St. John's has made great strides, but Rick Pitino still has work to do
Rick Pitino coaches St. John's at Carnesecca Arena on Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023. Credit: Errol Anderson
The countdown to Big East play has begun for St. John’s. It has two games and 10 days before it hosts Xavier in its first conference matchup. And while the Red Storm is beginning to show signs of what they can be, there are fundamental areas that coach Rick Pitino has identified in which progress must be made.
The Red Storm (6-2) will play their last major foe Sunday when they meet Boston College (7-3) at Barclays Center in the NABC Brooklyn Showcase at 4:30 p.m. The Hall of Fame coach wants to see improvement in two areas: reducing turnovers and defense.
“We are evolving into a better team — you see the progress with individuals as well as collectively,” Pitino said before practice Friday. “We just do something that I cannot comprehend since I’ve been a coach, and that’s a long time: We make the most absurd turnovers I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime. They’re not caused by the defense. We’re making five to seven turnovers in a game that make no sense.
“Now against West Virginia, we had six turnovers . . . and that’s the type of game you want to have. You know, we can live with 10 or 11 turnovers, but we can’t live with 16. So that’s the thing I want to see more than anything else.”
St. John’s averages 13.3 giveaways per game but has committed at least 14 turnovers in six of its contests and averaged 15 in its two losses. Pitino attributed the unforced errors to “panicking a little bit,” but some of that is the result of his fast-paced style.
“You got to make spontaneous quick decisions playing fast,” he said. “Once they get used to each other . . . and once they take their time, that won’t happen.”
“They’re more mental mistakes than anything,” Chris Ledlum said. “We just have to continue to work hard and really focus in on not turning the ball over.”
Pitino’s unvarnished criticisms of the players — something Ledlum said they’ve gotten used to — is landing right and producing results.
Last month after a loss to Dayton in South Carolina, he was on Jordan Dingle for a lack of passing, rebounding and defense. He praised Dingle’s passing and defense after Wednesday’s win and reiterated it Friday.
“His defense has improved, his passing has improved, his toughness has improved,” Pitino said Friday. “He’s no longer just a one-dimensional shooter.”
The Red Storm players know they’ve taken significant steps since they tumbled against Michigan in their Garden debut four weeks ago. As Drissa Treore observed, “Every day we’re getting better, little by little.”
St. John’s will get a second crack at playing well at the Garden in its final tune-up for its conference opener next Saturday against Fordham, but there is an urgency right now at practices and individual workouts about being ready to host the Musketeers on Dec. 20.
“We know that the way we’ve been playing isn’t necessarily where we want to be,” Ledlum said. “And we know that in order to get Big East wins, we’ve got to pick it up and learn things quicker and really get to where we want to go quicker.
“So absolutely, there’s definitely more of an urgency in practice.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
