St. John's coach Rick Pitino doesn't think Red Storm have come close to hitting their ceiling
St. John's Red Storm guard RJ Luis Jr. at practice at Madison Square Garden last month. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Every team has a ceiling. St. John’s coach Rick Pitino believes his ninth-ranked Red Storm have not reached theirs.
After St. John’s defeated two-time defending national champion and then-No. 19-ranked Connecticut at its Gampel Pavilion Friday, the Hall of Fame coach stated it was the Storm’s biggest win of the season, even though they had beaten then-No. 11 Marquette earlier in the week.
“On campus, hostile arena. They don’t lose too many games here,” Pitino said.
By Monday, the take was very, very different and one the defending Big East champion Huskies — now unranked — may not appreciate.
Pitino said that he saw 35 “mistakes” in film study — turnovers, poor rotations, failures to block out for a rebound — where the team was averaging half that in the previous nine games.
It’s a bit of a window into what’s going on with the Red Storm (21-3, 12-1) as they prepare for a Quad I game Wednesday against Villanova (14-10, 7-6) at its Finneran Pavilion.
Guard Deivon Smith is questionable to play. Pitino described him as having a condition similar to a pinched nerve in his neck on Monday night. At that point, he’d only been able to participate in one of the two previous practices. Smith suffered the shoulder injury that has hampered him in the Jan. 11 win against the Wildcats at the Garden and St. John’s managed to win that game, as well as the two others he missed.
Good as they’ve been, Pitino wants more and he is wary of the Wildcats.
“We have to realize that if Villanova wants to have a chance at making [the NCAA Tournament], beating us is a great segue into that,” Pitino said. “So our players] have to understand that it’s not going to just be a normal game anymore for your opponents.”
“They just beat Xavier by double digits . . . and in their minds right now, they think they can make the tournament,” Pitino added. “They’ve got 10 losses — likelihood is not great. But then coach is saying ‘we beat the No. 9-ranked team in the country, we can make this tournament.’ . . . We’re no longer the hunter. We are being hunted right now, and our guys know that, so that’s exciting. We know we’ve got to bring it. But the one thing about this team, they bring it.”
St. John’s has the No. 2-ranked defense in the country, according to kenpom.com. It ranks in the top 12 in blocks per game (5.6), rebounds per game (41.2) and turnovers forced (16.0)
The idea that St. John’s has room to get better has trickled down to the players.
“[Our defense] is the most important part and I feel like there’s just so much room for improvement,” RJ Luis Jr. said. “[That’s] very scary to me, to myself and my teammates, just to know that we have that much of another level that we could reach.
“I’m just happy about the defense that we’re playing right now and obviously everyone knows defense wins championships. So, if you throw in the offense, it’s kind of really just unstoppable.”
Luis, who has played his best basketball in the final stretches of games, may have inserted himself into the Big East Player of the Year debate, especially because he’s the leading scorer on the first-place team. St. John’s last conference player of the year was Walter Berry in 1986.
“I’m excited because I know I’m in contention for it, so that’s something I’m definitely trying to go for,” Luis said. “But especially, I’m just trying to win the regular conference championship, the Big East title. And, you know, [it’d be] cool dancing in March.”
And as long as we are a month away from awards season, it would be hard to envision Pitino not capturing conference Coach of the Year. Mike Anderson won it in 2021 and stands as the only Red Storm coach to have been so acknowledged in the past three decades.
Pitino is coaching in the Big East for a 12th season (two with both Providence and St. John’s and eight with Louisville) and has never won the award. He took three teams to the Final Four and guided one to a national championship. Pitino’s Louisville teams won three of the final five Big East Tournament championships before the conference was reconfigured.
“The great thing about us is, I would say we’re about 60% of the way potentially,” Pitino said. “We’re not a very good offensive team. We don’t pass real well. We don’t shoot real well. And we can get so much better at that . . . We can get so much better, which excites me.”
Dunlap recovering
Brady Dunlap’s abdominal surgery last Thursday was successful and he has been discharged from the hospital but is dealing with postoperative pain.
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.
