Three takeaways from St. John's wild win over Providence
St. John's Red Storm forward Zuby Ejiofor shoots a foul shot aBryant University Bulldogs in the second half of a non-conference men’s basketball game at Carnesecca Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
If this St. John’s season ends the way Rick Pitino and the Red Storm are hoping — with a trip to the NCAA Tournament, a first tourney win since 2000 and a run into the second weekend of The Big Dance — what happened in Friday night’s 72-70 road win over Providence should come to be known as “The Miracle at Amica [Mutual Pavilion].”
St. John’s shot 3-for-18 from three-point range and missed 15 free throws before Zuby Ejiofor’s buzzer-beater gave the Red Storm a second Big East win. There was so much — good and bad — in the win, so here are three takeaways:
1. The road is a trying place
When Pitino and his staff upgraded the non-conference schedule, including a true road game in a hostile environment would have been a benefit. Providence’s rabid fan base makes The AMP one of the most challenging conference road games, but earning virtually any road win in the Big East is a heavy lift. And the Red Storm players felt it.
Just one example: During the final 4:03, St. John’s went 1-for-8 at the free-throw line to leave the door open for the Friars to tie the score at 70 on Bensley Joseph’s three-pointer with 18.8 seconds left.
“I can only speak just for myself, but there was a little bit of jitters,” Ejiofor said. “Obviously, this is our first road game and a rowdy environment. It was really loud. So that’s something we’ve got to work on.”
Asked if the atmosphere had an impact on the Red Storm’s play, Deivon Smith replied, “Definitely — it was the first road game since [the October exhibition at] Rutgers. We’ve been playing at the house for a long time. So [we’ve] just got to get used to that and I don’t think that’ll happen again.”
2. Second-half ‘D’ a key
The Red Storm have found a formula to win games. The keys are defending the three-point line and getting offensive rebounds and second-chance points. It’s what they did when they looked like world-beaters in the second half to beat Kansas State, throughout the win over DePaul and in Friday’s second half.
After halftime Friday, St. John’s limited the Friars to 1-for-8 shooting from behind the three-point arc (after they were 6-for-11 in the first half) and had nine rebounds for 14 second-chance points.
“We’re built to stop people and grab rebounds, and we’ll get better from the foul line,’’ Pitino said.
3. Free-throw woes
St. John’s free-throw shooting must improve. It already bit them once in the double-overtime loss to Baylor in the Bahamas; with St. John’s leading by two, Ejiofor missed a pair with 4.1 seconds left and the Bears’ Jeremy Roach sank a three-pointer at the buzzer. They missed 12 free throws in that one.
The Red Storm also missed 12 against Wagner and nine against DePaul but won both games.
Conference games tend to be close, and often we see the trailing team get additional possessions with a late fouling strategy. The last thing the Red Storm want is to surrender a late lead by missing free throws when they should be sealing the deal.
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.