Let's get this out of the way. This is not a must-win game for St. John's. Not in January, and certainly not for teams scheduled to make the NCAA Tournament, according to just about every bracketology expert.
But will Johnny need to find a way to beat Villanova Wednesday night at the Garden? Yes, it is. Johnny needs it for their sanity. That way, the fan base won't be jumping off the Queensborough Bridge en masse, and the coaches won't be driving players into oblivion during the next bye week. It calmed the waters and stabilized a mostly successful first season under Rick Pitino before a trip to Xavier on Jan. 31 followed by a showdown with No. 1 Connecticut on Feb. 3. will let you.
First and foremost, St. John's (12-7, 4-4) needs to win basketball games after losing three straight. Two of those games were against ranked foes Creighton and Marquette, where he lost by one point, and his other game was a blowout loss at the hands of a surprising Seton Hall. . He needs to play the full 40 minutes, like he did in Saturday's disappointing loss to Marquette, but some are fragmented and erratic. They need to beat the undersized Villanova inside, like they did against Finneran Pavilion on Jan. 6, when they put up 42 points in the paint. That means Joel Soriano will find his game from the opening hint. That means not compromising on jumpers. It means the aggressiveness of all Johnny's. It means despair and a constant sense of urgency.
Pitino watched a six-point halftime lead turn into a 13-point lead with six minutes left in the loss to Marquette when everything went wrong. He felt the team's finishing had taken a “leap”.
“Tonight, with six minutes left in the game, they chased greatness,” the Hall of Fame coach said. “With six minutes left, we were going for something great.”
Was this what the coach said? Did this Pitino know that the Johnny's were fragile and needed to build rather than collapse? probably. But he also saw a team that fought against adversity, did everything in its power to win games that seemed out of reach at the time, defended very well, took good shots and attacked the offensive line with ferocity.
“I feel like we showed that we can turn things around in a short amount of time,” point guard Danis Jenkins said. “I think that’s why the coach was optimistic.”
That should have a carryover effect and be the springboard to Wednesday's win. Of course, it's not easy. Villanova is likely to be just as desperate, dropping three of its past four games, with its only win coming at home against cellar-dwelling DePaul. Star guard Justin Moore, who missed the loss to St. John's a few weeks ago, is also available and is shaking off the rust and starting to look like himself. Villanova nearly defeated top-ranked Connecticut on Saturday.
Let's be clear again: St. John's NCAA Tournament hopes don't end with a loss to Villanova. It will not affect the outcome of this contest. BracketMatrix.com averages 76 tournament predictions and has the Johnnies as his 8th seed. Their NET ranking is 41st and they have 6 wins and 6 losses in Games 1 and 2, good numbers at this point in the year.
This game will neither make nor fail them. But nevertheless, it is very important. This team needs to react when the ball goes up, like they reacted in the final minutes against Marquette. With more difficult matches on the horizon, we cannot afford to let this losing streak continue.
This could truly be a crossroads in St. John's season. Johnny's certainly hopes this is a turning point in the right direction.
Senior guard Jordan Dingle missed the past two games due to COVID-19, but has returned to practice over the past few days and is expected to be available. But St. John's will be without his fellow guard Nahiem Alleyne, who injured his ankle against Marquette. The injury is not as serious as initially feared, and the senior may only miss this one game.
