St. John’s defense of its Big East championship begins Tuesday night in Queens.
Conference punching bag DePaul is in town as the Red Storm look to build on recent strong defensive performances. This meeting is part of a frenetic four-game, 10-day stretch that continues Saturday against Kentucky in Atlanta and wraps up three days later against Harvard.
The 22nd-ranked Red Storm were in a similar position at this time last year. After a disappointing 1-2 trip to the Bahamas in November, they picked up a few decent nonconference wins, then opened league play by winning 11 of their first 12 games.
St. John’s (6-3) rode that hot start in conference play to its first outright regular-season title since 1984-85, a run that included a season sweep of Connecticut. The rivals are the Big East’s only ranked teams in the Associated Press Top 25, and they won’t meet until Feb. 6 at the Garden and again Feb. 25 in Hartford, Conn.
“We’re not as good as UConn right now, but you wouldn’t expect that because UConn has three really pivotal players back,” coach Rick Pitino said of the fifth-ranked Huskies. “By the end of the year, I would hope we’re at that level. We’re certainly going to fight.”
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He later added: “The Big East is going to be tougher this year. We’re not going to win like we did last year. I think we can defend it, with our defense getting a lot better.”
DePaul (8-3) has been up and down so far, losing a buy game to Buffalo, beating Wichita State, and also getting crushed by LSU. The Blue Demons have dropped seven straight to St. John’s, and the past four contests have been determined by an average of 26.8 points.
Pitino has been encouraged by how his team has responded to the 1-2 Las Vegas trip. The Johnnies held Ole Miss and Iona to season lows in points, a defensive effort led by tri-captain Zuby Ejiofor averaging 9.5 rebounds, eight blocks and 1.5 steals in the two games, and broke out offensively in the second half Saturday against Iona. Ian Jackson started for the first time this year at point guard in the win, and the sophomore finished strong, notching 14 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
“I’m hoping to accomplish a whole bunch of wins for the team,” Jackson said. “I want to impact winning, help us to be the best team we can be and keep betting better as the months go on. For me, that’s the most important thing. [Saturday] was a step in the right direction.”
This should be a revealing week, first with the conference opener, followed by the showdown against Kentucky. St. John’s and Kentucky have played better recently — the Wildcats are coming off a win over Indiana — after some disappointing results.
“Better perimeter defense, better paying attention to scouting,” Pitino said when asked about St. John’s recent progress. “Zuby is obviously a good rim protector for us, Dillon Mitchell is as well. We’re getting better on the perimeter defensively. We’re getting better and better. We have to keep our turnovers down. But I like what I see. I like the improvement.”
