitive battle that certainly indicated both probably are worthy of their preseason national rankings, and nothing was decided between them until the last 10 seconds of overtime.
Lefteris Liotopoulos was fouled on a three-point shot with 8.4 seconds left and the Red Storm down by two, but he missed two of three free throws and Michigan ended up with an exhilarating 96-94 win before 13,287.
The elements of the game were important, but the bottom line is the question of whether St. John’s is ready for what Pitino has called the “most challenging schedule St. John’s has ever played.”
The Red Storm will open the season on Nov. 3 against Quinnipiac at Carnesecca Arena and will be back at the Garden five days later to face 15th-ranked Alabama before three high-level games at a late November tournament in Las Vegas and a date with No. 9 Kentucky in December.
“We’ll be ready for Quinnipiac,” Pitino said. “I don’t know if we’re ready for Alabama, Kentucky, Ole Miss and the Las Vegas trip, but we will be. We’ll get it done.”
The Red Storm brought in the top-ranked class of transfers in the nation, according to 247sports.com, and Pitino believes a number of the shortcomings he saw in the loss are rooted in all of the new players lacking experience in playing with one another.
Michigan shot 52% from the floor and 42% on three-pointers, and that was a big point of concern.
“They’re not together defensively,’’ Pitino said, “and they’re not together because they don’t know each other.”
Pitino said that while his starting frontcourt of Zuby Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins and Dillon Mitchell did well to produce 23 second-chance points, there was little rebounding from his guards. Starting guards Oziyah Sellers and Joson Sanon fouled out, the former playing only eight minutes and the latter playing only 15.
“A lot of people are in the same boat we’re in with new players . . . it’s just difficult,” Pitino said. “But I set the schedule tough because I want to know right now . . . what our weaknesses are.”
“We have no time to waste in figuring out . . . but we got to figure it out,” said Ejiofor, who had 24 points, six rebounds and six assists. “There’s no excuses. Winning is a standard that we’re trying to build here at St. John’s. Everybody came here to win. All the transfers? They came here to win. So whatever it takes.”
Sanon had 14 points despite his limited time and Hopkins, Mitchell and Liotopoulos each had 13 for St. John’s. The Red Storm shot only 4-for-23 on three-pointers but had only 10 turnovers.
Michigan got 25 points from Yaxel Lendeborg, who was actually signed with St. John’s under former coach Mike Anderson but went to UAB when Anderson got fired and Pitino came aboard.
Lendeborg called playing at the Garden “a dream come true” and said he felt he had something to prove. He added, “I got that feeling that Pitino didn’t want me after he got signed. I had that chip on my shoulder for every game and I wanted so badly to come in here and win.”
Hopkins pulled up for a jumper with 1:04 left to tie the score at 84, which is where it stood when the OT began. The Wolverines scored on their first four possessions of the extra period and the Red Storm went 0-for-5 from the field as Michigan grabbed a 92-84 lead.
Liotopoulos scored eight straight points on a pair of three-pointers and two free throws to tie it with 1:39 left.
In the final minute, Michigan’s Morez Johnson Jr. had five points and the Red Storm went 2-for-5 at the free-throw line.
“Defensively, we’re nowhere near what we were last year, but this is a great exhibition game,” Pitino said. “I’m so happy with not necessarily the results, but so happy that we find out where we need to get better.”
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.
