An historically bad performance knocked St. John’s out of the Big East lead and another bad showing would push the Red Storm closer to third place.
The 15th-ranked Red Storm hope to avoid another disappointing loss Saturday night when they host improved Villanova in New York.
St. John’s (22-6, 15-2 Big East) trails first-place UConn by a half-game after missing the final 24 shots of a 72-40 loss to the Huskies Wednesday in Hartford. Villanova (22-6, 13-4) earned an 82-73 home over Butler the same evening and is two games behind the Red Storm.
St. John’s lost its conference lead by getting held to 40 points, its fewest points since finishing with 45 at Notre Dame on March 5, 2013. The Red Storm gave up 18 straight points in the first half, 16 straight points in the second half.
“We did things we’ve never done,” coach Rick Pitino said after his team was outscored 42-12 in the paint. “It’s something I’ve got to question about myself, and I will question it because the team did not do the things we’ve done in the last 13 games.”
The Red Storm did not hit a basket in the final 17:28 after a jumper by Zuby Ejiofor, who was held to six points. St. John’s made 2 of 28 shots (7.1%) in the second half and 19.6% overall, their lowest field goal percentage in any game since 1938-1939.
“We’re still playing for a league championship,” Pitino said. “It doesn’t matter whether you lose by one or 40. The league championship is still at stake. Obviously, we make our corrections and move on.”
The difficult night followed a dominating 81-52 home win over Creighton last Saturday that gave St. John’s a 13-game winning streak. During the streak, the Red Storm often got big nights from its frontcourt of Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins and Dillon Mitchell but the trio shot a combined 5 of 23 and was held to 14 points.
Villanova suffered an 86-79 loss when the teams met in Philadelphia on Jan. 17 and standout freshman Acaden Lewis was held to three points on 1-of-7 shooting. The Wildcats are 8-2 in their past 10 with both losses coming against UConn, including Saturday’s 10-point home loss to the Huskies when they shot 6 of 24 from 3-point range.
“These guys are a great group of guys to coach,” Villanova first-year coach Kevin Willard said Wednesday after his team took a 14-point halftime lead. “They come in, work hard and have a great attitude. “I think that’s why this team is as good as we are. It’s our attitude.”
Villanova has scored at least 80 points in five of their past seven wins and Lewis scored 14 of his game-high 20 points Wednesday in the first half when the Wildcats shot 49.2% overall. Lewis has scored at least 20 in three of his past six games, including a 26-point showing three weeks ago at Georgetown.
Besides Lewis, Bryce Lindsay added 19 against Butler for his most points since getting 19 against DePaul on Dec. 31. Devin Askew contributed a pair of threes in a decisive 8-0 run in the second half and finished with 16 after shooting 9 of 44 in his previous five games.
–Field Level Media
