St. John's NCAA Tournament hopes take hit after loss to Providence
RJ Luis Jr. of St. John's takes a shot against host Provience on Tuesday. Credit: St Johns University
PROVIDENCE — St. John’s may very well have played itself onto a high wire Tuesday night.
The Red Storm had all the urgency and effort required of a team with narrowing hopes of reaching the NCAA Tournament playing Providence. But they once again didn’t make enough plays to earn a tough Big East road victory and suffered a 75-72 loss before 10,258 at Amica Mutual Pavilion, digging themselves into an even deeper hole with respect to earning an at-large NCAA bid.
The Storm led by seven early in the second half, trailed by seven with 5:42 left and tied the score at 70 on a Daniss Jenkins jumper with 1:37 to play. Providence then broke the press for a quick Corey Floyd Jr. layup and St. John’s didn’t make another field goal.
Down three on its last possession, Jenkins’ shot to tie it missed everything with 10 seconds left and, after an offensive rebound, Jordan Dingle’s long three with six seconds left got blocked by Friars center Josh Oduro.
St. John’s (14-11, 6-8) has fallen to ninth place in the conference standings and the avenues into the Big Dance are getting very narrow. There are six conference games left, including three where wins offer little benefit, against lowly DePaul and Georgetown.
“We intend on winning our next six games,” Rick Pitino said.
“And if you don’t win the next six, you win the Big East Tournament,” Pitino added. “That’s what competitors do. You just keep fighting until your time comes. You never know when your time will come. I’m hoping it’s this year but if it’s not, we’ll move on."
Some of it depends on how the other teams in the middle of the Big East pack perform, but the Red Storm may need to win them all; at the very least they need to win five and Sunday’s matchup against Seton Hall at UBS Arena is likely a “must-win.”
Maybe some combination of regular-season wins and conference tournament wins could do the trick, also.
Asked his take on winning out, Sean Conway replied: “I absolutely agree. That’s our mindset from here on out. We know what’s at stake. And we also know we’re capable as a unit. And we’re going to continue to work toward that goal.”
RJ Luis Jr. led St. John’s with 16 points and 14 rebounds but committed five turnovers and left Pitino declaring that the sophomore “will give me a nervous breakdown.”
Jenkins had 13 points and Conway a season-high 11 for the Storm.
Joel Soriano, replaced in the starting lineup by Zuby Ejiofor for the first time, had nine points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench before fouling out, but struggled to stop Oduro.
Oduro had 28 points — 26 in the second half — and Devin Carter added 14 points and 11 rebounds for Providence (16-9, 7-7). Oduro drew nine fouls in all and was 9-for-10 on free throws.
“It’s not fun losing on the road, but I’m real proud of these guys,” Pitino said. “They fought their [butts] off the entire night. It’s just that we couldn’t guard their center in the low post and [he] destroyed us.”
Pitino explained the lineup change was intended to inspire consistent high-effort outings from Soriano and reward Ejiofor’s high motor at practices.
St. John’s had the effort but not the execution. They’ll need both against Seton Hall, and when they host No. 17 Creighton the following Sunday, and at Butler on Feb. 28.
“We’re going to win the Big East [and] we are going to go to the NCAAs — it’s just not going to be this year, winning the Big East,” Pitino said. “My first year at Providence, we were 17-14. It’s my first year. Give us a chance to develop the program ... We want to win but it’s not realistic in this conference to come in the first year and just kick everybody’s [butts]. It’s just not.”
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.
