No. 17 St. John’s seeks revenge for its lone Big East loss when it treks north to Providence on Saturday afternoon.
The Red Storm (19-5, 12-1) have rattled off a 10-game winning streak since the Friars (11-14, 4-10) walked into Madison Square Garden on Jan. 3 and claimed a 77-71 win.
St. John’s extended its run to 10 games on Monday with an 87-82 overtime home victory over coach Rick Pitino’s son, Richard, and Xavier.
The interior duo of Zuby Ejiofor (25 points, seven rebounds, five assists) and Providence transfer Bryce Hopkins (19 points, nine rebounds) was crucial against the Musketeers, combining to shoot 13 of 22 from the field and provide St. John’s with half of its scoring.
“When the game was on the line, really, Bryce Hopkins won the game,” Pitino said. “He made big plays for us on the defensive end, and he was outstanding in the final seven, eight minutes.”
Hopkins hopes to carry that momentum into his second chance against his former team. When St. John’s and Providence met on Jan. 3, he was held to just nine points on 3-of-13 shooting. He has only one single-digit scoring effort since.
Ejiofor, who scored six of his 25 points in overtime against Xavier, leads the Red Storm in points (16.3 per game), rebounds (7.5), assists (3.5) and blocks (2.0).
“He’s one of five players that brings it every day in practice, every day in individuals, every game, in my life,” Pitino said. “He brings it every day, every game. Like Daniss Jenkins (at Iona and St. John’s), like Mark Pope of Kentucky, like Billy Donovan at Providence. When you bring it every day, you get better and better and better.”
Providence showed some good in an 87-80 Wednesday loss at Seton Hall, converting a season-high 14 3-pointers (nine in the first half) and holding a lead for more than half of the game while also outrebounding the Pirates.
Jaylin Sellers continued his emergence as one of the Big East’s top scorers, leading the Friars with 23 points on five 3-pointers. The UCF transfer has averaged 26.7 points over the last three games while hitting 14 of 24 (58.3%) from 3-point range.
But, simply, coach Kim English’s team was unable to take care of the basketball against the Pirates. Sellers committed as many turnovers (five) as Seton Hall.
“Our shooters took and made good shots (in the first half),” English said. “I didn’t feel like our shot quality in the second half was great, but 18 turnovers, you have no chance on the road.”
All those turnovers certainly do not help Providence’s defensive struggles. The Friars are allowing 85.6 points per game — 8.2 more than the next-worst Big East teams entering Saturday’s play. They also give up the most 3-pointers (240) at the worst accuracy rate (37.2%) and have the worst turnover margin in the conference (-1.6 per game).
“Our defense is already struggling, but steals don’t make it any easier,” English said.
The Friars remained short-handed from a personnel standpoint against Seton Hall. Jamier Jones (12.1 ppg) did not play and Ryan Mela was a game-time decision who played just 16 minutes due to illness.
Even on the Friars’ home floor, English knows the Storm will present a major challenge.
“They’ve had some big wins, some tough wins where they’ve had to gut it out,” English said. “Dillon Mitchell is playing as (well) as anyone in the league, Zuby is the player of the year in our league, Dylan Darling, they’re playing really well.”
