Rick Pitino knew No. 15 Alabama would present a unique early-season litmus test for No. 5 St. John’s.
Armed with elite athleticism and an unmatched pace of play, Alabama led the country in scoring both of the last two seasons and certainly hasn’t slowed down this year under longtime head coach Nate Oats.
“They shoot the ball, on average, within 15 seconds,” Pitino said ahead of Saturday’s meeting at Madison Square Garden. “We’ve not seen anything like that in the three years I’ve been here.”
And while St. John’s kept up with the Crimson Tide for much of Saturday’s heavyweight bout, Alabama’s high-speed offense proved too much to overcome.
St. John’s lost, 103-96, to fall to 1-1 on the young season.
Saturday’s game was largely dominated by Alabama’s guards, including Labaron Philon Jr., who led the Tide with 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting, and Aden Holloway, who scored 21 on 9-of-18.
The Johnnies, meanwhile, went ice cold down the stretch, managing only nine points in the game’s final six minutes. They did not make a field goal between the 6:09 and 1:22 marks of the second half.
Zuby Ejiofor led all scorers with 27 points, but he scored only six after halftime.
As expected, Saturday’s game turned into a track meet from the opening tip.
Houston Mallette made a 3-pointer on the Crimson Tide’s opening possession, and a three-point play by Holloway gave Alabama a 10-9 lead less than four minutes into the game.
That kicked off a first half in which Alabama shot 8-of-20 (40%) from 3-point range and 20-of-41 (48.8%) from the field.
Three different guards scored at least nine points in the first half for Alabama, which led, 53-44, at the break. That included Holloway, who had 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, and Latrell Wrightsell Jr., who went 3-of-5 on 3-pointers.
St. John’s kept it close behind 21 first-half points from Ejiofor, who delivered a mix of jumpers, a driving dunk and an early 3-pointer to go 7-of-8 from the field. Senior forward Bryce Hopkins added 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting before halftime.
But the St. John’s backcourt failed to keep up.
Ian Jackson, Joson Sanon and Oziyah Sellers scored two points apiece in the first half, shooting a combined 1-of-10. Outside of Ejiofor and Hopkins, the Johnnies shot 1-of-12 and totaled eight points before halftime.
St. John’s led, 38-37, with 4:27 left before halftime, but Alabama ended the half on a 16-6 run, which Holloway capped with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
The Johnnies began the second half with a 16-7 run, which included a four-possession stretch in which Jackson drilled a 3-pointer, Ejiofor and Jackson added back-to-back lay-ups; and an Ejiofor block turned into a Sellers lay-up on the other end.
That cut the St. John’s deficit to 60-58 with 16:47 left in the game.
Alabama answered with a furious 9-0 run in less than two minutes, which included a pair of Labaron Philon Jr. lay-ups and a 3–pointer by Wrightsell that put the Tide up, 69-58.
But St. John’s wasn’t done yet.
Midway through the second half, Sellers picked up an assist on a Ruben Prey 3-pointer, then scored on a jumper of his own on the next possession.
The next time down the floor, Sellers found Dillon Mitchell for an easy two-handed dunk, cutting the Tide’s lead to 80-75.
A three-point play by Sellers on the next possession made it a two-point game with just under nine minutes to go.
St. John’s would go back ahead, 81-80, on a Sanon 3-pointer with 8:13 to go, earning an eruption from the Garden crowd as the Johnnies took their first lead of the second half.
The Johnnies still led by a point until a 3-pointer by Taylor Bol Bowen put Bama back up, 89-87, with under six minutes remaining. Three possessions later, the Tide went up by four as Holloway found Bol Bowen for an alley-oop dunk.
Holloway fouled out with 3:22 left in the game, but Ejiofor split his free throws.
Philon would score on the next three possessions, the last of which being a stepback 3-pointer that put Bama up by 10 with 2:00 to go and served as the dagger.
Saturday’s game was the Johnnies’ first against an SEC opponent since the NCAA Tournament, when 10th-seeded Arkansas upset second-seeded St. John’s in the second round.
St. John’s is now navigating sky-high expectations after winning the Big East’s regular-season and conference tournament championships last year, then importing the highest-rated transfer class in the country.
The No. 5 preseason ranking was the highest in school history.
The Johnnies flexed their might in Monday night’s season-opening 108-74 victory over Quinnipiac, the favorite to win the MAAC.
But Alabama presented a much greater challenge as the Red Storm’s first ranked opponent of the regular season.
Like St. John’s, Alabama was a No. 2 seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. The Tide advanced to the Elite Eight.
“They have four really good players in the backcourt,” Pitino said beforehand. “It’s really difficult keeping them out of the lane and from shooting 3s.”
Saturday marked the first of 12 regular-season games at the Garden for the Johnnies, who will next play there on Dec. 6 against another SEC opponent in Ole Miss.
Next up for St. John’s is a meeting with William & Mary at Carnesecca Arena next Saturday.
