Coach Rick Pitino and No. 15 St. John’s will finish their season series against struggling Georgetown on Tuesday night in Washington, D.C., with the two teams heading in different directions.
The Red Storm (17-3, 8-1 Big East) have won six straight games and are tied with No. 9 Marquette for the top spot in the conference, thanks to strong defense and key performances from Kadary Richmond and RJ Luis.
Their recent success helped them climb five spots in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll.
Pitino, a Hall of Fame coach, has St. John’s off to its best start in 39 years, and he’s on track to take his sixth different school to the NCAA Tournament after missing out in his first season with the Red Storm.
St. John’s is ranked No. 15 for the first time in a decade, dating back to when Steve Lavin’s team reached that spot during the 2014-15 season.
However, it hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing for St. John’s lately.
In two of their last three games, the Red Storm had to rally from double-digit deficits to keep their win streak alive.
In the first matchup with Georgetown on Jan. 14, St. John’s trailed 35-20 late in the first half but came back to win 63-58, holding Georgetown to just 21 points in the second half on 32 percent shooting.
In their most recent game against Xavier on Wednesday, the Red Storm were down 50-34 with 17:02 remaining but forced overtime and won 79-71 behind Richmond’s 19 points and Luis’ 16, despite shooting just 1 of 12 from three-point range.
“A lot of teams, when they get down 16, get down 14, really hang their heads,” Pitino said after the game. “It’s just the opposite with these guys, and that goes back to their fear of losing, and they just dig in and dig in and played magnificent when the game was on the line.”
After starting 3-0 in conference play for the first time since 2012, Georgetown (13-7, 4-5) has lost five of its last six games and fallen to the middle of the Big East standings.
Despite an improved defense in Ed Cooley’s second season, offense has been a struggle for Georgetown recently.
The Hoyas have been held under 70 points in seven straight games, going 2-5. They’ve scored more than 70 points just once in Big East play — a 81-57 win over Creighton on Dec. 18.
Some of the struggles can be attributed to injuries to Thomas Sorber, who leads the team with 14.8 points per game, and Jayden Epps, who averages 12.9 points. Both players returned to the starting lineup in a 78-68 loss to Providence on Saturday. Sorber finished with 25 points and 15 rebounds, while Epps had six points.
For the first time this season, Cooley said he thought his team’s defense let them down. Georgetown was outrebounded 21-18 on the defensive glass and 37-32 overall.
“This was the first game we played all year where I thought our defense let us down,” Cooley said. “I don’t think we were gritty, and I thought that Providence was tougher.”
