“Sometimes basketball is a strange game,” Coach Rick Pitino said reflecting on No. 14 St. John’s biggest victory of the young season against the Bucknell Bison.
From starting out as a top-5 ranked team in the nation to losing a heavily contested matchup against Alabama, now the 3-1 Red Storm have bounced-back securing two sizable victories to bolster their early season resume, another stepping stone in a strange journey so far.
Much like their previous turn against William & Mary, the St. John’s offense began this game dormant. Shooting an abysmal 1-7 from the field, the Bison controlled the opening stages of the contest leading by as much as six.
This initial offensive turbulence was only made worse by co-captain Zuby Ejiofor’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. The Big East Preseason Player of the Year only scored five points in his 22 minutes of play, a startling performance from someone the Johnnies will need to depend on all season.
Pitino turned to his bench to kickstart the offense, leaning on Ian Jackson (20 pts, 4 rebs, 3 asts.) whose four straight points finally gave life to the Johnnies. Then back-to-back three pointers from Joson Sanon (10 pts, 6 rebs) and Bryce Hopkins (20 pts, 3-4 3PT) shifted momentum fully back to the Red Storm as they only trailed 15-14.
A consistent dose of grit and hustle kept St. John’s even with Bucknell until a 24-7 run across the final seven minutes of the half completely deflated the Bison, giving the Johnnies a 41-25 lead going into halftime.
The Bison were out-rebounded 29-14, their bench out-scored 18-0 and the Johnnies got to the free-throw line at will, shooting 9-13 from the line compared to Bucknell’s 0-3. Forgetting a lackluster opening 10 minutes, St. John’s beat the Bison at every turn.
For the first time since the home opener, the Johnnies entered the second half with some comfort.
The Red Storm crossed 50 points and extended their lead to 22 as Dylan Darling perfectly executed full court press picked the pocket of Jayden Williams and easily laid up a fast-break bucket.
Spearheaded by Ruben Prey’s (14 pts, 2-3 3PT) always dependable heads-up play, this press was unrelenting. In just seven minutes, the Bison turned the ball over 11 times resulting in even more simple scoring opportunities for the Johnnies.
Emphasized by a violent Dillon Mitchell (10 pts, 11 rebs, 4 steals) fast-break slam, the Red Storm surged to a 37-point lead which caused many in Carensecca Arena to find the exits early. Another Mitchell dunk in transition followed by a deep Prey three-ball served as the final nail in the coffin for the Bison, as they fell to a smothering final score of 97-49.
St. John’s led in rebounds 48-26, forced 24 turnovers while scoring 36 points off these turnovers and shot a solid 38.5% from beyond-the-arc, clicking on all cylinders while showing what their true potential as a team may be.
“I think our basketball team… needs time to develop, I think we’re gonna get better and better and better and better,” Pitino said, looking towards the future of his team after such a decisive victory.
St. John’s chance to get better will come against the No. 16 Iowa State Cyclones in the first matchup of the Player’s Era Championship in Las Vegas. The Cyclones will be the Johnnies’ next step in development towards becoming the National Championship contender Pitino believes they can be.
