St. John's takes out frustrations on Baylor, bounces back in big way following loss against Iowa State
St. John's Bryce Hopkins shoots against Dan Skillings Jr. of Baylor during the first half of a Players Era Championship Tournament game at Michelob ULTRA Arena on Tuesday in Las Vegas, Nevada. Credit: Getty Images/Ian Maule
LAS VEGAS — St. John’s delivered the complete package here on Tuesday.
It showcased all the talent that led to the preseason No. 5 national ranking. It played the sort of highly-focused game one expects from a very experienced roster. It brought the relentlessness that has become a trademark of coach Rick Pitino’s Red Storm teams.
And, most importantly, it produced the desired result.
The 14th-ranked Red Storm didn’t just turn the page on Monday’s brutal one-point loss to No. 15 Iowa State in the first round of the Players Era Festival. It showed up with a vengeance to face Baylor and turned in its best performance of the season thus far with a wire-to-wire 96-81 takedown of the previously unbeaten Bears in a second-round game at Michelob Ultra Arena.
And it may also have started a new chapter in this season: one where its unquenchable passion to win becomes its best and most noticeable asset. That same quality was there most every night when the 2024-25 Storm moved past a rough November and went on to win 31 games and the Big East title.
“What I enjoyed the most last night was the devastation in the eyes of our players,” Pitino said. “A class team really, really focuses in, doesn't hang their heads and brings it. And these guys did. I think for the first seven [or] eight minutes, we could have given the Knicks a game.”
Yes, those early minutes were something worth seeing as Oziyah Sellers picked up where he left off after Monday’s 20-point performance and scored 12 of his season-high 22 points as the Storm raced out to an 18-4 lead.
Painful circumstances often fuel the fire where a team’s best qualities are forged. They have a way of focusing the mind. And, at least in this moment, that’s what seems to be going on with the Red Storm (4-2).
Bryce Hopkins was asked about the dialogue among the players after they blew a four-point lead with seven minutes left and a one-point lead with two minutes to go in falling to the Cyclones. He replied, “The conversation between the players was just we didn't want to feel [today] how we felt last night, so we had to do something about it.”
And what they did was by no means perfect but nevertheless impressive. Hopkins had 26 points on 9-for-12 shooting including three three-pointers plus five rebounds and five assists. Sellers was 5-for-7 on three-point attempts. Dillon Mitchell had 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting along with six assists and six rebounds.
The Storm shot a season-best 57.4% from the floor, made a season-best 50% on three-pointers and limited the Bears to 37.2% shooting. But their defensive rebounding issues — the ones that played a big role in their downfall 24 hours earlier — remain: Baylor had 26 offensive rebounds and took 17 more shots.
“We’ve just got to work on our rebounding,” Pitino said. “It's just something that we're capable of doing a better job of and I know they're hungry.”
St. John’s will play a third game in the 18-team tournament on Wednesday night against No. 21 Auburn at 8 p.m. That contest will serve as another opportunity for the Storm to pick up momentum.
Pitino described some signs that St. John’s could be embarking on a new chapter in the season, beginning with how hard they took Monday’s loss. Film sessions that are typically quiet were filled with questions from the players. There was attention to the scouting report on Baylor. The pregame walk-through on Tuesday morning was crisper than any preceding it. He even told the coaching staff after it, “there’s no doubt this is going to be our night.”
“It definitely hurts when you play a full game and end up losing by one possession,” Sellers said. “We were super bought in on moving on and locking in today to get the win.”
And that may be one of the milestones Pitino seeks in a team. In the early parts of last season, he was frustrated that the Storm wasn’t absorbing scouting reports well and doing what was prescribed.
After beating Baylor, he said, “I think these guys witnessed today [what] great preparation is all about. They were really dialed in.”
“We're capable of this when we play together and we truly lock in and know what we need to do, scouting-wise,” Sellers said. “We're able to get wins like this.”
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.
