Although St. John's survived last week's four-overtime gauntlet against Rutgers with a win, they were unsatisfied with their performance and knew they needed to take massive strides to contend with seventh-ranked Texas in their final tune-up. They not only met the challenge, but also overdelivered.
The Red Storm ended their preseason on a high note with an 87-74 wire-to-wire win over the Longhorns on Sunday afternoon, proving they can outmatch elite competition when their game clicks.
"I felt that we had to make a quantum leap from the Rutgers game," Rick Pitino said on Sunday, "I was on them constantly on certain things, and they made a quantum leap today."
St. John's set the tone with active defense, turning ten Texas first-half turnovers into 14 points and holding the Longhorns to just 42.3% shooting before halftime. The Red Storm took the lead on a Tounde Yessoufou steal and breakaway layup at the 19:07 mark in the first half, and they held onto it for the remainder of the contest.
Yessoufou, along with Ian Jackson and Keyshawn Hall, overwhelmed the Longhorns all day long. The offensively gifted trio showed off their firepower, scoring 65 of the Red Storm's 87 total points and shooting 23-of-41 from the field (56 percent), and they shut down a Texas rally going into halftime by combining for a 12-0 run to send St. John's into the break with a 49-31 lead. That margin ballooned to 22 points early in the second half.
"Every game is important to us; we want to show we can be connected, and today our play showed for itself," Tounde Yessoufou told the media after the game.
The Baylor transfer showcased his two-way skill set with 23 points (8-of-14), five assists, and five steals, attacking the basket with authority and flexing his range with two made triples.
Ian Jackson put behind shoddy outings in the Red Storm's previous two scrimmages and played with all sorts of control on Sunday, scoring 18 points (7-of-14), leading the Johnnies with three made triples, giving four assists, and hitting the glass for six rebounds, the second most of any Red Storm player. Rick Pitino considered Jackson's performance the best he's ever seen from the junior guard.
"He did all of the right things defensively; he didn't force the offense," Pitino said about Jackson after the game. "He just looked like a complete player in every phase of the game."
As the Red Storm lost some gas as the game wound down, Keyshawn Hall buoyed the offense by posting 13 of his game-high 24 points in the second half. The self-described "big guard" shook off contact every time he went to the basket and established an air of toughness for the Johnnies.
"We didn't want to claw back into the game," Hall said after the game. "We wanted to come out and set a standard to dominate on our home court in front of our fans."
Those three carried the load offensively, but the Red Storm also got plenty of help inside from a promising freshman big man. Theo Edema made the most of his twelve minutes off the pine and showed his ready-made strength by pulling down a team-high seven rebounds, including four of the offensive variety, to help the Red Storm salt away this win.
The Red Storm have eight days to prepare for their season opener against Monmouth on Monday, November 2. Tip-off at Carnesecca Arena is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., and the game can be watched on ESPN+.
