The St. John’s basketball players knew something had to change after its loss at home against Providence. If it wanted to reach the lofty goals that had been set entering the season a new mentality had to take shape.
So, after the loss its players got together and said that they didn’t want to lose again. They didn’t want to experience the same feeling as walking off the court at Madison Square Garden when a win slipped right through its fingers and many questioned the validity and toughness of the group.
And that message has resonated, and the team responded by winning four consecutive games, three of which came on the road.
“I think it’s our resilience and our preparation in practice every day,” Bryce Hopkins said about the team’s turnaround on Saturday night following the victory over Villanova.
“After the Providence game, that was a bad taste in all of our mouths and we didn’t want to feel that type of pain again,” he continued. “So, I feel a switch flipped for me and the guys and I feel like every day when we come into practice we’re preparing at a high level for these games on the road in tough environments just to be able to face adversity.”
The Red Storm have done more than just responded to adversity; they have crushed it with dominant showings in the second half against Butler and Villanova while controlling games from start to finish against Creighton and Marquette.
“There would be other times I probably would be a little concerned, but I’m not with you guys because of your character, the way you practice, the way you play,” Rick Pitino said as to why he never panicked with his team even after its loss to the Friars.
“I never doubted for one bit…I’ve always been confident in this team.”
It’s win over the Wildcats put St. John’s (13-5, 6-1 Big East) in sole possession of second place in the Big East, trailing No. 2 UConn by one game for first place. Its next challenge will be a rivalry matchup against Seton Hall (14-4, 4-3 Big East) on Tuesday night (7:00 p.m. ET, FS1) inside Madison Square Garden and Pitino knows it will be something that his team really hasn’t faced this season.
“When we can play at a high tempo, we play our best basketball,” he explained. “We’ve scored 92, 90, and tonight 86 [points]. Now, we’re not doing that on Tuesday. We’re not doing that. When you play Seton Hall, you’re not scoring 90 points.”