"Disappointing" Loss For St. John's As Providence Pulls Off Stunner

 

Zuby Ejiofor buried this early three-pointer that gave St. John's a 6-0 lead, on his way to a 33-point day. Photo by Jason Schott.

St. John's started off with a flourish, but Providence provided an even better finish to pull off a stunning 77-71 win over the Red Storm on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

This was the first loss for St. John's in Big East Conference play, giving them a 2-1 record, and they are now 9-5 overall. 

St. John's lost just five games all season last year, as they were 31-5 and won the Big East regular season and tournament titles, and made it to the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament. It is an inexact comparison considering St. John's has just three returning players from that team.

This one couldn't have started better for St. John's, as they raced out to a 13-0 lead, and kept Providence off the board for the first four minutes and 13 seconds of the game.

Once Providence warmed up, the score got a bit more conventional, as they pulled within three points, at 19-16, on a fast break layup from Jason Edwards with 8:43 left in the first half.

St. John's would hold firm, and take a seven-point lead, 38-31, into halftime, despite shooting just 32.5 percent, or 13 of 40, from the field, while Providence shot a bit better, at 42.9 % (12-28).

The second half was more of the same, as they were moments where Providence pulled to within two or three points, but St. John's rallied to go up 10, at 62-52, on a Bryce Hopkins three-point play with 7:52 left.

Over the next three minutes and eight seconds, Providence went on an 11-2 run capped by an emphatic dunk from Oswin Erhunmwunse at 4:44 that made it 64-63 Red Storm.

After St. John's got a pair of baskets from Zuby Ejiofor and Oziyah Sellers, Stefan Vaaka drained a three-pointer, on which he was fouled by a Dylan Darling, and the four-point play got Providence back within a point with 2:55 left.

Jamier Jones got to the free throw line with 2:28 left and buried a pair of free throws to finally give Providence the lead, at 69-68.

Ian Jackson then got to the line for St. John's, and drained two free throws, but Vaaks drained a three to put Providence up 72-70 with 1:57 left, and they never trailed again.

From the four-point play by Vaaks to the end, Providence finished the game with a 14-3 flourish.

Vaaks led Providence with 16 points off the bench, as he shot 5-9, including 4-6 on three pointers, with six rebounds and two assists in 28:00 of action.

Four other Friars put up double figures, starting with Jamier Jones and Jaylin Sellers each had 15 points, with Jones also notching 10 rebounds to give him a double-double, and he shot 5-7 both from the field and the free throw line. Jason Edwards had 11, and Erhunmwunse finished with 10 points and nine rebounds, narrowly missing a double-double.

St. John's was led by Zuby Ejiofor, who had 33 points on 8-16 from the field, including 3-6 on three-pointers, and 14-23 (Hack-A-Zuby strategy) on free throws, with 15 rebounds, two assists, two steals, and seven turnovers. 

Zuby was the only St. John's player to put up double-figures in points, as he was followed by Bryce Hopkins, who had nine points and 10 rebounds against his former team, and Lefteries Lioptopoulos, who had seven points off the bench.

PITINO POSTGAME: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino addressed the media after the game, and he opened with this statement: "On a night where we struggled offensively, we knew we had to rely on our defense to give ourselves a chance. Give Providence credit for hanging in there and making plays down the stretch. It was a disappointing night for us, but this is part of the season, and we'll learn from it and get better moving forward."

On the team's approach going forward: "We have high hopes. This is a good team that plays hard and we're going to get better."

On his confidence in the group: "These guys are great guys and they just had an off night collectively. We're not going to get down and we're going to keep working."

On learning and team growth: "We just came off our best defensive performance of the year against Georgetown and the guys have been moving the ball great. We're not going to get down and we're going to keep working."

On Providence: "Providence has a lot of talent, and they made big shots down the stretch. You have to give them a lot of credit."