Villanova hadn’t been to Carnesecca Arena on the St. John’s campus since 1994. Jay Wright probably hopes it’ll be another 27 years before his team sees the cozy arena in Queens again.
The third-ranked Wildcats were confounded Wednesday night by the quick, pressing defense of the Red Storm for much of the game, missing shots and committing turnovers at a rate not seen to this point in their season. And St. John’s capitalized, keeping the heat on, and defeated Villanova, 70-59, to snap the Cats’ nine-game winning streak.
The Wildcats (11-2, 6-1 Big East) established a season high with 17 turnovers — they came in averaging a Division I-best 8.3 — and a season low in points. Floor leader Collin Gillespie had his worst game of the season, turning the ball over six times, not making a three-point basket in eight tries, and shooting 2 of 12 overall for four points, well below his 15.5-point average.
Caleb Daniels led the Wildcats with 16 points and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl had a season-high 17 rebounds to go with 14 points.
It was quite a different experience for Villanova, which usually plays St. John’s at Madison Square Garden but did not this year because of the pandemic. The Wildcats shot 32.3% from the floor and hit eight three-pointers in 30 attempts.
For St. John’s (12-7, 6-6), which won its fifth straight, freshman Posh Alexander was the best player on the floor, with 16 points, six assists and three steals. While the Wildcats contained Julian Champagnie, the Big East’s leading scorer, for much of the game, the Red Storm’s supporting cast picked up the slack.
Champagnie finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds, and three blocked shots.
The Wildcats shot just 28.6% in the first half, sinking just four of their final 19 shots, but trailed by only 30-27 at the half. The Red Storm, however, had all the momentum coming out for the second half, outscoring the visitors 15-4 in the opening 6:11 to take a 45-31 lead.
St. John’s largest lead was 17 points, 58-41, on Alexander’s steal and dunk with 6;49 to play. The Wildcats still had some life, scoring the next eight points to draw to within nine on Robinson-Earl’s free throw with 3:58 to play, but they could not get any closer.
The Wildcats got off to a 14-6 start in the opening six minutes, knocking down 5 of their first 11 shots and two threes while the Red Storm opened 2 of 9. Cole Swider’s three-point basket gave Villanova a six-point margin, but the Cats didn’t score again for almost five minutes.
St. John’s went on a 10-0 run to take its first lead, and Dylan Addae-Wusu’s three-pointer ended the spurt for a 23-19 advantage. Back-to-back threes by Eric Dixon (the first of his collegiate career) and Daniels helped the Cats regain the lead, but the Red Storm got the advantage right back on Vince Cole’s trey and kept the lead the rest of the way.
