One week ago, St. John’s struggled with mid-major opponent Towson.
The Johnnies found a way to win that game.
Saturday night, they lost, but there were reasons to be encouraged by the 96-94 overtime setback to Michigan at the Garden.
There was progress — in the Johnnies’ fight, their ability to rally several times from deficits and the overall play of their frontcourt.
“I saw a lot of really good things,” coach Rick Pitino said afterward. “But I think the weakness is just eight new guys [getting used to] playing together. Great game — great game.”
It was an entertaining exhibition between a pair of preseason Top 10 teams that feature two of the best forwards in the country, Zuby Ejiofor for St. John’s and Yaxel Lendeborg for Michigan.
They each played well, combining for 49 points. St. John’s forwards Bryce Hopkins and Dillon Mitchell also had plenty of strong moments, each scoring 13 points, and point guard Dylan Darling (seven points, two assists) rebounded from his shaky outing against Towson.
Ultimately, Michigan was better on the glass, outrebounding St. John’s by 12, and shot 52.2 percent from the field, compared to 39.7 for St. John’s.
Pitino harped on needing his guards to rebound and defend better, while praising the play of his active frontcourt.
It didn’t help that the two starting Johnnies guards, Oziyah Sellers and Joson Sanon (14 points), fouled out and saw limited minutes as a result. Michigan coach Dusty May felt that was the difference in the game.
The Red Storm trailed by eight early in the extra session, until Lefteris Liotopoulos caught fire, scoring eight consecutive points. The sophomore had a chance to give them the lead with 8.4 seconds left, but missed two of three free throws.
Pitino and Ejiofor were more concerned with the fact that the Johnnies have been outrebounded in both exhibition games, and with so many new players, aren’t as connected as they would like.
The defense did force 22 turnovers, but allowed 54 points in the paint to the mammoth Wolverines, who have two 7-footers in Morez Johnson Jr. and Aday Mara.
“We’re trying to get back to that defensive mindset we had last year,” said Ejiofor, who finished with 24 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals. “It’s going to take time, but we’re going to figure it out.
“There’s no excuses. Winning is the standard that we’re trying to build here at St. John’s. Everybody came here to win, all the transfers came here to win. Just be better and learn from it.”
Several times, Pitino raved about the experience of facing an elite opponent at the Garden, because of what he and his players learned from the defeat. He put together a difficult nonconference schedule and this contest will better prepare St. John’s for that.
“We’ll be ready for Quinnipiac. I don’t know if we’re ready for Alabama or Kentucky, Ole Miss and the Las Vegas trip,” the Hall of Fame coach said. “But we’ll get it done. A lot of people are in the same boat we’re in with new players. I set the schedule tough because I need to know [where we have to get better].
“If we played a [lesser] team, and we won the game easily, we don’t know what our weaknesses are. So I wanted to find out, and I found out tonight what our weaknesses are. It’s a great teaching tool.”
