St. John's Vanquishes Villanova On Statement Night For Pitino's Program

 

Aaron Scott of St. John's slamming one home at the 14:12 mark of the second half to give them a 42-41 lead. Photo by Jason Schott.

The St. John's Red Storm had a statement win in many ways on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, as they were victorious over Villanova, 80-68.

St. John's closed out this game on a 14-3 run to improve to 14-3 overall on the season. Their record in Big East Conference play of 5-1 is the best in 24 years.

These were the kind of nights that St. John's dreamed of when they hired Rick Pitino in the spring of 2023.

In past years, when Villanova came to The Garden, it felt like their home game, with the majority of the crowd of around 14,000 decked out in their navy and light blue, as they cheered on Jay Wright and his star-studded players like the current Knicks lineup. 

Tonight, not only were their 18,178 fans in the building - a near-sellout, with the only evident empty seats the "blue" ones up top - but probably 15,000 of them were there for the Red Storm.

One would have thought this was March and these teams were battling for the Big East championship, with how intense the atmosphere was from the start.

The crowd erupting after Deivon Smith made an early three-pointer to put St. John's ahead, 13-11. Photo by Jason Schott.

The largest lead in the first 18 minutes of the game was a four-point edge by Villanova, 11-7, until St. John's closed the first half on a 12-6 edge to take a 36-31 lead into the half.

The second half was more of the same, as the biggest lead  was Villanova by four, at 54-50, with 8:29 left.

This juncture was instructive because, go back five years, the Red Storm fans would have been heading for the exits, sure that Wright's gang would have turned that into a 20-point edge by the under-four timeout.

Instead, Kadary Richmond put up five straight points, and St. John's instantly regained the lead, at 55-54.

That lead built to four before Villanova tied it at 61 with 4:19 remaining.

St. John's led by a point, 66-65, with 2:35 remaining, and they went on a 9-0 game-defining run over the next 1:39, with seven of the nine points coming from the free throw line. 

That ballooned into the game-ending 14-3 run mentioned earlier in this report, not the first run of its kind by the Red Storm to end a game.

RJ Luis led the way for St. John's, as he poured in 30 points - 23 of them in the second half - on 6-15 from the field, 2-6 on three pointer, and an astonishing 16-20 from the free-throw line, with 10 rebounds for a double-double, with an assist and a steal.

RJ Luis going along the baseline for a layup at 4:57 in the first half that put St. John's ahead, 24-23. Photo by Jason Schott.

Deivon Smith and Aaron Scott had 12 points and four rebounds apiece. Smith's 12 came in the first half before he exited with an injury.

Zuby Ejiofor had 11 points, including seven free throws, nine rebounds (four on the offensive end), two assists, and a block.

Kadary Richmond had nine points (3-7 FG, 3-3 FT), five assists, four rebounds, and two steals.

Villanova was led by Wooga Poplar, who had 22 points on 7-13 from the field, including 2-5 on threes, with four rebounds and an assist. Eric Dixon had 18 points (6-19 FG, 4-9 threes), three assists, two rebounds, one steal, and a block.

PITINO POSTGAME: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino addressed the media after the game, and he opened with this statement:  "Well, that was a fabulous game with an incredible atmosphere. And these two guys (Luis and Simeon Wilcher) were part of a team that just willed this win tonight. Sim gave us big minutes. He made big steals, did all the right things. It may not show in the stat sheet, but he played tremendous. And RJ, I've said this all along, RJ is one of the most gifted players I've coached. You don't see it as much, but he's got great vision, but he just refused to not rebound the ball with the game on the line like five different times. His toughness was incredible. He got to the floor before everybody. I can't say enough accolades for RJ tonight, putting aside his great talent, his hustle was amazing to me. I'm proud of both of these guys. It was a great win for us."

On his team's defensive effort against Villanoa: "They are really a tough team to play against. They shoot at all positions. They put you in situations where it's very difficult to rebound. But in the end, they shot 39 percent and they normally shoot 47 percent and 38 percent from three, and obviously, a great free throw shooting team. So, wonderful performance."

On RJ Luis Jr.'s second half performance: "Well, I took him out early in the second half and said to him, I said, 'Look, you are going right back in. But I want to tell you, if you don't pick this up, we're not winning this game. So go back in. You got to pick this thing up.' He went in there and he picked it up."

On the team rallying after Deivon Smith's injury: "You know, the amazing thing is, he was the high scorer. He had, I believe, 12 points at halftime. He was playing great, and then you lose him. But these guys rallied, and it speaks volumes of what they're all about.

On Luis' development: "Well, he's physically stronger than what he was. He has, and this is a good thing. It's not a selfish thing. He has an incredible desire to score. I think his best quality, besides obviously scoring, is he's a great passer. Now, you don't see as much because we needed him to score tonight, and he makes all those free throws tonight. He did a great job on defense. RJ is a pro. I think somebody's going to get a player that's going to get better and better and better and better."