This and That: St. John's at G'Town

Coverage from G'Town's 90-85, home loss to visiting St. John's follows.

For GU's game report, click here.

One under-appreciated aspect of this game was pressing propensity. Both squads deployed full court defensive pressure. SJU deployed it mostly in the first 20 minutes, GU during second frame work, with it taking several forms, including 94 foot man, Diamond and scramble style alignments. Both head coaches - G'Town's Ed Cooley and St. John's Rick Pitino - each being east coast produced players and coaches, reached into their bag of tricks, as is the style in Eastern ball.

How did it work out?

"i think we came out of it because they were doing a great job against it" opined Pitino, adding "I think it was effective in the first half". The difference to him was "in the second half...the guard was taking the ball out of bounds", negating some effectiveness.

Pitino also noted Georgetown's foul shooting - 80% for the game - impacted his desire to continue pressing, as "We were fouling. If you foul these guys, with the exception of (Supreme) Cook (6p, 11r), they're going to make it".

What about the Hoyas' full court pressure? Was it impactful to Pitino, a Basketball Hall of Fame member?

"It did for a couple of possession there" was his response. In sum, Pitino indicated "I thought we did a good job against it. i thought they did a good job against it".

What about Cooley's guys, handling St. John's full court defense?

"We wanted to attack their pressure. I thought we did a great job over the last two or three days...to prepare for their full court pressure" said G'Town's lead guy. "Teams pressure like that, you can't be on your heels and I thought our guys did a good job of attacking it, especially probably the after eight minute timeout" in the first half.

Was there benefit for his team to press?

Responded Cooley, "it gave us some energy. it definitely, definitely, gave us some energy. Gave us a bit of an identity. Gave us some hustle plays...It put them on their heels, actually".

Don't think Cooley felt obligated and mandated to press the Johnnies, as "It's funny, when I heard through the years, like 'Press a pressing team'. I don't know where that came from. When I hear people say it I'm like 'Uhh, I don't know if i agree with that. It just gave us some energy.".

For the record, this pressure didn't produce a slew of turnovers for either squad, though doing so is not the only goal or advantage of pressing. The Hoyas came in at seven cough ups, the Johnnies committed 12, around a five cough up decrease on their yearly number and right around target for GU and SJU, respectively.

Coming into the game, Pitino was vilified for comments made regarding his team, issuing rather denigrating statements regarding specific players' abilities or lack thereof. Afterward, he doubled down on his position.

Well, the pressure and apparently talks with confidants, including his wife, changed Pitino's outlook, as the first thing he discussed during the presser was thhis situation, starting with a general apology. The 'I'm sorry" theme extended to multiple groups, including players and even media. Pitino drove it home several times after his initial apologies, weaving my-bads with game critiques.

See/listen for yourself!