St. John's Stunned In Second Half By Another Southern School

 

Otega Oweh puts up a shot. @KentuckyMBB.

St. John's suffered a crushing loss on Saturday to Kentucky, 78-66, in the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta.

This was the first time St. John's participated in the event, which was created in 2014. It also was a reunion for Head Coach Rick Pitino, as he coached Kentucky from 1989 to 1997, and led them to a National Championship in 1996. The last time he faced Kentucky was on December 21, 2016, when he was coaching Louisville, and he won that one, 73-70. 

St. John's, currently No. 22 in the nation, is now 7-4 on the season, and this loss was eerily familiar to losses earlier in the season to Alabama and Auburn. 

St. John's was down 12-10 midway through the first half when they went on an 11-2 run, and that extended into a ten-point lead, at 26-16, on an Oziyah Sellers three-pointer at the 4:55 mark. They would take a 32-25 lead into halftime.

The Red Storm led 41-33 four minutes into the second half when Kentucky started to make a run when Otega Oweh made a step-back jumper at 15:42.

That basket started a 19-2 run for the Wildcats over the next 4:54, capped by a Kam Williams three-pointer that made it 52-43 at the 10:48 mark.

St. John's did pull back within five, at 54-49, at 9:13, but just like that, Kentucky went back up 10 on a trio of free throws from Williams and two from Oweh, and they basically kept the lead there the rest of the way.

Kentucky outscored St. John's 53-34 in the second half, as they shot 54.5 percent, or 18-33, from the field. Despite shooting just 3-10 from behind the arc, they cleaned up at the free throw line, draining 14 of 16 from the charity stripe. St. John's was held to 34.8 percent, or 8-33, from the field, including 2-10 from behind the arc.

The Wildcats were led by Oweh, who had 20 points on 6-17 shooting, and he was 8-9 on free throws, with five rebounds, three steals, and an assist. Oweh was the only starter to score in double figures, but a trio off the bench did - Jaland Love had 13 points (5-7 FG, 1-2 three-pointers), three rebounds and three assists; Williams had 11 points (2-6 FG, 2-3 threes) and eight rebounds; and Jayden Quaintance had 10 points (5-7 FG) and eight rebounds. 

St. John's was led by Bryce Hopkins, who had 13 points on 4-11 from the field, including 1-3 from behind the arc, with three rebounds, three steals, and an assist. Zuby Ejiofor and Joson Sanon had 12 points apiece, with Sanon getting all his points at the free throw line (a perfect 12-12), while Ian Jackson put up 10 points (4-7 FG, 2-5 threes), six rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

PITINO POSTGAME: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino addressed the media after the game, and he opened with this statement: "I'm disappointed in any loss, but it's not my job to be disappointed. My job is to make the team better."

On team strengths: "Statistically, it may not show up because we didn't shoot real well, but we took 32 free throws and got to the line. That's part of offense as well. One of the strengths of our team is getting to the foul line and making our free throws."

On belief in the group of players he put together: "They're a great group of guys. I love them, completely love them. We can be a good team, and we can get better and better and better."