Rick Pitino knows that St. John’s needs to test itself against some of the best teams in the country to prepare for the NCAA Tournament and the No. 5 Johnnies (1-0) are wasting no time in jumping into the deep end of the pool this season.
In its second game of the year, the Red Storm will welcome No. 15 Alabama (1-0) and its electric offense to Madison Square Garden on Saturday afternoon (12:00 p.m. ET, FS1).
It’s a challenge that Pitino acknowledges his team must face, although the Crimson Tide provides a test that is extremely unique to any other great team in the sport.
“They shoot the ball on average within 15 seconds, and we’ve not seen anything like that in the three years that I’ve been here,” Rick Pitino said on Friday afternoon at The Garden.
However, Pitino has seen success against the Alabama upsetting the Tide during his time at Iona in the 2021-22 season, a year after Alabama beat the Gaels and the Hall of Famer in the Round of 64 of the NCAA Tournament in 2021.
“We’re going to play at our pace,” Pitino explained about the Red Storm’s game plan. “We don’t shoot the ball within 15 seconds, but we play fast…it’s obviously going to come down to keeping them off the foul line, because they don’t believe in the midrange shot.”
The Tide shot 53.4-percent (31-for-58) from the field in its season opening 29-point victory against North Dakota, but only made 8-of-27 attempts from 3-point range despite going 21-of-27 from the free throw line.
In order to try and simulate the pace that Alabama plays with, St. John’s has been practicing with an 18-second shot clock this week, but its biggest question sits in its own backcourt.
Dylan Darling is questionable to play after suffering a calf injury against Quinnipiac in its season opener and Oziyah Sellers, the team’s starting point guard, has battled foul trouble throughout the preseason.
“Their defensive matchups are really difficult,” Pitino continued about his own team.
“This is the type of team you see in the [NCAA] tournament and to be able to get them in The Garden, this early in the season, it should be fun. It should be electric,” Darling explained.
“We’re not going to shy away from that challenge.”