St. John's outplays Xavier as Rick Pitino tweaks lineup for Big East opener
Joel Soriano #11 of St. John's reacts with teammate Chris Ledlum #8 after a basket in the second half against Xavier at Carnesecca Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The dawn of Big East play beckoned for St. John’s to turn in its best game of the season on Wednesday night. The Red Storm answered the call with exactly that.
St. John’s was the far and away better team and looked more like the team its fans hoped it would be when Rick Pitino was hired as it led wire-to-wire in posting an 81-66 win over Xavier in the conference opener for both teams before a sellout crowd of 5,602 at Carnesecca Arena.
“I haven’t been impressed with my team at all this year – except for tonight,” a clearly pleased Pitino said. “I hadn’t been impressed with one game. We outscored Utah and it was good win, but I have not been impressed with our team nor should I [have been] impressed with our team.”
Pitino moved Nahiem Alleyne into the starting lineup to join Daniss Jenkins in the backcourt – his first start since opening night when Jordan Dingle was sidelined with an injury – and it brought out some of the unrealized potential that has been simmering below the Red Storm’s surface.
St. John’s (8-3) has been plagued by inconsistent defense, but it harassed the Musketeers with its press and stymied them in the halfcourt by mixing in a zone defense with its man-to-man for the first time. The result? Xavier (6-6) shot just 35% for the game, was 4-for-21 on three-pointers and committed 18 turnovers that the Storm converted into 14 points. Xavier’s Quincy Olivary, who entered the game averaging three three-pointers on 45% shooting, was held to 0-for-2 from behind the arc.
Joel Soriano – who finished with 18 points, 14 rebounds, six blocked shots and five assists – said the defensive letdown that led to St. John’s three losses helped the players learn, “What we needed to fix, and it was a great punch in the face. Guys finally learned what it takes to be a great team and, really, I feel like our defense is the best it has ever been. And I feel like we're going to keep growing, keep striving.”
“The best thing you can do is mix up your defenses,” Pitino said. “We were able to press tonight and then drop back into zone. It’s not easy in two days to implement something and to play it so well. But they’re a highly intelligent group – off the court. On the court, they thought defense was COVID and they didn’t want to catch it until tonight.”
Alleyne finished with 15 points, four rebounds and two assists. Pitino said the move to the starting lineup was based on how he practiced and Alleyne indicated the lesson was “treat every practice like it’s a game.”
Chris Ledlum had 13 points, Daniss Jenkins had 11 points and five assists and Dingle had 10 points for the Storm. Desmond Claude had 21 points and Quincy Olivari had 13 points for Xavier (6-6).
Jenkins had five points and assisted on a Glenn Taylor three-pointer as the Storm scored the game’s first eight points and Ledlum had 10 of his points before the break as St. John’s led 44-36 at the half. Soriano had four points and three blocked shots in a 9-2 start to the second half and the Storm led by double figures the rest of the way.
Soriano punctuated the win with a pair of thundering dunks in the last three minutes.
With the outcome determined the St. John’s student section began chanting “We want UConn,” referring to Saturday’s match up with the defending national champion and No. 5-ranked team in Hartford. The Huskies (10-2) lost their Big East opener to Seton Hall Wednesday.
“St. John’s is a terrific school scholastically, a very good school academically,” Pitino said. “But when the students started yelling ‘we want UConn,’ I questioned their IQ.”
Soriano sounded more like the student section when he was asked about UConn and replied, “I think we’re ready for any team in the country. I’ve got my guys 100%. We’ve just got to come in and play our game: stick to the game plan, play great defense, be intense. I think we’re going to be great.”
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.
