Rick Pitino upset with St. John's defense in loss to Dayton
St. John's coach Rick Pitino communicates with players against Dayton during the Charleston Classic basketball tournament in Charleston, South Carolina Friday, November 17, 2023. Dayton won 88-81. Credit: Sean Rayford
CHARLESTON, S.C. — They were right there, and suddenly they weren’t.
St. John’s followed its best half of the season with another solid eight minutes against Dayton in Friday’s Charleston Classic semifinal. Then the Red Storm started to fade. Almost all of the final six minutes belonged to the Flyers in their 88-81 victory at TD Arena.
Red Storm coach Rick Pitino appeared as ticked off as he’s been since he took over in March in his postgame comments.
“I wasn’t overly disappointed with [Monday’s loss to] Michigan, but I am overly disappointed tonight because we’re losing because we can’t pay attention to a scouting report,” he said. “We’ve got guys that just care about offense and they don’t know how to defend. Not in terms of effort. The effort is fine. In terms of paying attention to the scouting, how things are played.”
He was especially displeased with the Red Storm’s play during a 16-3 Dayton run in which a five-point lead with 13:25 to play turned into an eight-point deficit with 9:33 left.
“It’s a one-point game and we totally break down and don’t play it correctly,” Pitino said. “Then it’s a four-point game and we don’t play it correctly.
“It’s frustrating because the effort’s there, they want to win, they’re good guys. But they can’t absorb a scouting report, which is so disappointing. We’re not paying attention to scouting — at all — and that’s what college basketball is all about.”
St. John’s (2-2) will face Utah (3-1) in Sunday’s 5:30 p.m. third-place game. Dayton (3-1), the Atlantic 10 favorite, will play No. 6 Houston (5-0) at 8:30 p.m.
Joel Soriano had 21 points and nine rebounds, Jordan Dingle scored 14 points, Daniss Jenkins had 12 points and eight assists and Glenn Taylor Jr. added 11 points for St. John’s.
Flyers big man DaRon Holmes had 21 points and Nate Santos added 18. Holmes had 14 and Santos 13 as Dayton scored 50 points in the second half.
As St. John’s deteriorated, there were moments when things got heated. Taylor and Soriano drew technical fouls in the last two minutes.
Asked about the strong first half, Pitino said: “They were doing a terrific job and then they backed it off. They got lazy, didn’t play their pick-and-roll correctly.
“Look, it’s going to just take time with these guys. They’ve never guarded it in their lives — in their lives . . . So they’ve got to learn to play that way or they’re going to keep losing. It’s all about defense.”
In listing the mistakes, Pitino named many of the key Red Storm players. Soriano, Chris Ledlum, Dingle and Taylor were mentioned for defensive lapses.
As the tide began to turn, St. John’s looked worn down. The Red Storm had shots come up short, didn’t get in front of Flyers and fouled, and made small miscues that ended up turnovers. St. John’s committed nine of its 14 turnovers in the second half and put Dayton on the line to make 19 of 24 free throws.
Neither Pitino nor Jenkins cited fatigue.
“It was kind of like we were having success on offense, so you can easily forget about defense,” Jenkins said. “You can get with offense and you’re going to get excited and then you lose focus on what actually is getting us those easy shots and those easy baskets . . . It’s just about focusing and really locking in on the game plan and doing it for 40 minutes on the defensive end.”
Pitino has been preaching patience with a team that has 12 new players all learning how to play his defense-first style and with one another. And he has said the Red Storm might be two months away from realizing their potential. But after Friday’s loss — coming off a defensive effort in Thursday’s win over North Texas that he called “brilliant” — he seemed to be growing impatient.
“We’re making key mental mistakes defensively,” he said. “Offensively, it’s just going to take time to jell. It’s all going to come together. But if you keep on losing, it’s going to be next year. Right now, they’re losing because they’re not paying attention to their jobs.”
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.
