St. John's has a very interesting week ahead of it with big matchups vs. Marquette and UConn
St. John's Red Storm guard Kadary Richmond, center, and teammates react after their 68-66 win against the Providence Friars in a Big East men’s basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
This roll that St. John’s is on has been nothing short of scintillating.
The Red Storm have been on a steady ascent since the end of November, amassing 14 victories around a one-point loss at Creighton and climbing to No. 15 in the national rankings. For the most part, it seems that every time they take the floor, they are a little better than the last time — even if coach Rick Pitino was less than thrilled with their second-half defense in Saturday’s 68-66 win over Providence before 19,196 at the Garden.
We’ve seen the Red Storm come back from 15 points down three times. We’ve seen them play suffocating defense. We’ve seen them deliver in the clutch, including Zuby Ejiofor’s buzzer-beating game-winner at Providence and Kadary Richmond’s tiebreaking pull-up jumper with three seconds left against the Friars on Saturday.
And now we’re going to see if the Red Storm are everything people are starting to believe they are in a week in which they will face two nationally ranked opponents.
On Tuesday night, St. John’s will host No. 9 Marquette at the Garden in what arguably is the biggest regular-season game it’s played since the 1998-99 season. The Red Storm will be a participant in a matchup of Top 15 teams for the first time since they were No. 9 and lost to top-ranked UConn at the Garden on Jan. 30, 1999.
On Friday night, St. John’s will face Connecticut, the two-time defending national champion and No. 25 team in the country, at Gampel Pavilion.
Marquette fell to 9-2 in the conference with its 77-69 loss to UConn (8-3) on Saturday night. St. John’s is 10-1.
“I think all the teams at the top can all win it,” Friars coach Kim English said. “Connecticut, Creighton, Marquette. St. John’s absolutely. I mean, they’re 10-1 and they can keep rolling.”
And there’s plenty of reason to believe in the Red Storm. Their will to win has allowed them to prevail in games that they statistically shouldn’t, something Pitino has marveled at.
Richmond has come on of late and become the difference-maker envisioned when he transferred from Seton Hall as the top-rated player in the NCAA transfer portal. And Deivon Smith has returned from a right shoulder injury.
Smith didn’t shoot well, going 1-for-10 from the floor, but had six assists and three steals in 28 minutes that were much-needed when Aaron Scott got into foul trouble.
Surely, as in all things, there are those who may doubt St. John’s.
There are nine games left, including two against Marquette, two against UConn and one at home against Creighton. According to Kenpom.com, none of the Big East teams has played a weaker conference schedule to date. And as witnessed on Saturday with Scott’s foul difficulties, the Red Storm are not especially deep. Four players — Richmond, RJ Luis Jr., Simeon Wilcher and Zuby Ejiofor — were on the court for at least 34 minutes.
Pitino wasn’t especially interested in discussing the arc his team is traveling, having pulled out a win after blowing a 19-point lead. And certainly the fact that he’s never satisfied is one of the things that has sustained this ascent.
“I wish we could have played better down the stretch, but when you can learn these lessons, this helps you,” Pitino said. “See, if I go in there and smile and be happy, we’re going to take an ‘L’ somewhere. We’re going to take an ‘L.’ ”
That shows up in the players. When Richmond was asked how he sees this team as it heads into the challenging week, he replied, “There’s always room for improvement. We’re not overlooking anybody. We’re not looking ahead . . . Whoever we got next is who we got next, and we’re going to prepare the same way.”
“We’ll learn from this and move on, because we’re playing a very tough Marquette team,” Pitino said. “I think we’re tied for first place with Marquette, and Marquette doesn’t turn the ball over. If you allow them to only play with six [or] seven [or] eight turnovers [and] with their defense, they’re tough to beat.”
St. John’s, at 19-3 and ranked fourth in the country in defensive efficiency, according to Kenpom.com, hasn’t just played like an NCAA Tournament team. It has played like one that could end up deserving a top-four seeding in one of the regions, maybe even meriting placement for the first weekend of games in Providence.
Pitino’s teams traditionally have played their best basketball in February and March, and this season, they’re going to need to do it again. The hardest part of the schedule lies ahead.
Just how good is this team? We’re about to find out.
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.
