The Big East race is essentially over. No. 10 St. John’s blasting Connecticut 89-75 on Sunday at Madison Square Garden — requiring some gumption after UConn cut a 22-point deficit to single digits — means Rick Pitino’s Red Storm are 15-2 with three league games to play and a multiple-game cushion.
Stretches of Sunday brought another championship pursuit to mind, in particular the parts where St. John’s (24-4 overall) actually made shots from afar. This profiles as a very good-to-great team in every area except 3-point shooting and free-throw shooting, two areas that can be problematic in March. The 3-point shooting has been so bad, Pitino has made it a running joke while hammering opponents with defense, rebounding and those relics of yesteryear, mid-range jump shots.
So what happens if St. John’s can get just a bit more proficient from behind the arc? Sunday gave a glimpse at how scary that can be. The 22-point lead was built on an 8-for-16 first half on 3-pointers, ensuring that Dan Hurley’s two-time defending national champion Huskies (18-9, 10-6) keep dropping into that NCAA 8-9 seeding range.
St. John’s is looking more like a No. 3 seed, and that doesn’t speak to the potential of this team if it can shoot a little straighter and space the floor a little bit better. The Red Storm came into the game 343rd out of 355 Division I teams in 3-point percentage (29.8 percent), 341st in percentage of shots from 3 (31.2 percent) and 351st in percentage of points from 3-pointers (23.4 percent).
Sunday’s first half saw St. John’s come in at 50 percent, 48.5 percent and 48 percent, respectively, in those categories. Throw in a 21-for-27 day from the foul line for the nation’s 304th-best free-throw shooting team – a March-unfriendly 68.4 percent – and you’ve got a recipe that would be difficult for anyone in the field to beat.
Of course, St. John’s returned to its roots in the second half when UConn threatened. The Red Storm, No. 2 in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency per Kenpom, reasserted control on that end and went 15-for-28 on 2-point shots after the break. And from 3-point range? A mere three attempts, none of them falling.
So maybe the first half was more an aberration than a premonition. Pitino’s two best players Sunday were midrange-loving power guard Kadary Richmond (18 points, four assists, no turnovers in just 27 minutes) and big man Zuby Ejiofor (18 points, nine rebounds, four offensive), one of the nation’s top offensive rebounders.
Still, the torrid first half combined with an outburst in the previous game, a rout of DePaul, made St. John’s 17-for-37 from long range over three halves. And the two Red Storm players most likely to make a 3-pointer had good days. Deivon Smith was 2-for-3 from long range and Aaron Scott was 2-for-6. Throw in a 3-for-6 day from RJ Luis — who came in at just 26.6 percent — and that’s progress that isn’t totally out of nowhere.
UConn got 17 points from Alex Karaban, but he also had six of the Huskies’ 18 turnovers. UConn finishes the regular season with three games it will be heavily favored to win and one profile-building opportunity at home against Marquette. UConn remains in solid shape in terms of an NCAA bid, but avoiding upsets until the Big East Tournament would be a good idea.
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(Photo: Dustin Satloff / Getty Images)
