St. John’s fell 84-79 to a strong Xavier team, all while the fans got to enjoy a pair of coaches wearing microphones, the sound of the coach’s patter, and views into the huddles.
The game on the floor certainly left a lot of chances to be critical of either the coaching or the effort — or both. Either way, St. John’s falls to 1-2 in the Big East, and 11-3 overall. Xavier have won 7-0 and move to 3-0 in the Big East.
The Red Storm started out productively, despite missing Rafael Pinzon to illness. The game started as expected; Xavier’s twin bigs gave the Johnnies trouble, seven-footer Jack Nunge looked hard to stop, and it took a couple of steals for St.