Joel Soriano had resurgent game with 21 points and nine rebounds as St. John’s dominated Villanova to sweep Wildcats for first time since 1993. (Photo by Vincent Dusovic/St. John’s Athletics)
NEW YORK — Wednesday night was by no means a must-win situation for St. John’s.
Not in late January for a team already on the favorable side of the proverbial bubble thanks to a strong resume with metrics that firmly position the Red Storm among the field of 68 at the moment, but it was certainly treated as one by a fan base that has constantly waited for the other shoe to drop for most of this century.
St. John’s players and coaches shared a similar sentiment, and acted on it in commanding fashion.
After Villanova pulled within five points of the Johnnies early in the second half, the hosts took control with a 16-4 run to put the game away, waltzing to a 70-50 victory over the Wildcats. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for a Red Storm squad looking for a get-right game after close calls against Creighton and Marquette, sandwiched by a letdown at Seton Hall.
St. John’s (13-7, 5-4 Big East) also secured a season sweep of perennial league kingpin Villanova for the first time since the 1992-93 season, the first for Brian Mahoney as head coach following the retirement of program legend Lou Carnesecca.
“This was a big game for us,” Rick Pitino remarked. “We played this game as if everything was on the line. I told our seniors that if they wanted to make the (NCAA) tournament, they had to win tonight. We knew we had to get this game, and they came through in a big way.”
A crowd of 12,859 inside Madison Square Garden, the majority of which festooned in red, saw the Johnnies play as if they were experiencing March Madness, jumping on the accelerator and never looking back. Aside from getting back to its winning ways, St. John’s needed Joel Soriano to find his way again, and the fifth-year senior acted accordingly with 21 points and nine rebounds.
Being the Red Storm’s captain, coupled with playing for a demanding coach such as Pitino, pressure comes with the territory. When a skid the likes of St. John’s recent string is added to that combination, the tendency for players to occupy their own heads is magnified. Soriano admitted as much on Wednesday.
“Most of my play recently has been on me,” he surmised. “I know I can be better. I just get in my own head sometimes, whether it’s a bad shot or whatever. I just can’t dwell on that.”
St. John’s came out strong to start the game, suffocating Villanova with its full-court pressure and then daring the Wildcats to shoot over its burgeoning zone defense. The combination proved to be a recipe for success, with a litany of turnovers and missed shots dotting the visitors’ landscape. The Johnnies saw their lead balloon as large as 15 points in the opening stanza, on the way to a 34-24 cushion at halftime.
As the second half started, ugly basketball was on display on both sides, even as Villanova pulled within 40-35, the closest the Wildcats would come after the intermission against St. John’s. The Red Storm limited its opposition to a paltry 4-for-24 from long distance and outrebounded it by a 42-23 margin, protecting a double-digit lead after being unable to do so in its most recent outing last Saturday against Marquette.
St. John’s now has a week to rest and take its newfound momentum on the road, where it will visit Xavier in Cincinnati before returning home for a much-anticipated showdown with top-ranked reigning national champion UConn. Pitino expects Nahiem Alleyne to return against the Musketeers as he recovers from an ankle injury, only fortifying a team that has its sights set on the bigger picture in a matter of weeks.
“I thought these guys were brilliant,” Pitino said. “Everything about them, they deserved the victory. They want to win so badly, and I want to win so badly for them. I want to see these guys get to a tournament. They’re the type of people that earn it, deserve it. They give me everything they have, all the time.”
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