Prior to the start of the most anticipated St. John’s season this century, the school looked back to last year.
A video montage of the memorable run by the Johnnies to the Big East regular season and postseason titles was shown. The four returning players — Zuby Ejiofor, Ruben Prey, Lefteris Liotopoulos and Sadiku Ibine Ayo — received their diamond-encrusted rings.
Rick Pitino got on the microphone.
“We are all after the biggest prize of them all,” he told the sold-out Carnesecca Arena crowd, referring to a national championship.
On opening night, the fifth-ranked Red Storm looked the part of a contender. The loaded frontcourt of Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins and Dillon Mitchell was dominant. The Johnnies made shots from deep. They flashed their depth and athleticism in a wire-to-wire 108-74 victory over MAAC favorite Quinnipiac.
On Friday, Pitino joked that he wanted to ask Bobcats coach Tom Pecora to push back the game a week because he didn’t feel like his new-look team was ready.
That didn’t seem to be the case.
“That’s him being him, just to send a message to us,” Ibine Ayo said.
Pitino said: “Well, I didn’t expect a 108-74 outcome, so from an outcome standpoint, [I was surprised]. But I really thought the two exhibition games got us ready for tonight, where last year I didn’t think that was the case.”
St. John’s came out with a purpose, scoring 19 of the game’s first 24 points. Mitchell, an athletic specimen of a forward, scored eight early points, four coming on two ferocious dunks. St. John’s piled up 54 points in the opening 20 minutes on a blistering pace of 57 percent shooting from the field, and didn’t let up after halftime. At one point, the lead was 47 on the strength of a 23-4 burst.
“They came out and played like a Top 10 team in the country,” Quinnipiac coach Tom Pecora said.
Several Johnnies shined. Mitchell had team highs of 18 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Ejiofor, the preseason Big East player of the year, had 17 points and six rebounds and helped limit reigning MAAC player of the year Amarri Monroe to 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting. Ian Jackson and Joson Sanon, the two high-upside sophomore shotmakers, combined for 29 points and four 3-pointers. St. John’s was dynamic in the open court, piling up 44 points in transition. They had eight dunks and 25 assists — seven Johnnies had at least two apiece, led by Dylan Darling’s six — on 39 made field goals. Pitino emptied his bench with over six minutes remaining.
“The one thing that stuck out from an ultra-positive standpoint is our mentality,” Pitino said. “When the ball was thrown up until the end of the game, we had a very intense, aggressive mentality. We made our mistakes, as you always do in the first game with little fundamentals, but overall, I can’t be more pleased.”
That’s not to say it was a perfect night. There were turnover issues, 14 of them in all. St. John’s missed 12 free throws. There were stretches where they didn’t defend the perimeter well enough.
But Quinnipiac was overwhelmed by the Red Storm’s athleticism and pace and unable to respond after the big early deficit. Saturday, against 15th-ranked Alabama at the Garden, figures to be far more challenging.
As far as debuts go, however, there was little to complain about. The festive evening began with the pregame ceremony that served as a reminder for the new players where the expectations lie.
“I mean, I want one. I want one for all of us,” Mitchell said, referring to the ring that was presented to the returning players. “When you watch that, it’s like, man, you want to be a part of it. We have the team to do it. It starts every day in practice.
“I even looked at Zuby’s ring, and I was like, I got to get one of those. We were all saying that, all the new guys. We all know what we’re fighting for.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
