Villanova falls to St. John’s, 70-59, snapping nine-game winning streak

The Wildcats committed a season-high 17 turnovers and struggled with the full-court press of the Red Storm. Collin Gillespie was held to four points and committed six turnovers.

St. John's Rasheem Dunn drives past Villanova's Collin Gillespie during the first half.Read moreFrank Franklin II / AP

by Joe Juliano

Published Feb. 3, 2021, 11:23 p.m. ET

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, physical defense of the Red Storm, missing shots and committing turnovers at a rate not seen to this point in their season. And St. John’s capitalized, kept 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 season lows in points, field-goal percentage (32.3%) and three-point shooting (8 of 30, 26.7%). The Red Storm (12-7, 6-6), who won their fifth straight game, scored 19 points off turnovers.

Floor leader Collin Gillespie, who had just 12 turnovers in his first 12 games, had his worst game of the season. He turned the ball over six times, did not make a three-point basket in eight tries, and shot 2 of 12 overall for four points, well below his 15.5-point average.

“They doubled Collin, they face-guarded Collin, and made other guys handle the ball,” Wright said. “We had a plan for that, we just didn’t execute it well. I’ve got to give them credit for that. We didn’t execute well because they were really physical with us and really aggressive.”

Caleb Daniels led the Wildcats with 16 points and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl had a season-high 17 rebounds to go with 14 points.

“Their press is pretty effective,” Daniels said. “We were kind of rushed a little bit in the first half. They play really fast, really quick, and we just learned a lesson from this game, be solid, come to meet passes, be more solid with our passes and trust one another.”

St. John’s freshman Posh Alexander was the best player on the floor, with 16 points, six assists and three steals while playing clingy defense on Gillespie. While the Wildcats held Julian Champagnie, the Big East’s leading scorer, in check for much of the game, the Red Storm’s supporting cast picked up the slack.

Champagnie finished with 14 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots and Vince Cole chipped in with 12 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 just 28.6% in the first half, sinking just four of their final 19 shots, but trailed by only 30-27 at the break. The Red Storm, however, seized 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.

Wright said he made some adjustments at the half, but the Red Storm defense had all the answers.

“We did have a plan to get the ball inside a little more, to get Collin freed up a little bit more, but we weren’t able to execute it,” he said. “It wasn’t that our guys forgot it, we weren’t able to execute it. They were so physical, bumping us off our cuts and staying with us on our drives.”

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.