NEW YORK — In their return to the national rankings, Rick Pitino and his St. John’s team didn’t exactly look ready for prime time.
Not to start, at least. The finish was pretty encouraging.
Deivon Smith drained a 3-pointer midway through the second half to spark an 18-0 spurt that propelled No. 22 St. John’s past Wagner 66-45 on Wednesday night for its first victory as a Top 25 team in almost 10 years.
“I’m impressed, even though we’re much more talented than Wagner,” said Pitino, the Hall of Fame coach in his second season with the Red Storm. “They turned up the heat and made shots, and they were very poised when it counted.”
St. John’s (3-0) jumped into the AP Top 25 poll this week for the first time since January 2019. It earned its first win as a ranked squad since topping Tulane on Dec. 28, 2014.
And for Pitino, it was his first game coaching a Top 25 team since 2017 at Louisville.
He didn’t think his players thought much about any of that, though.
“It’s nice for the fans. Certainly we’re proud of that,” Pitino said. “We need to get the subway alumni back. We’ve got great fans, but we don’t have a lot of them.
“In New York, there’s a lot to do, so there’s only one way to get fans and that’s to win.”
Now the schedule gets much tougher, beginning Sunday against New Mexico (3-0) in the first of eight home games at Madison Square Garden this season.
It will be a family affair pitting Pitino against his son, Richard, coach of a Lobos team that reached the NCAA tournament last season and defeated then-No. 22 UCLA 72-64 in Nevada last week.
“New Mexico is probably the No. 1 offensive-pace team in the country, and I know it better than anybody,” Rick Pitino said. “So, we’ve got to get ready for this pace. They’ve got a great guard, they’ve got great support players, they’ve got a terrific inside player. This is a tough, tough test.”
The elder Pitino is 2-1 in coaching matchups against his son, with both wins coming when he was at Louisville. Richard Pitino beat his dad’s Iona team two years ago at The Pit.
“They’re capable of beating us, I know that,” Rick Pitino said. “I never have thought of disowning a son, but it may come to that.”
After that, St. John’s faces No. 12 Baylor next Thursday in the Bahamas and either No. 11 Tennessee or Virginia the following day.
“I don’t know how good we are. I don’t know. It’s a question mark right now,” Pitino said. “So, we’re going to find out.”
“I am excited. I like my team a lot. But it’s the unknown right now,” he added. “We’re going to be in some very close games. We’re going to have to make free throws and execute.”
Foul shooting was a problem Wednesday night against Wagner (1-2), the Northeast Conference school on Staten Island where Dan Hurley, back-to-back NCAA champion at UConn, got his start as a college head coach from 2010-12.
St. John’s finished 18 for 30 (60%) at the free-throw line but held the Seahawks to 29% percent shooting from the field — including 5-for-24 (21%) from 3-point range.
“We contested almost every shot. I think we’re ready defensively,” Pitino said. “I think offensively we’ve just got to get a feel for each other a little bit more.”
Playing before a crowd of 4,751 at Carnesecca Arena on its Queens campus, St. John’s led just 39-37 before Kadary Richmond blocked a shot and fed Smith for a transition 3 with 9:54 remaining.
“That was a big play,” Pitino said. “I think the shooting at the end when the game was in question was magnificent. The defense was great the whole night, basically.”
Brady Dunlap made a 3 and later converted a three-point play with 5:48 left that capped the decisive 18-0 run.
Even early this season, Pitino called his team’s poise under game pressure “unique.”
“I’d say we showed toughness and pulled together,” Richmond said.
Richmond, a heralded transfer from Seton Hall, didn’t start and finished with two points and seven assists. RJ Luis Jr. also came off the bench and scored a team-high 13.
“I know Kadary is ready to play. I know RJ is ready to play. I wanted to see some of the other guys, see some of the lineups,” Pitino said. “I wanted to experiment a little bit.”
“When (the lead) was three tonight, there was no panic. They took the shots that were there, so I have confidence in them,” he added. “But we’re going to have to play great to beat New Mexico. We’re going to have to play great to beat Baylor. We know that.”
