Before Rick Pitino, St. John's looked like this in big games.
I was shocked. It lacks confidence in itself. Lack of concentration and composure.
The team did not appear Tuesday night due to the absence of the Hall of Fame coach, who was sidelined due to COVID-19.
There seemed to be no leader.
It took nearly five minutes for Johnny to score his first point, but the night didn't really get any better.
Seton Hall was the much better team, riding a head-spinning 28-0 run that connected the first and second halves to an 80-65 beatdown at the Prudential Center, defeating St. John's for the second year in a row. led to a road loss.
Johnny fell to 1-12 all-time at Newark Arena, a house of terror.
In one of its worst performances of the season, St. John's trailed by 14 points at halftime and never got back into the game.
It lost to the tentative, grittier, more physical Pirates, and was beaten tough.
Steve Masiello, who replaced Pitino, did not respond. No one in red did.
Joel Soriano was outplayed by Seton Hall backup center Elijah Hutchins-Everett for most of the second half.
Danis Jenkins was the only starter for St. John's to reach double digits, scoring 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Zuby Ejiofor added 13 points off the bench.
Former Johnny's player Dylan Ade-Wusu put a dent in his old team with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists.
But this wasn't about a particular player. This was a complete obliteration.
Seton Hall (13-5, 6-1) outscored St. John's by 21 points, outscored the Red Storm in the paint 28-24 and had them at their mercy for most of the night.
The Johnnies (12-6, 4-3) will begin a two-game homestand with a key homestand against No. 17 Marquette on Saturday and Villanova four days later.
There is optimism that Pitino will be back by then.
He started feeling symptoms last Thursday, but tests on Friday and Saturday were negative.
He felt sick again after Tuesday's shootout and tested positive.
St. John's was also without guard Jordan Dingle due to the coronavirus, according to officials.
Meanwhile, Seton Hall continued its impressive run toward the start of the league season.
After being picked to finish ninth in the conference, they sit alone at the top of the Big East standings with a 6-1 record.
Big East Player of the Year candidate Cadary Richmond controlled the game. He had 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists, and Al-Amir Dawes added 21 points.
The first half started poorly, and the second half ended even worse. Seton Hall scored the first six points of the game and the last 14 points in the opening 20 minutes, holding a commanding 14-point lead into the break.
Other than a brief stretch when Seton Hall went cold, the game was one-sided.
But it was an aggressor. It was more physical. It was more difficult.
They were 22-8 in favor of the Pirates in the paint and 10-0 in transition.
Until the final 4:33 of the first half, St. John's was held scoreless and committed four turnovers.
He scored nine points in the first 20 minutes, giving him 10 Seton Hall points.
The Johnnies shot 33.3 percent from the field and grabbed eight rebounds. Basically, nothing worked. Soriano and Jenkins made 6 of 16 from the field, while St. John's made just 2 of 11 3-pointers.
Things didn't get any better after the break.
Seton Hall scored the first 14 points to take a 52-24 lead.
St. John's finally scored on a 3-pointer by Glen Taylor Jr., ending the 8:30 drought.
The rest of the game was pretty much garbage time.
