Rick Pitino has always been known for his press defense, and it appears his fourth team at St. John’s is picking up the strategy in prompt fashion.
After one of the more dominating showings of his tenure, Pitino hopes to see his team maintain its strong defense while flourishing offensively when No. 13 St. John’s plays host to Colgate on Wednesday night in Queens, N.Y.
The Red Storm (2-0) will play for the second time this season inside their on-campus arena, where they will look to contain the Raiders (0-2) in the cozy setting.
In two games, the St. John’s defense has recorded 23 steals, forced 37 turnovers and scored 47 points off turnovers in double-digit wins over Monmouth and Iona.
“The thing we do better this year than last year is press,” Pitino said. “That’s the one thing that’s way ahead of all the other things we do.”
St. John’s had nine steals, forced 19 turnovers and scored 26 points off turnovers in a 104-65 rout of Iona on Sunday at Madison Square Garden. The Red Storm matched their most points scored under Pitino and reached 100 points for the third time under the Hall of Fame coach.
“I’m glad that we’re getting some success with it early on, disrupting teams, causing some turnovers, getting some extra possessions,” Red Storm guard Ian Jackson said. “We’re just doing it at a high level. We’re understanding how to take the ball away, when to trap, when to go, how to get steals.”
In each game, St. John’s has seen a big showing from one of its transfers. Keyshawn Hall totaled 26 points and nine rebounds against Monmouth and Tounde Yessoufou totaled 23 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks in 21 minutes against Iona.
“I think Tounde came in here as a terrific basketball player, and he’s only getting better,” Pitino said of the Baylor transfer.
Colgate is on a season-opening four-game road trip and has delivered mixed results from 3-point range so far.
Colgate shot 31.8% (7 of 22) from distance in a 14-point loss at Washington on Nov. 2 and improved to 36.1% (13 of 36) in its 77-74 loss at Drexel on Saturday when it squandered an 11-point lead in the second half.
“We’re going to get better, and Colgate is a team that will take 40 3s if they have to and we got to be ready for defending that,” Pitino said about the Raiders.
Andrew Alekseyenko has gone 7 of 11 (63.6%) from distance in two games and has averaged 22.5 points.
As a freshman, Alekseyenko averaged 14.8 points and shot 38.3% from long range when Colgate went 18-15 and shot 35.9% from 3-point range as a team. The Massachusetts native is coming off consecutive double-doubles.
“To keep improving, we need to stay focused on being everyday guys who maximize practice time and build the consistency needed to execute for longer stretches, regardless of the style of play,” coach Matt Langel said. “The schedule doesn’t get any easier … so our focus turns immediately to getting better.”
