After a thrilling double overtime victory last week, St. John’s fell to Division II Pace University in a final exhibition game on Oct. 29 at Carnesecca Arena, 63-59. The defeat marks the first exhibition game loss since 2015 against St. Thomas Aquinas.
In only his second game as head coach of the Red Storm, Rick Pitino took the loss as a learning experience. “We learned a lot,” Pitino said in a postgame conference. “That’s what exhibition games are for.”
The game opened with a starting five of Nahiem Alleyne, Daniss Jenkins, Chris Ledlum, Zuby Ejiofor and Brady Dunlap.
Captain Joel Soriano (calf), RJ Luis (hand), Jordan Dingle (shoulder), Cruz Davis (hand) and Sadiku Ibine Ayo (ankle) were noticeably absent from today’s game. Pitino didn’t attribute the injuries to the loss, but said that the team lost due to “Pace’s great play.”
The Red Storm’s first minutes were off to a rocky start. They trailed 13-5 at the early stages and never led once. By the first media timeout, the Setters were up by three. It took five minutes for Pitino to replace four out of five starters.
In the first half, the team shot 34% from the field opposed to Pace’s 39%. The minutes were plagued by poor rebounding, mediocre hustle and missed free throws. The Setters were up 39-34 at the end of the first half.
The second half started even rockier. What was once a four-point deficit turned into a 13-point deficit in five minutes. It also saw the Red Storm shooting 25% from the field goal and missing 34 of 40 shots.
Alleyne led the team with 22 points and Ledlum led in rebounds (12). Sophomore Zuby Ejiofor went 3-for-11 from the free throw line, missing key points that could have changed the course of the game.
Pace controlled the game from start to finish, giving the Johnnies something to prove ahead of their Nov. 6 home-opener against Stony Brook.
The loss comes days after ESPN’s “SportsCenter on the Road” visited Queens, where hosts Kevin Neghandi and Seth Greenberg sat in on a team open practice. In an interview with hall of fame coach Lou Carnesecca, he referred to Pitino as one of the “great five [basketball] coaches of all time.”
Pitino did not seem too bothered by the loss, but was disappointed in the team’ performance. His frustrations were heard throughout the arena, yelling to players on the court and the bench.
“That team [Pace] deserved a victory from the opening tip to the last second. Nobody likes to lose but exhibition games are exhibition games,” Pitino said at a postgame conference. “I was excited for Pace and the way they played every phase of the game.”
“We played like 14 guys who’ve never played together,” Pitino continued “We know how much better we have to get.”
St. John’s opens their regular season slate against Stony Brook on Nov. 7 at Carnesecca Arena.
