No. 22 St. John's ranked and ready for Wagner
Even though there were portions of the first two games that St. John's coach Rick Pitino was not enamored with, his team did enough to get ranked for the first time in six seasons.
Back in the Top 25 for the first time since January 2019, the 22nd-ranked Red Storm will host Wagner on Wednesday night in Queens, N.Y., for another tune-up before the schedule gets tougher.
St. John's (2-0) opened Pitino's second season with eight newcomers and posted a pair of blowout victories.
The Red Storm started with a 92-60 win over Fordham on Nov. 4 but were sluggish in the opening minutes. Then St. John's was threatened even more in Saturday's 96-73 win over Quinnipiac. The Red Storm trailed by four at halftime against the preseason favorite from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference but then shot 52.6 percent in a 61-point second half.
"Sometimes you get what you deserve," Pitino said. "We had two of the worst practices that we've had all season. I told them it's going to bite you in the behind if you practice like that, and it did."
Ultimately, talent won out, and it is a scenario Pitino hopes to avoid again, especially since St. John's will host New Mexico on Sunday at Madison Square Garden and will face No. 12 Baylor next week in a tournament in the Bahamas with a field that includes No. 11 Tennessee and Virginia.
While R.J. Luis led St. John's with 24 points and 13 rebounds vs. Quinnipiac, two other players continued their strong starts. Simeon Wilcher followed his 17 points against Fordham with 14 on Saturday, and Brady Dunlap finished with a career-high 20 in that matchup.
"Going into today's game, we had a couple of rough practices, so coach got into us at the start, but at the end he was like we just got to bounce back," Dunlap said.
The Red Storm also won decisively without standout defensive player Aaron Scott, who is expected to return from an illness on Wednesday.
Wagner (1-1) will play its second game against a ranked opponent and the first of three games against a Big East foe.
After shooting 34.9 percent from the field in its season-opening 75-52 loss at then-No. 25 Rutgers on Nov. 6, the Seahawks cruised to a 94-52 rout Saturday of Manor College, a team from the National Junior College Athletic Association.
Ja'Kair Sanchez, a Division II transfer, scored 17 points to lead five in double figures. Tyje Kelton added 15 as the Seahawks scored 48 by halftime and were 15 of 29 from 3-point range.
"I'm glad to come out with a win. I'm glad we played in spurts potentially how we could," Wagner coach Donald Copeland said. "Probably still a long way from where we need to be, but it was good to get in the win column."
St. John's leads the all-time series 19-2, and the schools will meet for the first time since November 2019.
