From the October exhibition game against Rutgers and the late 11-point deficit against Villanova on Wednesday, St. John's responded well to adversity.
Johnny rebounded with six straight wins from a 1-2 trip to the Bahamas. They bouncing back after a big ve day setback at Clayton by rocking 10 consecutive victories.
Well, here's another test for the 9th place Red Storm.
With no injured spark plug Davon Smith, they will meet the Line again on Sunday with the 24th and 2nd place Blue Jays at Madison Square Garden.
The program's first Big East regular season title since 1986 is more likely. Johnny owned Clayton in two games lead, with No. 18 Marquette and Connecticut in five games. Losing, two teams were tied up, and the Blue Jays owned a tiebreaker courtesy of two victories over the Red Storm. Like St. John's, Clayton is away from annoying losses and has finished a long winning streak. He fell to UConn at home after nine consecutive wins on Tuesday.
“Obviously, we understand the magnitude of playing for something bigger than ourselves, not just ourselves,” junior forward Zuby Ejiofor said. “We play in the Big East Championship all over. [St. John’s] community. “
That's not easy, especially without Smith, who is one of St. John's top three-point shooters and the key to that transition game. Smith hasn't been right since his victory over Villanova, who was hit in the right shoulder on January 11th. After appearing in three consecutive games, he actually made a set break last Sunday.
Check out the latest Big East rankings and cents. John's statistics
Without him, Johnny's already thin bench would hit. We have registered 26% of the team's minutes. On Friday, Pitino said he could see the expanded role of Greece's Greek guard Lefteris Riotoplos. The freshman is a Dead Eye shooter, but Clayton definitely hunts him on the other side of the floor. Another backcourt option is the freshman Jaden Glover.
“Obviously, it's having a big impact on our team. We don't get that many fast breaks – our fast breaks are cut in half with him,” Pitino said in Smith. He talked about it. “I'm changing the game of Zuby. He gives Zuby a lot of shots during his break. The pace changes when he goes out.”
In the first meeting, the one-point Blue Jays victory, St. John's (21-4, 12-2) had no answer to big man Ryan Calbrenner, the Big East defensive player three times a year. He had five blocking shots and changed a few others as St. John's scored 56 points in a season with 36.8% shooting. The matchup occurs when Egiofor sees his offensive opportunity decrease. In the last three games, he has 14 shot attempts and 4 with a 3 pointer.
“I think these teams do a good job of scouting, and I'm just trying to do my job early, gaining angles and trying to improve the floor a little bit. I did a good job,” Ejofor said. “It just brings more energy than I've done in the last few games.”
A full house is expected. Probably sold out. The garden is shaking and after a narrow loss at Villanova, he hopes for a bounceback victory.
Pitino called the defensive effort against the Wildcats one of the worst of the season, partly due to Villanova's offensive talent and a ton of three-point shooters. St. John's fitted both matchups, especially the Dynamic Wing Ooga Poplar.
Johnny caught up with double digits in each half, but still had a chance to win in the final seconds. That is Pitino's main point, a few days after his first defeat in more than a month.
“They didn't have it and they just kept fighting on the roads. I was impressed with them,” the Hall of Fame coach said. “Their willingness to fight, their fighting spirit. It's an amazing feature, if they never give up and it's not going well.
“They have a lot of weaknesses as a basketball team, but that's an incredible feature. I want to have that feature more than anything in basketball.”
