MILWAUKEE — Different day, same script.
Close against an elite opponent until crunch time.
Good, just not nearly good enough.
St. John’s maddening inability to close out a game continued Saturday night in a frustrating 86-75 loss to No. 7 Marquette that saw the Johnnies blow a 15-point, first-half lead at sold-out Fiserv Forum.
They had no answer for reigning Big East Player of the Year Tyler Kolek.
After a hot shooting start, the 3-pointers stopped falling.
And St. John’s once-promising NCAA Tournament hopes took another hit with its sixth loss in eight games.
It fell to 2-8 in Quad 1 games, and is running out of chances to boost its tournament résumé.
“Disappointment would be too little of a word,” a visibly upset Rick Pitino said.
Coming out of the final media timeout, St. John’s trailed by just two, but Nahiem Alleyne and Chris Ledlum missed layups and Marquette (18-5, 9-3 Big East) pushed the lead to six with 2:15 left to end any hopes for the Johnnies.
The defensive end of the floor, however, was the subject of Pitino’s ire. Marquette shot 56 percent from the field, 52 percent from 3-point range and scored 48 points over the game’s final 20 minutes.
Kolek took over, notching 27 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds.
“They came out [in the second half], shot an open 3, shot an open 3, shot an open 3,” Pitino said. “We didn’t pay attention to their personnel. It’s happened before. They did it to us at our place. Our defense has hurt us most of the season and tonight was no different.”
Asked how he expected his team to bounce back at Providence on Tuesday, he said, “They’re going to respond to me, believe me. You don’t have to worry about that.”
Daniss Jenkins did all he could, scoring 22 points to go with six assists and six rebounds.
RJ Luis had 13 points and Ledlum tallied 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Joel Soriano’s struggles continued in another no-show — a two-point, five-rebound effort that included a technical foul late in the first half. He didn’t even start the second half, outplayed by backup Zuby Ejiofor (five points, seven rebounds, two blocks).
“That’s because I have a captain who has a technical foul — and I don’t want him to get his third foul — for no rhyme or reason,” Pitino said.
It looked so promising for St. John’s (14-10, 6-7) at halftime.
It led by nine after hitting eight 3-pointers and limiting Kolek to five points. It was its best first half all season.
It was controlling the paint and was up 11 on the glass.
But like the first meeting, when Marquette took over after halftime, the Johnnies fell apart over the final 20 minutes. St. John’s was outscored by 20 points, outrebounded and overwhelmed at both ends of the floor.
Marquette caught fire from 3-point range out of the break, ripping off a 17-7 run that included five 3-pointers, three coming from Kolek. That 15-point lead was gone and the crowd was on its feet.
It didn’t get much better for St. John’s.
“That’s what happens in the first year when you’re not a disciplined defensive team. That’s what happens. It’s not going to happen in the first year, I’m sorry. It’s not,” Pitino said. “We’ll play hard, you’ll see some displays of brilliance at times. But it’s not going to happen because unless you have a mindset of guarding people on every single possession, it’s not going to happen. That’s not the mindset that they have.
“So we’re improving offensively, but defensively we still have the same problems. It’s the first year, we’re building a program and you got to build a program on defense.”
Pitino said he was referring to St. John’s defense, not the NCAA Tournament hopes. Unless something changes fast, however, March Madness won’t include the Johnnies again.
