UConn’s Loss to St. John’s Reveals Cracks Beneath the Surface - And a Blueprint to Fix Them
Eighteen straight wins. That’s what UConn brought into Madison Square Garden on Friday night.
But Rick Pitino’s St. John’s squad didn’t blink.
The Red Storm turned up the pressure, forced UConn out of its comfort zone, and walked away with an 81-72 win that did more than just snap a streak - it exposed some key areas the Huskies need to shore up before March.
Let’s be clear: one loss in early February doesn’t derail a national title contender. But it does offer a timely reminder that even the best teams have vulnerabilities. And for UConn, the issues that surfaced Friday night weren’t entirely new - they were just thrown into sharper focus by a team that knew exactly how to exploit them.
The Bench: Deep, Talented, But Missing a Spark
When the game tightened, UConn leaned heavily on its starting five - and understandably so. Dan Hurley tends to shorten the rotation when things get chaotic, and St.
John’s made sure this one got chaotic early. But that reliance on the starters came at a cost.
They were asked to carry the load for 35+ minutes against a relentless defensive attack, and it showed.
The bench has talent. Malachi Smith is a solid backup point guard, even if he struggles at times against elite athleticism.
Jayden Ross fits the 3-and-D mold. Jaylin Stewart is a Swiss Army knife.
Samson Reibe has been a pleasant surprise. On paper, UConn can go nine deep - and most of those bench guys would start for other high-major programs.
But here’s the catch: there’s no true “microwave scorer” in that second unit - no instant-offense guy who can create his own shot when the play breaks down. Normally, that’s not a problem.
UConn’s offense is built on structure, movement, and spacing. But against a team like St.
John’s, with its suffocating ball pressure and disruptive energy, sometimes you just need someone who can break the rules and go get a bucket.
Silas Demary Jr. tried to be that guy. He attacked, he absorbed contact, he kept UConn afloat.
But he couldn’t do it alone. Stewart has shown flashes of being that scorer, but he’s also doing all the little things - rebounding, defending, connecting plays - and if you turn him into a volume scorer, you lose some of that glue.
There’s a balancing act here for Hurley and his staff. Maybe it’s about tweaking the rotation, staggering the starters differently, or giving Stewart more freedom in isolated spots.
The 2023 and 2024 UConn teams didn’t have a go-to bench scorer either, but they made it work by always keeping a playmaker on the floor. That formula might need a revisit.
Turnovers: A Lingering Issue That Can’t Be Ignored
Silas Demary Jr. gave everything he had on Friday night. He was the one guard consistently breaking the press, getting into the paint, and creating offense.
But he also turned the ball over nine times - part of a 15-turnover night for the Huskies that led directly to 20 St. John’s points.
That’s the kind of math that loses you games.
To be fair, not all of those turnovers were on Demary. A good chunk came from him being sped up by pressure, but others were the result of poor off-ball movement and shooters failing to get open.
Some of it was physicality - or lack thereof. UConn’s offense is beautiful when it’s humming, full of cuts, screens, and clean looks.
But when teams get physical and muddy the waters, those sets can stall out.
Defensively, the Huskies are still elite. Their half-court defense did its job - St.
John’s didn’t light them up in the half-court. But in transition?
That’s where the game tilted. The Red Storm feasted on live-ball turnovers, just like Seton Hall did earlier this season.
The difference? St.
John’s hit their threes.
It’s a trend worth watching. There are only a handful of teams that can replicate that kind of pressure and capitalize on it - Houston and Iowa State come to mind. And if UConn draws one of them in March, the staff will need to have a plan ready to free up shooters and protect the ball under pressure.
Don’t Be Fooled: St. John’s Is the Real Deal
Let’s talk about the other side of this matchup for a moment. This wasn’t just UConn having an off night.
This was St. John’s playing like a top-15 team - which, frankly, they might be.
Rick Pitino’s Red Storm came into the season with high expectations, then stumbled a bit out of the gate. That early inconsistency had people wondering if they were overrated.
But if you’ve followed Pitino’s career, you know this script. He tinkers, he experiments, he downplays expectations - and then, when it matters, his teams click.
Friday night was the payoff.
Dillon Mitchell has emerged as the engine of their best lineups. And when Pitino rolls out his big-ball unit - Mitchell, Bryce Hopkins, and Zuby Ejiofor - it’s a matchup nightmare.
That group is outscoring opponents by nearly 28 points per 100 possessions during this winning streak. They crash the offensive glass, grabbing 42% of their own misses.
They take care of the ball (9.8% turnover rate) and force turnovers at a 20.2% clip. That’s dominance, plain and simple.
Pitino’s teams always figure it out. This one just needed a little time. And now that they have their identity, they’re dangerous - especially for teams like UConn that rely on rhythm and structure.
The Takeaway: A Loss, But Also a Lesson
So where does UConn go from here?
They’re still a top-tier team. Still a national title contender.
But this loss - on the road, against a surging St. John’s squad that plays the exact style UConn struggles with - should serve as a wake-up call.
The bench needs a scoring punch. The offense needs to handle physicality better.
And the ball security? It has to tighten up, especially against teams that live off chaos.
The good news? These are fixable problems. And if there’s one thing Hurley’s recent teams have shown, it’s that they know how to evolve.
This wasn’t a collapse. It was a reminder. And come March, those lessons could make all the difference.