It started as a good old-fashioned butt kicking and got much, much worse.
No. 15 St. John’s scored the opening basket of the game and that was the extent of the good news for the visitors.
No. 6 UConn set the tone. The Huskies were going to play much more aggressive and assertive against the Johnnies this time. They were not only going to match its physicality but be the far superior team.
They left absolutely no doubt in its 72-40 demolition to split the regular season series.
“It’s all on me,” Rick Pitino said after the loss. “I’m very disappointed in our performance offensively, especially, of sharing the ball, moving the ball.”
After Oziyah Sellers threw down a dunk to get St. John’s (22-6, 15-2 Big East) within two, 13-11, the Huskies scored the next 18 points in 7:23. Forget scoring a point, the Johnnies couldn’t even get a clean look at the basket, missing ten straight shots, and its defense struggled to keep UConn at bay.
Tarris Reed went for 14 points in the opening stanza and didn’t let up after finishing with 20 points in the win.
The Huskies (26-3, 16-2 Big East) led by as many as 21 points, 33-12, in the first half before taking a 41-26 lead into the locker room and things got extremely worse. In fact, it was like entering the depths of the unknown.
UConn’s lead grew to as many as 36 points late in the second half behind a 27-5 run as the Red Storm would miss 24 consecutive attempts during that stretch. They made a total of two field goals in the second half and did not make a shot in the final 17:28.
It was the most lopsided loss for St. John’s since Rick Pitino took over as the head coach of the program, which was previously a 16-point loss against Michigan in Pitino’s second career game with the school.
It was the worst loss in Pitino’s career since February 12, 2009 when Louisville lost 90-57 against Notre Dame. It was the fewest total points a team coached by Rick Pitino has scored since 1981 when his Boston University team posted only 43 points.
The closest St. John’s ever got after the 21-point first half advantage was 14 points shortly before halftime and early in the second half. It was the program’s largest lost as a ranked team since 1960.
Zuby Ejiofor was held in check with just six points. Joson Sanon was the only player to reach double figures with ten points, all coming in the first half.
It was worse than a nightmare for the Red Storm.
"This was not St. John's basketball at all," Ejiofor explained.
St. John’s will look to respond on Saturday night when it hosts Villanova (8:00 p.m. ET, FOX) inside Madison Square Garden.