This was not a perfect performance. There were areas of concern. Hold off on those Final Four plans.
RJ Luis saw the court infrequently due to foul trouble. St. John’s struggled from 3-point range. The offense was choppy for large portions of this regular season opener.
It didn’t matter, because of what happened on the other side of the floor. It didn’t matter because of how well the Johnnies defended. How frequently Fordham needed to hoist a deep jumper as the shot clock expired.
A year later, St. John’s defense is well ahead of its offense, and certainly far beyond last year’s group at that end.
Rick Pitino isn’t going to be complaining about lateral quickness. His roster is more athletic, longer and better fits his pressuring style.
It showed Monday night, in a 92-60 thrashing of Fordham at jam-packed Carnesecca Arena to kick off year two of the Pitino era in Queens.
The Rams were held to 36 percent shooting, committed 19 turnovers and were frequently overwhelmed by the Johnnies’ athleticism.
Straight-line drives were rare. So were open looks.
The start was shaky.
It was only a two-point lead late in the first half, before St. John’s went on a 21-6 run to create separation. The result was never in doubt from there.
Deivon Smith, coming off the bench, shook off a slugging first half to ignite the Red Storm after the break.
He set up Brady Dunlap for a 3-pointer, tapped an offensive rebound to Vince Iwuchukwu for a dunk and a few possessions later scored on a baseline drive. By then, it was a 26-point game.
The rout was on. Pitino sat down.