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NEW YORK (AP) — In their return to the national rankings, Rick Pitino and his St. John’s team didn’t exactly look ready for prime time.
Not to start, at least. The finish was pretty encouraging.
Deivon Smith drained a 3-pointer midway through the second half to spark an 18-0 spurt that propelled No. 22 St. John’s past Wagner 66-45 on Wednesday night for its first victory as a Top 25 team in almost 10 years.
“I’m impressed, even though we’re much more talented than Wagner,” said Pitino, the Hall of Fame coach in his second season with the Red Storm. “They turned up the heat and made shots, and they were very poised when it counted.”
St. John’s (3-0) jumped into the AP Top 25 poll this week for the first time since January 2019. It earned its first win as a ranked squad since topping Tulane on Dec. 28, 2014.
And for Pitino, it was his first game coaching a Top 25 team since 2017 at Louisville.
He didn’t think his players thought much about any of that, though.
“It’s nice for the fans. Certainly we’re proud of that,” Pitino said. “We need to get the subway alumni back. We’ve got great fans, but we don’t have a lot of them.
“In New York, there’s a lot to do, so there’s only one way to get fans and that’s to win.”
Now the schedule gets much tougher, beginning Sunday against New Mexico (3-0) in the first of eight home games at Madison Square Garden this season.
It will be a family affair pitting Pitino against his son, Richard, coach of a Lobos team that reached the NCAA Tournament last season and defeated then-No. 22 UCLA 72-64 in Nevada last week.
“New Mexico is probably the No. 1 offensive-pace team in the country, and I know it better than anybody,” Rick Pitino said. “So, we’ve got to get ready for this pace. They’ve got a great guard, they’ve got great support players, they’ve got a terrific inside player. This is a tough, tough test.”
The elder Pitino is 2-1 in coaching matchups against his son, with both wins coming when he was at…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/back-top-25-spotlight-no-051930631.html
Author : Associated Press
Publish date : 2024-11-14 05:19:00
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