No. 6 UConn had no issue getting past Rick Pitino and No. 15 St. John's whatsoever Wednesday night. But St. John's shut down offensively in the second half in a way that no Pitino team ever had before.
The Red Storm made just two field goals and managed only 14 total points in the second half in a 72-40 loss at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford. It marked the team's fewest points scored in a game since 2013 and was easily the most lopsided loss of the Pitino era. It was the fewest points a Pitino-led team had ever scored. The longtime head coach, who has been in the sport for five decades, had a previous low of 43 points when he was with Boston University in 1981,according to CBS Sports' Matt Norlander.
To make the second half worse, both of St. John's made field goals came quickly after the break. Zuby Ejiofor hit a 3-pointer about 90 seconds into the second period, and then he made a layup about a minute later. That was it.
The Red Storm missed 24 straight shots to end the game over the next 17:28. UConn ended up outscoring St. John's 31-14 in the second half to cruise to the 32-point win. That stretch of 24 missed field-goal attempts is the longest streak of missed FGs by a ranked team and a Big East team in the past eight seasons, and the longest streak by any Division I team since 2022,according to ESPN.
Advertisement
"That's probably only happened to me two times in my career ... It's all on me," Pitino said. "I'm very disappointed."
Joson Sanon led St. John's with 10 points and was the only Red Storm player to hit double figures. The Red Storm went 11-of-56 from the floor and 5-of-20 from behind the arc. The loss, which snapped a 13-game win streak, moved the Red Storm to 22-6 on the year.
Pitino didn't really have any answers after the game, either. He seemed just as confused as everybody else.
"I don't know what it is, all I know is we didn't play good offense," Pitino said. "We did things that we've never done. Again, it's something I have to question about myself and I will question it because the team did not do the things we've done in the last 13 games."
Tarris Reed Jr. led UConn with 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Alex Karaban added 14 points. Solo Ball finished with 11 points. The Huskies shot 47% from the field. UConn (26-3) reclaimed the lead in the Big East from St. John's after a bad loss to Creighton last week opened the door in the conference standings.
St. John's completely failed to take advantage of the opportunity to put some space between itself and UConn with three games left in the regular season. Now, with UConn back in the lead, St. John's will have to be perfect and get some help in order to claim a second straight regular-season title.
That starts Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
"We'll get ready for Villanova. We're still playing for a league championship," Pitino said. "It doesn't matter whether you lose by one or 40, the league championship is still at stake. Obviously, we have to make our corrections and move on."