Before he raised expectations for St. John’s and delivered the best season for the Red Storm in 40 years, Rick Pitino returned to college basketball by coaching Iona for three seasons, going 64-22 while reaching a pair of NCAA Tournaments.
Pitino is eight games into his third season with St. John’s, and the 22nd-ranked Red Storm play host to Iona on Saturday afternoon after delivering one of their best defensive performances of the season while also struggling significantly on offense.
“I have tremendous affection for Iona, and I told them: ‘I’d love to play you.’ I’m hoping that the crowd is amazing so we can make it like a holiday game every year,” Pitino said Thursday.
St. John’s (5-3) was ranked No. 5 in the AP Top 25 preseason poll, but losses to Alabama, Iowa State and Auburn caused a dip in the poll. The Red Storm struggled on defense in the defeats while scoring plenty of points, though the trend reversed with their 63-58 win over Ole Miss on Dec. 6.
In their third of four games against Southeastern Conference opponents, the Red Storm limited the Rebels to 36.4% shooting after allowing Auburn to shoot 54.7% in an 85-74 loss in Las Vegas on Nov. 26. Before Dec. 6, St. John’s had given up at least 80 points in each game against a power conference opponent.
Zuby Ejiofor was the Red Storm’s only double-figure scorer vs. the Rebels, finishing with 15 points, the sixth time he was held under 20 this season. Ejiofor also anchored the defense by blocking eight shots, joining Tariq Owens, Sir’Dominic Pointer and Chris Obekpa as the fourth player in school history with at least eight blocks in a contest.
“We’re getting better,” Pitino said. “There’s been about five or six guys that have become very good defensive players. (The win over Ole Miss) was two teams playing great defense, but that was by far our best defensive performance of the season.”
St. John’s survived shooting 34% and its starting lineup of Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins, Oziyah Sellers, Dylan Darling and Joson Sanon were a combined 10-for-30 from the field, including 2-for-13 from 3-point range.
“This is not how we really wanted to start off, but it’s a work in progress,” Ejiofor said. “We’re not going to look too far ahead. We’re not going to think about the past losses or anything like that. All we could control is the now and moving forward. We have pretty high expectations, every single one of us, but we’re just going to stay steady-minded.”
Pitino plans to alter the starting lineup on Saturday, moving Ian Jackson into the first five in place of Darling. Jackson, who shot 2 of 11 and scored seven points against the Rebels, is averaging 11.4 points. After starting the season opener, he came off the bench for the past seven games.
“I think he deserves to have a chance to start as well, because starting to me is not meaningful, but starting to them is very meaningful and he deserves that opportunity,” Pitino said.
Iona (8-3) leads the MAAC in scoring at 81.7 points per game, but its previous game was similar to what happened to St. John’s a week ago.
The Gaels earned their second straight win on Wednesday, beating visiting Bryant 69-63 while shooting 41% and allowed the Bulldogs to shoot 39.3% while forcing 17 turnovers.
“I just think it’s something we’re just working on every day,” Iona guard CJ Anthony said of the defense, which allowed its fewest points of the season to Bryant. “… As long as we just keep going at it and keep believing in each other, where every play’s the next play and not let one thing hold us back, I feel like the sky’s the limit for us where we could take this thing.”
Anthony, a Cincinnati transfer who scored 18 points last week against the Bulldogs, is the third-leading scorer in the MAAC at 16 points per game. Toby Harris, who also scored 18 vs. Bryant, is among four Gaels averaging double figures at 11.5 ppg, along with Lamin Sabally (12.9 points) and Kosy Akametu (10.3).
