There hasn’t been much to criticize within the St. John’s basketball team during its 13-game winning streak, but a troubling trend is developing that’s worth monitoring.
The Johnnies really struggle to shoot from 3-point range inside Madison Square Garden.
During all its games inside The World’s Most Famous Arena, the team is connecting on just 27.9-percent (54-of-193) from downtown. In Big East road games, the percentage goes up to 39.2-percent (66-for-168).
It includes a 3-for-14 shooting performance in its 81-52 victory over Creighton on Saturday.
“It’s not bad shots,” Rick Pitino said of the shooting woes after the victory over the Bluejays.
“I think we could shoot great here as well as any place else. I don’t think there’s any jinx of The Garden on us.”
St. John’s will have two more regular season games left at Madison Square Garden this season in addition to as many as three Big East Tournament games in the building.
“We shot 46-percent, shot great free throws, so it’s not the building, I can assure you of that,” he continued after the Red Storm connected on 20-of-23 from the charity stripe.
However, the home and road splits of its best shooters are staggering.
Dylan Darling is shooting 54.5-percent from 3-point range on the road and 23.7-percent at home. Ian Jackson is at 43.5-percent in away games and 30.8-percent in St. John’s home venues while Oziyah Sellers is sitting at 31.8-percent at home and 40.9-percent on the road.
As a team, St. John’s shoots 34.2-percent from 3-point range, which is 179th in the country.
The Red Storm will look to continue its hot shooting on the road in the highly anticipated rematch against No. 5 UConn on Wednesday night (7:00 p.m. ET, Peacock) in Hartford with first place in the Big East hanging in the balance.