Rick Pitino was right.
The betting lines for this match were way off.
St. John's should have been favored by more than 14.5 points.
Of course, Pitino felt the spread was too high and predicted it would be an “all-out war” for the Johnnys against DePaul in Tuesday night's Big East opener.
His players may have used it as material for their own personal bulletin boards, as they treated DePaul like a lower major not worthy of sharing the court at Carnesecca Arena.
The Johnnys erased their recent slow start and opened the league with a convincing victory, crushing DePaul 89-61.
The Blue Demons, coming off a big win over Wichita State, are improving under new coach Chris Holtmann.
I didn't see it that way against Johnny's.
“Tonight was a shock. Shock is the only word I can describe,” Pitino said after Johnny won his fourth straight match. “Our staff felt bad about this game. We were preparing like it was the last game of the season, but the way they were hitting the ball, we had to win. But our defense was really good tonight.”
He added: “This was the best match ever in many areas.”
Check out the latest Big East standings and St. Louis standings. John's statistics
St. John's led by 11 points at halftime and turned this into a laugh, scoring 17 of the first 21 points after the break. The game ended at the first media timeout of the second half. There was no giving up.
St. John's was focused, enthusiastic and determined.
Aggressive Kadary Richmond made sure of that, scoring nine of his 18 points on a run to start the second half.
St. John's was led by RJ Lewis with 19 points and five rebounds, followed by Simeon Wilcher with 16 points and Zuby Ejiofor with 12 points, seven rebounds and four blocks.
Davon Smith, making his first start after serving a one-game suspension, continued his impressive performance of late with nine points, eight assists, six rebounds and five steals.
“Our team completely respected them and was totally into them,” Pitino said.
It was complete domination. St. John's (9-2, 1-0) was plus-12 on the glass, scored 56 points in the paint and turned 20 turnovers into 27 points.
What was most impressive was the Johnny's 3-point defense.
DePaul (8-3, 0-1) entered as one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the nation with a shade over 40 percent, and St. John's defended the 3-point arc 234th in the nation.
They held DePaul to 30% (6-of-20) from long range, but half of those shots were made after the result seemed certain.
“I think we took a big leap forward,” Smith said. “That was a strong, strong call from the coach to stop the three-ball. I think we probably made some mistakes today, but we did a good job with a good shooting team. were limited to a certain number, and the best players were not allowed to participate.
“As I said before the game, our biggest goal was to consolidate the two halves and not get off to a slow start.We finished the final four minutes of the first half with a strong result. [after halftime]. I definitely thought I was able to do that today. ”
Pitino wasn't ready to call this a breakthrough. It was truly a complete performance. He wants to see consistency.
“I think we played great tonight. I think we have the potential to be a good team,” Pitino said. “I haven't watched anything other than the Virginia game and tonight. …Are we making a quantum leap? We'll see if we play Providence on the road. [on Friday] It's the first Big East road game in perhaps the toughest road environment in the Big East. ”
