Johnnies drop heartbreaker in Anderson’s likely final game
Nearly one calendar year later, history repeated itself.
St. John’s had the No. 1 seed down big. Last year, it was a 17point lead over Villanova. This year, it was a 14-point bulge against Marquette.
The results were the same: painful losses. And this latest one, an agonizing, 72-70 overtime defeat, may result in the end of the Mike Anderson era as the Johnnies’ coach after his fourth season without an NCAA Tournament berth.
Afterward, Anderson said he was looking forward to an NIT bid, though that is far from certain. St. John’s has a NET ranking of 98. It didn’t get an NIT invite last year with a NET ranking of 64. As for his own future, he declined to address it.
“We’re talking about the game right now,” Anderson said, when asked directly if he has spoken to school higher-ups about his future. Asked whether or not he wants to be back, he said: “I look forward to this team, guys.”
Indications are the school will part ways with Anderson despite four years and up to $10 million remaining on his contract. Iona College coach Rick Pitino is believed to be a realistic candidate. There is mutual interest between the two parties, according to sources. St. John’s president, the Rev. Brian Shanley, nearly hired Pitino at Providence 12 years ago, prior to giving Ed Cooley the job, sources said.
After going scoreless in the first half, Big East Player of the Year Tyler Kolek scored 19 points, seven in overtime, to rally Marquette. His two free throws with 15.8 seconds left were the game-winners. AJ Storr and Posh Alexander both missed potential go-ahead 3-pointers and Marquette (26-6) survived. A year ago, it was Julian Champagnie’s 3-pointer in the final seconds that didn’t fall, and resulted in an excruciating one-point defeat.
“It hurts, it definitely hurts,” center Joel Soriano said. “It hasn’t really hit me yet that it’s the end of the season.”
After blowing a 14-point lead late in the first half, St. John’s rallied from four points down in the final 19.6 seconds to force overtime. Dylan Addae-Wusu’s driving layup with 4.6 seconds to go tied things up. In overtime, the Johnnies went 0-for-7 from the field, all nine of their points coming from the free-throw line.
Addae-Wusu and David Jones led St. John’s (18-15) with 16 points apiece and Soriano added 12 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks.
“I’m proud of everybody on this team,” Alexander said. “We fought hard. We just came up short.”
The 63– year-old Anderson, who never has had a losing season in 21 years as a head coach, will have failed to win 20 games in any season at the Queens school barring an unexpected NIT invite and a few wins in the second-tier tournament.
St. John’s was projected to at least compete for an NCAA Tournament bid each of the past two years but didn’t come close. It went 3-22 in Quad 1 games the past two years and 2-14 against ranked opponents. It finished eighth in the Big East this season, and the program’s top players — Andre Curbelo, Jones and Alexander — took a step back. There have been disciplinary issues. Curbelo was suspended for three games, and Rafael Pinzon has finished the season on an indefinite suspension.
“Just [to] reflect, it’s on us really,” Soriano said. “We’re the ones on the court, we’re the ones that make the plays. At the end of the day, it really falls on us.”
This obviously wasn’t the season St. John’s expected, particularly after landing top transfers Curbelo (Illinois) and Jones (DePaul) in the offseason. Back in October, Anderson said this group had some of the qualities of the best teams throughout his career, and that this was the best collection of talent he’d had at St. John’s. But that talent didn’t equal results. “It’s just a bunch of things that just didn’t come together like they should have,” Anderson said, in what could be his final remarks as St. John’s coach.