It would have been easy to overlook a Delaware team that only had five wins against Division I teams this season and was coming off a loss against Saint Peter’s last week, but the St. John’s basketball team remained focused on the task at hand.
With a buzzer beating victory over Providence, a short holiday break, and a road trip to Creighton surrounding the Blue Hens, the Johnnies raced out to a 10-point lead, 22-12, in less than eight minutes and never looked back.
The lead ballooned to as many as 23 points in the first half behind a 22-7 run that eventually led to a 97-76 victory.
While pleasing to its fans, St. John’s players and coaches were not overly thrilled with the way the team performed on Saturday night.
“Obviously any time you win, you should be pleased but, to be honest with you, I’m anything but pleased,” Rick Pitino said about his team allowing 47 points in the second half and Delaware (7-6) standout John Camden to shoot 9-of-11 from 3-point range for 35 points.
However, the Red Storm (11-2, 2-0 Big East) had more than enough firepower behind a 60.9-percent shooting night to keep up with the hot shooting of Camden.
Six different players reached double figures while Deivon Smith turned in his best game of the season with 20 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists, three steals, and a block.
“I still think we need to play two complete halves,” Smith added.
St. John’s has struggled shooting lately, making only six combined 3-pointers in its two Big East victories but the Johnnies were 8-of-12 against Delaware as Rick Pitino hopes his team continues the quality of looks rather than the volume.
St. John’s will travel to Creighton (8-5, 1-1 Big East) for another daunting road test on New Year’s Eve, tipping off at 4:00 p.m. ET (Peacock) on Tuesday afternoon.