Villanova 57, St. John’s 49: Rapid Reaction

By Jason Dimaio (@JasonDimaio1)

NEW YORK —  There was hype, there was excitement, and most importantly, there was a packed house. 

In what was the best crowd on hand for St. John’s in the Mike Anderson era, the Red Storm fell to Villanova Friday, scoring only three points in the final 6:47 of action in a demoralizing 57-49 loss.

Two straight wins, one coming over a UConn team ranked sixth in the country at the time, is all it takes sometimes to inject life into a team, and that was the case for St. John’s heading into Friday’s game. But in what was thought to be another opportunity to flip the script on a tumultuous season and keep the Red Storm on the NCAA Tournament path, those goals now seem further out of reach.

Both teams worked to find offensive flow and by the third media timeout of the game, the struggle was reflected in a 12-12 stalemate. Joel Soriano was contiuning his stellar season, Dylan Addae-Wusu contributed 10 points as well, and by the sound of the first half buzzer, St. John’s was tied with Villanova at 28.

In the second stanza, St. John’s had its moments, the first of which came on a technical foul assessed to head coach Kyle Neptune three minutes into the half, sending the Red Storm fans into a frenzy. Soriano would go on to split the ensuing free throws. But for every punch St. John’s threw at Villanova, the Wildcats had an answer. 

After an AJ Storr 3-pointer to give the Johnnies a six-point lead, their largest of the evening at that point, Brandon Slater immediately answered with a jumper to silence the vocal hometown fans. With the score at 44-40 after the Slater bucket, St. John’s would unravel, missing open shots and turning the basketball over in a string of unorganized chaos on the offensive side of the ball. 

Trailing 49-46 after an Anderson timeout, a failed lob attempt went out of bounds off Villanova and gave St. John’s another chance to draw something up during the final media timeout. The ensuing possession was a stagnant Andre Curbelo at the top of the key, dribbling into a turnover that Villanova converted into two points on the other end of the floor. A Soriano dunk with 2:05 left kept St. John’s within one possession, but the Red Storm failed to convert in the final minutes, as a Curbelo turnover led to a Slater slam in transiiton, icing the game for the visitors and eliciting a “Let’s go Nova” chant from the Wildcat fans on hand.

The 49 point performance was the lowest amount of points St. John’s has scored in a Big East Conference home game since 2013, when the league assumed its current form after restructuring as a basketball-centric conference.

“Bad decison making, that’s the bottom line,” Anderson remarked on his teams performance. “I thought our guard play was not up to par. I don’t think our forward play was up to par, to be honest with you.”

Anderson wasn’t wrong. Curbelo and Posh Alexander combined to go 4-for-17 from the field with 10 points. David Jones was a non-factor as well, finishing with just four points. The bright spot yet again was Joel Soriano, finishing with another double-double as the center tallied 14 points and 16 rebounds. 

“It’s very frustrating,” Soriano said of the loss. “I missed chippies at the rim. The atmosphere was good. We had everything we can ask for. We just have to finish it up.”

While the accountability speaks to who Soriano is, he is the least to blame for the blunder of a night that was for the Johnnies, who now find themselves reassessing their situation heading into what will certainly be a difficult environment on the road Wednesday in Omaha against Creighton.