NEW YORK – The clock is ticking. St. John’s hopes for an NCAA Tournament bid were dealt another setback, as the Red Storm fell to Pitt 63-47 at Madison Square Garden on Sunday afternoon.
Some key points from Sunday’s contest:
- Turnovers. The total amount was 12. Not overwhelming, but significant. In the game St. John’s used 61 possessions. The first half they turned it over three times in 31 possessions, a very good 10 percent TO rate. In the second half they were guilty of nine turnovers in 30 possessions, an extremely high – and poor – 30 percent rate. To compound the problem, on the game Pitt had a 17-4 edge in points off turnovers. “Look at the final score and those (points off turnovers) numbers,” said St. John’s coach Steve Lavin. “That basically shows the difference in this game.”
- Excellent guard play. Travon Woodall scored a game-high 25 points for Pitt. “He did not take a bad shot or make one bad pass,” said Pitt coach Jamie Dixon of Woodall. In fact, Dixon pointed out, the Woodall-James Robinson backcourt combined for six assists and zero turnovers.
- Defense did not rest. Dixon was concerned about St. John’s spreading his defense out and big men being forced to move outside for man-to-man coverage. The Panthers responded with a strong defensive effort, forcing St. John’s into a subpar 77 offensive efficiency (Pitt checked in at 105) while forcing the previously cited turnovers. “We got in the seams of their defense a number of times,” Lavin said, “then they just stripped us of the ball. Credit their defense.”
- As noted, time is running out. St. John’s is currently 16-11 overall and 8-7 in the Big East. Remaining are three games. The Red Storm take to the road visiting Providence, arguably the conference’s hottest team at this point, and Notre Dame, certain to look for revenge of an upset at the Garden in early January. The final regular season game is a home date with a very good Marquette ball club. All three pose demanding challenges.
- Numbers. Pitt is now 21-7, 9-6 in the Big East. Jakarr Sampson led St. John’s with 14 points, while Phil Greene added 11. D’Angelo Harrison struggled in the shooting department for the Red Storm. Harrison scored six points, going 1 of 12 from the field. Lamar Patterson, with 11 points, was Pitt’s other double figure scorer. St. John’s outrebounded Pitt 38-37 (15-11 offensive) on the game.
Following the February 18th loss to Notre Dame, Dixon put the Panthers through some tough practices with rebounding as an emphasis. The Pitt coach pointed out the Panthers coming up short again under the glass. Given the entire defensive effort, though, Dixon wasn’t too upset.
