There was nothing pretty for St. John’s about Saturday night’s eke-it-out victory over Ole Miss.
The Johnnies committed 20 turnovers, shot 34% from the field and allowed the struggling Rebels to stick around until the very end.
But St. John’s escaped with a 63-58 win at Madison Square Garden, largely on the strength of an embattled defense that showed signs of improvement for much of the night.
St. John’s (5-3) limited Ole Miss (5-4) to just 36% shooting, including 2-of-16 (13%) on 3-pointers.
The Red Storm forced 20 turnovers, leading to 20 points.
And center Zuby Ejiofor recorded a career-high eight blocks, including six in the first half.
Yet Ole Miss trailed by a single possession in the game’s final minute, having rallied back from a 14-point deficit in the second half.
St. John’s had taken a 51-37 lead when Sadiku Ibine Ayo made a 3-pointer with 8:06 remaining in regulation.
But Ole Miss answered with a 10-0 run, capped by a pair of Malik Dia free throws that made it a 51-47 game with 5:09 to go.
St. John’s and Ole Miss traded baskets and free throws from there, but a 3-pointer by the Rebels’ Ilias Kamardine with 21 seconds left and two more free throws by Dia on the next possession cut the Johnnies’ lead to 61-58 with five seconds remaining.
Joson Sanon and Dylan Darling made a free throw apiece from there to ice the game.
The sweat-it-out win followed a 1-2 trip to Las Vegas in which the Johnnies faltered defensively in losses to Iowa State and Auburn. Ejiofor spoke up after the second of those losses.
“It’s gonna be a long year, especially if we don’t pick it up defensively,” Ejiofor recalled telling his teammates. “That’s where it’s going to have to start.”
Ejiofor heeded his own advice early Saturday, recording six blocks in the first half alone.
St. John’s forced 13 turnovers in that first half, including nine steals, which led to 16 points.
Dillon Mitchell capped an early 13-4 run by breaking up an errant Patton Pinkins pass and turning into a transition dunk, giving St. John’s a 17-11 lead nine minutes into the game.
Four minutes later, an Ejiofor steal turned into another Mitchell dunk, putting the Johnnies up, 25-16. St. John’s led, 33-25, at the break.
Ejiofor finished with 15 points, nine rebounds, three steals and the eight blocks.
It happened, however, against an Ole Miss team that ranks last in the SEC in scoring and that has now lost four games in a row.
Ole Miss guard A.J. Storr, who spent his freshman season at St. John’s in 2022-23 before transferring after Rick Pitino’s arrival, scored two points on 0-of-6 shooting and was booed all night.
SEC teams had been problematic for St. John’s during the Pitino era, having lost to Georgia and Arkansas (in the NCAA Tournament) last season and to Alabama and Auburn this season.
The Johnnies are in the middle of a 17-day stretch in which they play only twice. They now have a week off until next Saturday’s game at the Garden against Iona, where Pitino coached for three seasons before taking the St. John’s job in 2023.
