After its loss to then No. 15 Alabama, many following the St. John’s basketball program turned its attention to the next stretch of major games for the Red Storm during the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, but those inside the team know that its next two games are very important.
“We worry about every game,” Rick Pitino said on Friday about the No. 13 Johnnies’ matchup against William & Mary on Saturday evening. “We’re really frightened about this game, frightened of all the things they do really well.”
“[William & Mary head coach Brian Earl] runs the Princeton offense, but like on steroids, they play Princeton lightning fast.”
The Tribe will enter Queens following a four-point road loss against Richmond, which was on the heels of back-to-back wins to begin the season.
“I don’t care you read about it. This team will give us all we can handle,” Pitino added.
However, not everyone agrees with the St. John’s head coach as the Red Storm are nearing a 30-point favorite in the game and it’ll likely be the same spread against Bucknell on Thursday night.
Still, Pitino wants his team solely focused on these two games before dates with No. 16 Iowa State and Baylor in Vegas.
“I think we just have to take it a day at a time, a game at a time,” Bryce Hopkins explained.
“I feel like us handling our business against William & Mary and focusing on the things that we didn't do so well against Alabama. If we handle our business against William & Mary and we're feeling good going into our next couple games, I feel like that’s just going to lead us into Las Vegas with a good mindset.”
The games in Las Vegas have taken a new importance for St. John’s after its loss to the Tide. Despite it being early in the season, the Johnnies are looking for resume building victories in its non-conference schedule after the struggles of Big East teams through the opening two weeks.
“I don’t see a blowout on our schedule,” Pitino continued. “We’re going to take some lumps along the way because of the schedule we built up, but I intentionally did that.”