Loss to UConn might be most telling piece of Johnnies’ culture change

Rick Pitino has shepherded St. John’s to potential breakout with one more game remaining before Big East play resumes. (Photo by St. John’s Men’s Basketball)

For those still unsure of how just how much Rick Pitino's relentless pursuit of perfection and innate ability to elevate the mentality of anyone who enters his purview has permeated the St. John’s program over which he now presides, look no further than the past seven days.

At 8-4, St. John’s is, record-wise, on the low end of where most critics and experts expected it would be going into Saturday’s non-conference finale against Hofstra. But last week’s four-point loss on the road against reigning national champion UConn marked a testimonial of the effect the Hall of Fame mentor’s drive and determination has had within the walls of the Red Storm’s locker room.

Had the 69-65 setback to the Huskies in Hartford occurred under the watch of former coach Mike Anderson, a defeatist attitude could very well have taken shape and set the tone for perhaps another disappointing Big East season in Queens. Not so this time around, under this regime, headed by a man who has always believed in a gradual approach to have his teams peaking at the most opportune times.

“I think we’re getting better and better and better,” Pitino assessed. “I think these guys were void of fundamentals, and now they’re getting very fundamentally sound at almost all phases of the game. We’re all very, very pleased with the effort and the fact that we’re getting better.”

“We lost on the road to a decent team. Now you’re going to play a lot of decent teams in this league. I think everybody in the Big East is a decent team. I haven’t seen a great team in college basketball yet. They’re all very good teams, all of them, but I haven’t seen a great team yet. We had this game, we should have won it, but we are growing. Three weeks ago, if we were playing that brand of basketball, they would have won by 25.”

Senior center Joel Soriano, one of two players who can correlate the underachieving of Anderson’s tenure with Pitino’s insatiable desire to succeed, has seen the incremental growth in a stage normally shielded from the public. Despite only taking five shots against UConn, the fifth-year captain still affected the game in other ways, and praised the collective work of his teammates in reaching the precipice on which St. John’s presently stands.

“I feel like we’re definitely taking steps,” Soriano said. “We’re still not where we need to be, but defensively, I think we’re playing a lot harder, more together. We’re playing a lot better, a lot more connected. I feel like guys have finally fit into their roles. Guys are communicating and trusting each other more. We’re right there, man. I feel it.”

Soriano further elaborated that when RJ Luis is back to 100 percent — the UMass transfer made just his second appearance of the season last week after being sidelined by shin splints — the Red Storm has yet another X-factor in its arsenal that, in Soriano’s words, could be the piece to put the Johnnies over the top.

“RJ helps us defensively, (and) offensively, he’s another ball handler,” he said of Luis. “You saw how electric he was. I can’t wait until he’s fully healthy, and we’re gonna be very scary when he comes back. I think we’re getting closer to where we want to be. The sky’s the limit. (We could be) national championship good.”

Not putting the proverbial cart before the horse, St. John’s still has three months in which to solidify itself as a contender after a Big East slate that is frontloaded, with a gauntlet that begins Tuesday against Butler. For now, Pitino is content — a rarity in his career — to be at the helm of a team on the rise, citing the improvement between the first month of the season and a battle in which his Johnnies took the defending champions to the limit. 

“We are definitely getting better,” he reiterated. “We’re growing as a basketball team, and that’s what I want to see. (UConn was) a missed opportunity, but it’s the best game we’ve played this year. We had six turnovers in the game, and we were all turnover-prone at the beginning of the year. We outrebounded them, we did a lot of great things. We are coming as a basketball team. We are coming.”