Entering Tuesday’s game against Baylor, St. John’s were hoping to reverse the soul-crushing loss to the Bears they suffered last season. More importantly, they needed to put behind yesterday’s bitter one-point
loss to Iowa State and lock down a big win for their resume to ensure they didn’t leave Las Vegas empty-handed.
There was no drama between the two teams at the Players’ Era Festival this year. St. John’s ensured there was no reprise from their Baha Mar backbreaker, cruising to a wire-to-wire 96-81 victory and picking up a Quad 1 victory that should age well given Baylor’s track record.
“What I enjoyed the most last night was the devastation in the eyes of our players [after the loss to Iowa State],” Pitino noted of his team’s focus during the postgame press conference, “They are a class team that focused in and brings it.”
The Johnnies couldn’t ask for a better start against the Bears, taking an early 21-6 lead before the second media timeout behind a dozen early points scored by Oziyah Sellers. St. John’s were bludgeoned on the offensive glass early, however Baylor couldn’t take the lid off the basket and missed all but two of their first 18 attempts to open the game.
Exactly like they did one year ago in The Bahamas, Baylor did not go away and clawed back with a 12-2 run off second-chance opportunities and difficult shotmaking. The Bears cut the Red Storm’s advantage down to five after Cameron Carr buried a deep three from the top of the key, which came off a missed Baylor free throw from a questionable foul call against Dylan Darling.
St. John’s went into halftime with a 43-34 lead off a pretty Ian Jackson layup before the buzzer, and their lead could have been even larger if they hadn’t allowed 17 first-half offensive rebounds to Baylor. In comparison, the Red Storm only had 14 total rebounds at the intermission.
Baylor overcame a 14-point halftime deficit one season ago, and the Johnnies had a thinner nine-point edge on Tuesday, but they didn’t let it slip from their grasp this time. St. John’s came out of halftime with an 8-0 run and held Baylor at bay for the remainder of the game, building their largest lead of the game of 22 points off an Ian Jackson triple to take an 82-60 lead with 7:04 remaining in the second half.
Bryce Hopkins and Oziyah Sellers were each dialed in, respectively scoring season-highs of 26 and 22 points. The sharpshooting Sellers put forward his best three-point performance in his college career, nailing five of his seven attempts.
Despite giving up 81 points, St. John’s held Baylor to shooting 37.2% from the field and 32.0% from three. Dillon Mitchell overwhelmed opposing bigs on both ends of the floor, recording a season-high 18 points along with six rebounds and six assists.
St. John’s will play their third and final game in the Players’ Era Festival tomorrow before they return to New York for the holiday weekend. The opponent, tip times, game site, and broadcast information will be determined based on their place in the 18-team field’s standings after the completion of Tuesday’s final game.
