St. John's has chance to get better against William & Mary
St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino during the Alabama game at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 8. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
The first big test St. John’s faced is now in the rearview mirror. The next one lies just 10 days ahead. The question facing the 13th-ranked Red Storm is whether they can address the weaknesses that were exposed in last Saturday’s 103-96 loss to Alabama before they go against No. 16 Iowa State when the Players Era Festival opens on Nov. 24 in Las Vegas.
That game with the Cyclones will be the first of three in three days against NCAA Tournament-caliber teams.
St. John’s (1-1) has a pair of games between now and then: Saturday’s 6 p.m. contest against William & Mary (2-1) and Thursday’s 7 p.m. matchup with Bucknell, both at Carnesecca Arena.
When asked if this is a crucial time to get ready for the games in Las Vegas, coach Rick Pitino said “we’re ready for them.”
He added, “Iowa State down the road? Our strength coach [Jeffrey Eveillard] is a muscle-bound 6-2 [guy] and they look like my strength coach at 6-8 and 6-9. They all look like that.”
Playing a big-time opponent like Alabama in the season’s first week served many purposes, perhaps none more important than measuring where the Red Storm are and where they have weaknesses that have to be addressed. And though St. John’s rallied from an 11-point deficit and held a lead with 6:09 to play, Pitino was quick to identify two big areas in which his team is lacking.
The Crimson Tide scored 50 points in each half and the St. John’s backcourt offered little resistance. Alabama's trio of guards scored 63 points, made eight three-pointers and committed only one turnover. St. John’s also gave up 14 offensive rebounds that led to 19 points.
“We have to be more physical at every single position in order to become a great team down the road,” Pitino said. “They are very much a finesse basketball team and they have to get physical in order to reach our potential and we’ve been talking to them about it [and] they’re all willing learners. Every team this time of year is going to have things that you have to work on.”
St. John’s was not an especially strong defensive team at the beginning of last season, but through working on that end and improving communication, it wound up ranked second in the country in defensive efficiency. Zuby Ejiofor believes this team can be like that.
“It’s more of a mindset thing,” Ejiofor said. “Once everybody is committed to getting stops . . . we’re going to be a really special team.”
Bryce Hopkins said that in every individual workout and every team practice since last weekend, defense has been the prime directive. “You’re definitely going to see a change in us,” he added.
This isn’t the St. John’s program of the past couple of decades, the one that looked past lesser opponents and thought it would win by donning the jersey. One could hear that when Hopkins was asked about this week’s games and he replied, “We have to take care of business at the defensive end.”
It doesn’t matter that the Red Storm will be a prohibitive favorite against William & Mary and Bucknell. They know this is a stretch in which they have to get better. They know that in a week’s time, this team can no longer be the one we saw last weekend against Alabama.
Darling back. Pitino said guard Dylan Darling, who missed the Alabama loss with a right calf strain, returned to practice this week and will play against William & Mary.
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.
