As Rick Pitino said Friday, a lopsided loss sometimes can be better than a narrow one.
It can serve as a wake-up call, and provide added motivation.
That seems to have been the case for St. John’s.
Seventy-two hours after their ugly loss at Connecticut, the No. 15 Johnnies didn’t just pick themselves off the proverbial mat.
They rose together with a fury, taking out their frustrations on Villanova and cruising to an 89-57 victory at a sold-out Garden to remain tied atop the Big East with Connecticut in the loss column.
“The response was everything,” star senior Zuby Ejiofor said during his on-court interview after St. John’s largest win ever over Villanova. “I’m really happy for the guys.”
With Pitino donning his white suit after some hesitation, St. John’s turned in one of its best first halves of the season and treated the Wildcats like an overmatched sparring partner.
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This was as thorough and overwhelming a performance as St. John’s has had this year, blowing away a tournament team with relative ease.
Ejiofor responded to getting badly outplayed on Wednesday with the first triple-double of his career, notching 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, along with three blocks.
Ian Jackson turned in his best game of the year, with 19 points, five rebounds and five steals off the bench.
Oziyah Sellers added 14 points and the Johnnies held Villanova to a season-low in points and turned 16 turnovers into 29 points. St. John’s also tallied a season-high 26 assists and shot 52.5 percent from the field.
It was the kind of bounce-back St. John’s (23-6, 16-2) had hoped for. The Red Storm entered Wednesday’s visit to Hartford, Conn., having won 13 straight games.
It went sideways early, and afterward Ejiofor said he had to do a better job making sure his team was ready for Saturday night.
They certainly were, and he led the way. When Ejiofor tallied his 10th and final assist in the final minutes, the crowd exploded with chants of “Zuuuuby.”
Pitino couldn’t have scripted a better first half. St. John’s produced runs of 17-3 and 16-1. The Red Storm made 14 of their first 22 shots from the field, had 15 assists and outscored Villanova in the paint, 22-6.
Jackson was dynamic, notching 11 points, four rebounds and three steals. On back-to-back possessions he came up with steals, and capped one of them with a windmill jam.
Ejiofor did a little bit of everything, tallying nine points, six rebounds, five assists and three blocks. Villanova had more turnovers (eight) than made field goals.
The Red Storm shot a blistering 57.6 percent from the field, committed only two turnovers and were plus-nine on the glass. They had an absurd 1.455 points per possession in the first 20 minutes.
The only negative: Ejiofor fouled Bryce Lindsay on a 3-point attempt in the final seconds, drawing Pitino’s ire. He wasn’t letting his foot off the gas, no matter how large the differential was.