Division II Pace stuns Rick Pitino-led St. John’s 63-59 in exhibition

Following the Red Storm’s surprising 63-59 exhibition defeat against Pace University, a Division II school, it is evident that their aspirations are still a work in progress.

On Sunday, St. John’s, predicted to finish fifth in the Big East’s preseason poll, struggled with a poor field goal percentage, making just 26% of their attempts and finishing 6-for-34 from the field in the second half of the game at Carnesecca Arena in Queens, just 15 miles from Pace’s New York City campus.

Pace University, projected to finish sixth in the Division II Northeast-10 Conference’s preseason poll, delivered a wire-to-wire victory against St. John’s.

“I’m sure there are people in our league who put in their votes in the preseason poll and now they’re going, ‘Oh crap, maybe we ranked these guys too low,'” said Pace coach Matt Healing in an interview with ESPN. “We’ve had a couple of really good years in a row. We did graduate quite a bit. So maybe people were sleeping on us a little bit too much.”

Healing revealed that Pitino added the exhibition against Pace to the Red Storm’s schedule after joining St. John’s in March. Due to his connections with Pitino’s staff, Healing recommended the matchup.

St. John’s paid Pace $5,000 for the game, according to Healing.

“For us Division II programs, every little bit helps,” Healing acknowledged.

Although St. John’s did not have standouts Joel Soriano (15.2 points per game last season) and Jordan Dingle (23.4 PPG at Penn last season) for Sunday’s game, it was still a stunning result for the Red Storm, who fired previous coach Mike Anderson and replaced him with Pitino.

Chris Ledlum, who averaged 18.8 points at Harvard last season, finished 2-for-14 in the loss to Pace. Daniss Jenkins, who averaged 15.6 points for Pitino at Iona last year, missed all four of his field goal attempts.

With Pace leading 39-34 at halftime, Healing instructed his players to maintain discipline.

“Just stay the course,” he advised. “The results were working in our favor, but the results were working in our favor because we were doing all the things, all the little things, that we preach every day.”

Pitino’s arrival has changed the perception of St. John’s, which received 47 votes in The Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll following an 18-15 finish in 2022-23 under Anderson.

Pitino, the legendary coach who led Kentucky to the 1996 national title and Louisville to the 2013 national title (later vacated), has made significant changes to St. John’s roster by adding 10 transfers in order to position the program for a potential NCAA tournament bid in his first season. In a recent interview with ESPN’s Seth Greenberg and Kevin Negandhi, Pitino expressed his desire for a “whole new culture” at St. John’s.

While that transformation is still possible, Sunday’s loss serves as a wake-up call about the challenges ahead for a talented St. John’s squad, which will require time to build chemistry.

For Healing and his program, playing against a coaching legend like Pitino was a great moment.

“[Pitino] was just very complimentary,” Healing shared about his postgame conversation with Pitino. “He said, ‘Great game. You guys deserve this. Heckuva job coaching. Your kids fought like hell.’ That’s really what it was about. We were thankful.

“I know it’s not easy to play against another New York City school like this in this kind of game, and [I] hope that they continue to do it, whether it’s against Pace or someone else, and give some of us Division II schools an opportunity like this. But [Pitino] was very gracious and complimentary, and I know we are, as well.”