St. John’s win streak comes to gruesome end in 32-point loss to UConn

HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut was the desperate team. 

The one that needed a win to keep its Big East regular-season title hopes alive. The one that lost the first meeting to its rivals and wasn’t going to let it happen again. St. John’s? 

Well, Rick Pitino’s Johnnies didn’t show up. They left their game in Queens. The group that did make the trek to PeoplesBank Arena sure didn’t resemble the unit that had reeled off 13 straight victories and was threatening to play its way into a top 4 protected NCAA Tournament seed. 

They didn’t come close to matching the Huskies’ intensity, force and determination at all in this 72-40 eyesore of a beatdown that saw them go the final 17:28 without a made field goal. 

“It’s all on me,” coach Rick Pitino said outside the somber Red Storm locker room after one of the worst losses of his Hall of Fame career. 

Later, he added: “We did things that we’ve never done. And that’s something I’ve got 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.”

And so St. John’s (20-6, 15-2) 13-game winning streak — the program’s longest since the 1984-85 Final Four campaign — came to an end in gruesome fashion.

Now, the two teams are tied in the loss column atop the conference, although St. John’s still controls its own destiny. Win out, and they would at worst share the league title and land the top seed in next month’s Big East Tournament. 

First they have to pick themselves up off the mat Saturday at the Garden against Villanova. 

“This loss is one that you really want to forget and move on to the next opponent,” Zuby Ejiofor said. “Championship-level teams respond in a positive way. My job is to make sure we are a lot more prepared for the next opponent than we were tonight. Today was an off game for me personally, as well as the team. But you have to quickly flush it and get ready for the next opponent.”

It was ugly, the ugliest St. John’s loss since Pitino’s arrival three years ago. It marked the first time a Pitino team failed to score 50 points since Louisville managed just 46 against Virginia in 2016. It also was the fewest points ever scored by a Pitino-led team.

CHECK OUT THE LATEST BIG EAST STANDINGS AND ST. JOHN’S STATS

As or the Johnnies, It was their fewest points since they also scored 40 in a loss to Notre Dame in 2013.

“I don’t know, I couldn’t tell you,” Ejiofor said, when asked what he thought led to such a lopsided result. “I’ve never been through that experience before. … Tonight was not what I expected at all.”   

“I don’t know, I couldn’t tell you,” Ejiofor said, when asked what he thought led to such a lopsided result. “I’ve never been through that experience before. … Tonight was not what I expected at all.”  

There were scoring droughts of 7:23 and 10:46. St. John’s couldn’t score and it couldn’t stop Connecticut (26-3, 16-2). The Johnnies were hammered inside and on the perimeter. It was an absurd 40-12 margin in points in the paint. They missed their final 24 shots of the game. 

Joson Sanon led St. John’s in scoring with 10 points, and he didn’t score after halftime.

Ejiofor, who dominated the first meeting, was limited to six points on 3-of-14 shooting and just five shots. St. John’s shot a dreadful 20 percent from the field, was 5-for-20 from 3-point range and forced only five turnovers. 

Tarris Reed Jr. was the best player on the floor, finishing with 20 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks. Alex Karaban added 14. 

“I just think it was one of those nights where everything went great for us and everything went wrong for them,” Connecticut coach Dan Hurley said. “But we did a lot to make that happen. And, obviously, we expect to see them potentially a third time.”

That would likely be in the Big East Tournament title game, since the teams are nearly guaranteed to finish first and second. But before St. John’s can even think of such a rematch, it has a lot of work to do after this performance. 

“This was not St. John’s basketball at all,” Ejiofor said.