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Jeff Borzello, ESPN writer
Following St. John’s eighth loss in its last 10 games, coach Rick Pitino lamented his team’s lack of toughness and athleticism, saying “this has been the least pleasant experience I’ve had since I’ve been a coach.”
The Red Storm blew a 19-point lead to lose 68-62 to tri-state rival and fellow bubble team Seton Hall on Sunday night, falling to 14-12 overall and 6-9 in the Big East, putting them in ninth place. With five games remaining in the regular season before the Big East tournament, St. John’s will likely need to lead the table the rest of the way before advancing in the conference tournament for a chance to receive a bid to the conference tournament. NCAA.
Pitino, a Hall of Fame coach in his first season with the Red Storm, didn’t hold back after the game.
“If I said I was disappointed, it would be an understatement of the year,” he said. “Our lateral quickness and toughness is something I’ve never witnessed in all my years of coaching.
“We are so unathletic that we can’t guard anyone without committing a foul… And it’s really not about losing. Even winning, when I watch the film, I see unathletic plays, I see people who don’t handle the ball, who are just interested in taking quick shots. It’s been a disappointing year.”
St. John’s scored just four points in the first 12 minutes of the second half, watching a 12-point halftime lead disappear without much resistance. It was the latest in a series of blown leads in recent weeks for the Red Storm, which suffered a three-point lead against Providence on Tuesday after leading at halftime, and blew a 15-point lead against Marquette last weekend.
“I think the other team makes adjustments and we have to make adjustments to move the ball and make good shots. But we just lack toughness,” Pitino said. “We just didn’t move our feet on defense. They shot 37 free throws. Throw out the stats. You see it every game. The number of free throws they shoot, the number of free throws we shoot. Look what Nahiem (Alleyne) shot in the year. Look what Chris Ledlum shot on the year. You’re a power forward, you played 29 minutes without a free throw. That means you’re not rebounding offensively, you’re not getting to the line. “It’s really all the toughness that makes us lose clues.”
After replacing Mike Anderson last spring, Pitino aggressively rebuilt St. John’s roster. Nine players entered the transfer portal, with the Red Storm adding 10 transfers and two ESPN 100 freshmen with only two carryovers from last season.
“I had no choice,” he said. “We could just choose who we could get, who was available, we had no choice. I don’t think we were going to win the first year anyway, because when you run like that, you don’t see the players. There are not many things we can do” .
St. John’s began the season with a 12-4 record, including wins over Utah, Xavier, Butler, Villanova and Providence. But the wheels have fallen off since then, with the Red Storm going 2-8 in their last 10 games to fall outside the projected field for the NCAA tournament. Pitino is struggling to find the right combination of players, even removing All-Big East big man Joel Soriano from the starting lineup against Providence earlier in the week due to inconsistency.
Soriano was among the players (“about five guys are slow laterally”) mentioned by Pitino on Sunday night who have difficulty moving defensively. Pitino also said that the fact that St. John’s has “shitty facilities” is not the reason for its defensive problems.
The Red Storm returns to the court Wednesday at Georgetown, which has one win in the last two months but is a team that, according to Pitino, “can definitely beat us.”
When asked by a reporter if he had any doubts about taking the job at St. John, Pitino said no.
“It’s not St. John’s, it’s my team,” he said.