This was not a perfect performance. There were areas of concern.
RJ Luis saw the court infrequently due to foul trouble.
St. John’s struggled from 3-point range.
The offense was choppy for large portions of this regular season opener.
It didn’t matter, because of what happened on the other side of the floor.
It didn’t matter because of how well the Johnnies defended. How frequently Fordham needed to hoist up a deep jumper as the shot clock expired.
A year later, St. John’s defense appears well ahead of its offense. Rick Pitino isn’t going to be complaining about lateral quickness. His roster is more athletic, longer and better fits his pressuring style.
It showed Monday night, in a 92-60 thrashing of Fordham at a sold-out Carnesecca Arena to kick off year two of the Pitino era in Queens.
“We got some ‘dawgs’ on our team,” said newcomer Aaron Scott, a North Texas transfer. “We’re a defensive-minded team. We got to keep bringing the defense, game in and game out.”
The Rams (0-1) were held to 36 percent shooting, committed 19 turnovers that led to 20 St. John’s points and were frequently overwhelmed by the Johnnies’ athleticism. Straight-line drives were rare.
So were open looks. Big men Vince Iwuchuckwu and Zuby Ejiofor were able to defend on the perimeter.
Additions Scott and Kadary Richmond displayed their ability to guard multiple positions.
Pitino said he was “pleased” afterwards with the performance.
There isn’t any room to start slow like last year with a more difficult nonconference schedule.
“Normally we work 60-40 on defense. This year it’s been 80-20. All we have been doing is working on defense,” Pitino said. “We haven’t focused on pressing, haven’t focused on our 2-2-1 [press] back to a zone. All we’ve been doing is working on our man defense, our switching defense. We knew we had to be ready early in the season. We’re getting better.”
The start was shaky.
It was only a two-point lead late in the first half, before St. John’s (1-0) went on a 21-6 run, fueled by eight points from sophomore Simeon Wilcher, to create separation.
The result was never in doubt from there.
Utah transfer Deivon Smith, coming off the bench, shook off a slugging first half to ignite the Red Storm after the break.
He set up Brady Dunlap (nine points, five rebounds) for a 3-pointer, tapped an offensive rebound to Iwuchukwu for a dunk and a few possessions later scored on a baseline drive.
By then, it was a 26-point game. The rout was on. Pitino sat down.
There were some issues. Luis, expected to take a major leap this year, fouled out with 12 points in 13 minutes and was assessed a technical foul for kicking the ball into the stands.
St. John’s finished 9 of 26 from 3-point range, and struggled for most of the night from beyond the arc.
The offense looked ragged at times, like it will take time for this group to find cohesion at that end of the floor.
But there was so much to like as well. Wilcher had 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting.
Richmond produced his typical all-around game of 16 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in his first game as a Johnnie.
Scott was a two-way factor and hit a pair of 3-pointers while logging a team-best plus-29 rating.
Smith tallied a team-high six assists. Those individual performances were nice. They paled in comparison to how St. John’s defended.
“We’re going to get way better,” Scott promised. “This was just the first game. We have a lot of room for improvement.”
