The success of the St. John’s basketball team in the postseason has been directly correlated to its lightning quick starts to begin games.
In its four tournament games, it has never trailed and opened contests on 9-0, 8-0, 10-0, and 13-0 runs. The latter of its runs was saved for its most important game of the year in the Round of 64 against Northern Iowa.
“I feel like Coach [Pitino] preached to us that we have to treat this like the March Madness tournament,” Bryce Hopkins said about the messaging of starting quick in the Big East Tournament. “We have to come out fast. We can't come out lackadaisical, because once we get to March Madness it's win or go home.”
St. John’s expanded on its lead and pulled ahead 20-3 in the opening 7:14 and never looked back, winning 79-53 victory.
“The biggest thing in our mindset is just coming out fast and knowing that we can't come out slow because we're only guaranteed 40 minutes every night,” Hopkins added. “And we have to play like that. We can't take any plays off, and we just have to come out fast.”
St. John’s has never trailed in the last 180:17 of game time in its last five games, dating back to its regular season finale against Seton Hall.
“If you allow them to control their tempo, they can beat anybody,” Rick Pitino said about Northern Iowa. “We didn't allow them to control tempo. We got out there off our defense. And that was the key to the game. They're much better than this final score.”
St. John’s went 10-for-29 from 3-point range while holding the Panthers to 3-for-14 from distance and won the rebounding battle by 16. It’s a recipe they will look to continue on Sunday against either Kansas or Cal Baptist.