The Big East title game further separated St. John’s from the pack, as the Red Storm put another conference foe into a sleeper hold.
St. John’s is not built to blow teams out in the first 10 minutes, in large part because of its lack of 3-point shooting. But good luck weathering the Red Storm’s relentless ball pressure and rim attacking for 30 minutes, let alone 40 when the Johnnies finds themselves in a win-or-go-home scenario.
That relentlessness was evident in Saturday’s 82-66 win over Creighton in Madison Square Garden, a little over 12 miles from the SJU campus. In the end, it felt like a homecoming party for a Red Storm team that hadn’t won the Big East Tournament since 2000.
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Second-half adjustment keys Johnnies’ late run
Creighton’s game plan was to run an exaggerated version of its drop coverage base defense, sagging Ryan Kalkbrenner off of SJU big Zuby Ejiofor at the top of the key and daring him from 20 feet out.
“We tried to stay on top of [Kadary Richmond] and [RJ Luis Jr.] a little bit and make them cut towards the baseline instead of towards the top of the floor,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “We did a pretty good job of that the first half.”
However, the Red Storm broke through after halftime.
“The second half, we made some mistakes on some screens, closed out short on [Luis Jr.] a couple of times, and a couple of those threes were killers,” McDermott said. “[Ejiofor] had a couple tough finishes over [Kalkbrenner] that not many people do.”
Vincent Iwuchukwu made a short jumper over Kalkbrenner with 11:55 to play, giving SJU its first lead of the game and opening a stretch of 14 straight made field goals. Luis, the Big East Player of the Year and tournament MVP, made 10 of his 11 shots in the second half. Despite having just two early attempts from the restricted area, he made six such shots down the stretch.
“In the first half, we were just really intimidated by Kalkbrenner, and we were pulling up missing at mid-range,” Pitino said. “What we talked about at halftime was to take it to the rim, use the rim as a shield. He can’t cut through steel. Then, take the three when it’s there. Don’t worry about the mid-range game.”
That adjustment changed the game for St. John’s. Meanwhile, looking ahead to the NCAA Tournament, Kalkbrenner’s rim protection and vertical defense was as good a test as any for Pitino’s driving guards and wings — and they passed admirably.
St. John’s storming back to the NCAA Tournament
In beating Creighton on Saturday, St. John’s broke a 25-year drought of conference tournament titles. Luis’ 29 points were the most in a Big East championship since Jalen Brunson scored 31 for Villanova against Providence in 2018. The night prior, Ejiofor’s 33 points were the most scored in a Big East Tournament game since Kemba Walker dropped the same total in 2011.
Meanwhile, Pitino became the first coach to take six different teams to the NCAA Tournament, as well as the first Big East coach to win the conference tournament with two different schools. He pairs this tournament title with the one he got at Louisville, which went on to cut down the nets in 2013.
St. John’s will almost certainly not receive a No. 1 seed despite its 30-4 record and having won both the Big East’s regular-season and conference tournament titles. Making it onto the 2-seed line isn’t even a guarantee. But Pitino’s team is certainly playing its best basketball, and the Red Storm have multiple options on the roster to get a tough bucket or create something in the halfcourt.
Smothering defense puts opponents in a sleeper hold
That skilled offense aside, where the Red Storm will be truly dangerous is on the defensive end.
The hyper-switchability of their starting lineup makes for an incredibly difficult prep week for opponents, and almost impossible if you have just one day to prepare. Ejiofior’s ability to swap onto Marquette’s Kam Jones and close dribble-drive screens, the confidence and aptitude Luis showed in taking on Kalkbrenner post-ups, wing Aaron Scott sticking himself to an always-moving Steven Ashworth. All of these were deciding moments in the final two rounds of the conference tournament.
The defensive versatility breaks so many college offenses as they struggle to win matchups in isolation. Pitino’s team digs its heels in on defense and relishes in forcing teams into late-shot clock scenarios, not allowing them to create separation through off-ball action. That stranglehold has forced opponents into the 43rd-longest average length of possessions in the country, per KenPom. Meanwhile, St. John’s sits in the top 20 in the nation for several key defensive stats: opponent effective field goal percentage (18th), opponent turnover percentage (13th), block percentage (9th) and steal percentage (20th).
Pitino prefaced the Big East tournament by saying that he did not set expectations for his team in the Big Dance because advancing is dependent on matchups. As for the other 67 teams about to hear their names called on Selection Sunday, they’ll hope to avoid having St. John’s anywhere near them.