St. John’s Basketball: Pitino Sees Room for Growth After Exhibition Win

Rick Pitino has emphasized that the team’s journey will take time, and Wednesday night’s exhibition opener didn’t change that perspective.

St. John’s had a late start, as the entire team wasn’t assembled until the fall semester began. Transfers Keyshawn Hall and Reed Bailey only decided to join the program at the end of August.

“I really love our upside. We’re just so far behind on the fundamentals,” Pitino remarked after his team defeated Drexel 81-52 at Carnesecca Arena. “But the positive is that it’s better to have talented players who need to learn than those who lack talent but have solid fundamentals. We’ve got a lot to work on, but I was impressed with their defensive effort and a lot of the good things they did. We’re probably about three weeks to a month behind because of a tough summer.”

Two significant issues stood out during the game: defensive rebounding and turnovers. Drexel managed to grab 14 offensive rebounds, while St. John’s committed 19 turnovers.

“If I had one disappointment tonight it was rebounding,” Pitino said. “We played surprisingly good defense but allowed too many offensive rebounds. We need to improve our rebounding if we want to compete against teams like Rutgers and Texas. That’s going to be a key focus.”

Among the newcomers, Bailey had previously flown under the radar but certainly made an impression. The Indiana transfer was the first big man off the bench, scoring eight points, grabbing five rebounds, and achieving three steals in just 14 minutes of play. Pitino appreciated that Bailey played smartly without forcing the action.

“Reed Bailey really understands how to play,” Pitino said. “He’s a tough basketball player. He’s invaluable.”

Pitino started Tounde Yessoufou and Babacar Sane, with Keyshawn Hall coming off the bench. He intends to rotate these three players in the starting lineup, alongside Quinn Ellis, Ian Jackson, and Ruben Prey as the core players.