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On a day St. John’s best was needed, it didn’t come close.
Not on the defensive end. Not at the free-throw line.
Certainly not when the game was up for grabs.
In the second half, top-ranked Connecticut outclassed St. John’s.
It didn’t have standout forward Alex Karaban (ankle) and center Donovan Clingan was a non-factor due to foul trouble, but it didn’t matter.
The Huskies still overpowered the Johnnies after halftime and cruised to a 77-64 victory Saturday afternoon at a sold-out Garden.
St. John’s has lost five of its last six games and is without a marquee victory with chances for one dwindling.
The NCAA Tournament is very much in doubt.
“They’re the No. 1 team in the country,” coach Rick Pitino said. “We hope to get there someday, but they’re better than us.”
Connecticut played like the more desperate team despite its lofty ranking. It out-rebounded St. John’s by 15 and held the Johnnies without a made 3-pointer after halftime.
The dynamic trio of Cam Spencer, Tristen Newton and Stephon Castle combined for 62 points on 18 of 36 shooting, taking turns torching the Red Storm.
St. John’s, meanwhile, only got six points and four rebounds from center Joel Soriano.
Daniss Jenkins had 19 points, but only four after halftime.
The Johnnies’ shooting on 3-pointers (28.6 percent) and free throws (66.7) remained poor.
“It’s been the same problem all season: We’re not a good shooting team and we’re not a good defensive team,” Pitino said. “I think Daniss is playing at a high level, but unfortunately, nobody else is. That’s the reason why we’re not playing as well against the great teams.”
Connecticut (20-2, 10-1) began to take control midway through the second half, stringing together an 8-0 run as the heavy contingent of Huskies fans began to be heard.
Chris Ledlum picked up his fourth foul and the deficit was seven with 12:04 to go.
Pitino went back to Soriano and he answered with a badly needed three-point play.
It didn’t create nearly enough momentum. UConn quickly had the lead into double figures and didn’t look back, putting together a 24-8 run to end any doubt about the result.
In that span of 7:36 of game action, St. John’s (13-9, 5-6) had more turnovers (three) than made field goals (two).
“In order for us to get on the right track and really sustain the team we know we can be, our mindset has to change. It’s a mindset thing with us,” Jenkins said. “At times, we fight each other. Not fight, but we’ll have a comeback instead of just us saying, ‘That’s my fault,’ and move on with it. As you see the games we keep losing, it’s the same thing. We’re not learning, we’re not getting better.”
He added: “It’s not one turnover, it’s not one missed rebound. It’s just being a good, fundamentally sound basketball team, and we’re not that right now. That’s why we keep losing a lot of tough games.”
In his postgame press conference, Pitino disagreed with Jenkins’ assessment in terms of players not taking criticism well.
Instead, he bemoaned his team’s lack of athleticism, size and shotmaking. UConn, he said, was better at every position besides point guard.
He also pointed to this difficult stretch of the schedule that has included games against Connecticut, No. 9 Marquette and No. 13 Creighton, along with road games at Seton Hall and Xavier.
“I’m not overly disappointed, I’m really not, because they were better than us,” Pitino said. “I was disappointed the other night with Xavier that we didn’t perform better. We’re trying to make 3-point shots, but we’re not a great shooting team. If you’re not a great 3-point shooting team, you’ve got to be a great defensive team, and we’re not. So we’ve got to try to keep getting better, keep improving and hopefully we go on a run and get our confidence better. There are shortcomings, but because there are physical limitations.
“The whole has to be better with this team than the sum of its parts and right now we’re not,” he added. “That’s where we have to get better.”
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