St. John’s Falls to No. 15 Alabama in Season Opener
NEW YORK, NY – โค St. John’s suffered a 90-85 defeat to No. 15 Alabama Saturday at Madison โSquare Garden, failing its first test of the season in โขfrontโ of aโ home crowd. The Crimson Tide‘s relentless guard play and efficient shooting proved too โคmuch for the Red storm, marking the most pointsโฃ allowed by โa Rick Pitino-coached St. John’s team in โฃhis three years with the program.
Alabama’s backcourt trio of Mark Sears, Aaron Philon, and Latrell Wrightsell โฃJr. combined โคfor 34 first-half points, shooting โ13-for-22 from theโ fieldโ and exploiting โฃdefensive weaknesses โฃto create open looks. The Crimson โTideโ closed the first halfโข on a 16-6 โคrun, culminating in a Sears three-pointer at โฃthe buzzer to take a nine-point lead into halftime, โ53-44.
This loss is aโ significant early-season setback forโฃ Pitino, who isโข attempting to rebuild the storied St. John’s program. The gameโ exposed vulnerabilities in the red Storm’s defense andโ highlighted the needโค for more consistent offensive contributions beyond Zuby Ejiofor and David Hopkins, who accounted for 36 ofโ St. john’s 44 points.
“our defense was poorโ today,” Ejiofor acknowledged after the game.
Despite a strongโฃ start to the second half that briefly brought St. John’s within two points, Alabama responded with a 9-0 run and consistently answered every Red Stormโ push.The Johnnies were outscored 8-0 in the paint and 21-0 from beyond the three-point line.
Sellers, Jackson,โข and Sanon struggledโฃ offensively,โข shooting a combined 1-for-10 from the field with three turnovers.
“You can โgo play โsomebody and win by 30 points – you see some of the scores last night – โyou get nothing out of that,” Pitinoโ said. “I think we โhave the potential to be an outstanding basketball team. But as coach, โI need to โฃfind out โwhere โฃourโฃ deficiencies lie, and I found โout tonight. I also found out tonight they’re a group of โguys who want to win badly, โthey just didn’t noโค how to do it.”