St. John’s basketball uses defense to get ugly victory against Butler

St. John’s basketball uses its defense to get a victory against Butler. 

All victories are pleasing at this point in the season for St. John’s basketball team, even if it’s not ascetically pleasing to the eye.

Coming off its failed comeback bid against No. 22 DePaul, the Red Storm (6-11, 3-8 Big East) made the trip to Indianapolis to battle the Butler Bulldogs.

Like St. John’s, Butler (1-14, 1-13 Big East) has endured its struggles last season and the Bulldogs were the last team the Johnnies picked up a victory against this season.

Unlike some of its other outings, head coach Joe Tartamella’s team didn’t have its best offensive showing but it won with its defense, 47-35.

The Red Storm held the ‘Dawgs to just 22.9-percent shooting from the field, 25.0-percent shooting from three-point range, and 58.3-percent from the free throw line.

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Butler also had 19 turnovers, resulting in 19 points for St. John’s.

No Bulldogs player reached double-digits in its loss but two St. John’s players, Unique Drake and Kadaja Bailey posted double-figures with 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Sophomore star Leilani Correa became the first player in program history to record three 30-point games in the loss against DePaul but she couldn’t get her shots to fall on Saturday afternoon, ending the victory with nine points on 4-of-19 shooting and 1-of-9 from downtown.

However, Correa did not let her offensive struggles affect her overall game as she pulled down ten rebounds, tied for the team-best with Bailey.

Bailey and Emma Nolan had a team-best +/- rating of +19.

Butler scored four points in the first quarter and three points in the fourth quarter.

St. John’s basketball gets second crack at UConn

In its return to the Big East Conference, St. John’s could not hang with No. 2 UConn (16-1, 10-0 Big East) and star freshman Paige Bueckers but the Johnnies will get another shot at the Huskies on its home floor.

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Geno Auriemma’s team will be ranked as the No. 1 team in the country entering Queens after its victory over No. 1 South Carolina in overtime last Monday and follow-up wins over Seton Hall and Georgetown.

Tipoff is scheduled for 6:00pm EST inside Carnesecca Arena (SNY).