Wildcat Wrap
 
Final Score: St. John's 81, Villanova 71
 
Storm Surge: Villanova (10-5 overall, 3-1 BIG EAST) got a defensive stop on St. John's first offensive possession, but the Red Storm (11-4 overall, 3-1 BIG EAST) reeled off a 10-0 burst over the next three minutes before a TJ Bamba corner triple got the 'Cats on the scoreboard. Villanova, which connected on 1-of-7 in the opening minutes of its 66-65 victory over Xavier on Wednesday night, was 1-of-8 over the first 4:58 today.
 
In spite of their best efforts, the Wildcats would never dig themselves out of the early hole.
 
"Give St. John's a lot of credit," stated Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune. "I thought they came out and played their game to perfection. They dictated the tempo of the game, dictated how the game was going to be played and played to their strengths. They played harder than us for 40 minutes. They deserved that win.
 
"At the start, I thought they affected us with their pressure. They did what they wanted to do."
 
The Red Storm relied on a 2-3 zone to stifle the Wildcats augmented by timely scoring to build a 22-9 lead midway through the first half. A 5-0 burst highlighted by a Brendan Hausen 3-pointer and a Bamba scoring drive shaved the lead to 28-20 with 3:43 left on the first half clock.
 
St. John's got the margin to 34-22 before a 6-0 spurt capped by an Eric Dixon short jumper just before the horn brough the Wildcats to within 34-28 at the break.
 
Bamba's eight points topped the Villanova ledger while Joel Soriano's 10 points paced the Red Storm over the first 20 minutes.
 
Pressure Point: St. John's got good mileage out of its full-court pressure, forcing eight Wildcat turnovers leading to a 14-4 edge in points off of turnovers in the first half for the Red Storm.
 
"They pressed us," noted Neptune. "That's what they do. We've gone against pressure and most times we've done pretty well against it. This is something they do for 40 minutes that's unique to their program. They executed it well."
 
The Red Storm would end the day with an 18-11 advantage in the points off of turnovers column.
 
After the Break: A 12-5 spurt to open the second half over the first 4 plus minutes allowed the Red Storm to extend its advantage to 46-33. Two drives by Mark Armstrong helped Nova close the margin to 46-39 before a Brady Dunlap 3-pointer off a loose ball allowed St. John's to push the lead back to 49-39.
 
While Bamba and Mark Armstrong helped rev the Wildcats' offense in the second half, St. John's was even more efficient at the offensive end. The Red Storm converted 11-of-18 over the first 12:18 of the second half (.611) to open a 60-47 lead. By the end of this one, they connected on 17-of-30 over the final 20 minutes (.567).
 
Birthday Buckets: Bamba notched a season high in points on his birthday (23) to go with seven rebounds. The transfer from Washington State was 8-of-14 from the field on the day. The native of the Bronx has scored 973 points in his four years of college basketball. He also had four steals.
 
Season-High: The 81 points surrendered by Villanova Saturday were the most in a regulation game this season. The Wildcats also  allowed 81 points in their 83-81 overtime victory over North Carolina in the Battle 4 Atlantis on Thanksgiving Day.
 
What They Said: Bamba on the absence of backcourt partner Justin Moore, who missed his fifth straight game after suffering a right knee sprain on Dec. 5 at Kansas State (Moore was not at Finneran Pavilion due to a non-COVID illness): "I feel like Justin is like a vet. He's real experienced and mature. If anything, we're lacking that maturity and leadership.
 
"In a game like this, where St. John's forced us to play at their tempo and we fell into that, I feel like Justin would have been able to calm us down in certain scenarios. On defense in the early going, we couldn't get stops. I feel like he would have stepped in to help us create a play. We definitely miss his leadership."