BY ALEJANDRO LOPEZ
NEW YORK–No. 23 St. John’s entered this season with the highest expectations it has had in a long time. Ranked No. 5 in the AP Preseason Top-25 poll, the Johnnies were seen as one of the biggest contenders in the country. But it has been anything but smooth sailing for head coach Rick Pitino and his team to start the season.
“It’s the toughest damned thing I’ve ever been through in my lifetime coaching,” Pitino said after a 63-58 win over Ole Miss on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. “When you get eight new players it is so freaking difficult, everything is so new to them. There’s no continuity from the year before.”
The Johnnies picked up their fifth win against Chris Beard and the Rebels, but it was anything but a clean victory. St. John’s shot just 34% from the floor and had more turnovers than field goals made in the victory.
“The guys did a fabulous job of playing great defense,” Pitino said postgame. “Our offense was not very good but that’s a credit to their defense.”
The win over Ole Miss broke a seven game losing streak against the SEC for St. John’s dating back to Nov. 29, 2012 and a three game losing streak under Pitino.
“We are playing tough competition,” St. John’s big man Zuby Ejiofor said postgame. “Both team’s are trying to do what it takes to pull off a victory and our offense was a little bit stagnant like Pitino said, so we are going to watch film and just improve in that area but the biggest thing was our enthusiasm on defense.”
The Johnnies will have another chance to take down an SEC team on Dec. 20 against a struggling No. 18 Kentucky team who suffered a 35-point loss to No. 11 Gonzaga on Friday.
Follow Alejandro Lopez on Twitter
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter
Follow ZAGSBLOGHOOPS on Instagram
The post St. John’s Pitino challenged by program’s lack of continuity: ‘It’s the toughest damned thing I’ve ever been through in my lifetime coaching’ appeared first on Zagsblog.