Rick Pitino adds heat with upgraded St. John’s non-conference schedule
St. John’s officially released its non-conference slate, which features matchups with Michigan and West Virginia.
nypost.com
By Zach Braziller
Rick Pitino has upgraded the non-conference schedule for his first season at St. John’s.
The Red Storm’s schedule before Big East play will include games against Michigan, West Virginia and possibly Houston as well in the Charleston Classic, the school announced on Thursday.
Perhaps the biggest difference between this schedule and the most recent ones under Mike Anderson, who was fired in March, is that St. John’s will be playing far fewer overly soft opponents.
The 2022-23 schedule, which was ranked 341st in the country by KenPom.com, included seven games against teams ranked 200 or lower in the NET rankings.
The 2023-24 edition has three: Stony Brook, Sacred Heart and Holy Cross, the lone non-conference contests that will be played at Carnesecca Arena.
Pitino’s first St. John’s slate also includes games against arguably the two best mid-major schools in the area: Fordham (Dec. 16 at the Garden) and Hofstra (Dec. 30 at UBS Arena).
St. John’s last played Hofstra, the reigning CAA regular-season champion, in 2009.
Fordham is coming off its winningest season in 32 years.
The heavily anticipated Pitino era will get underway on Nov. 7 against Stony Brook of the CAA. The degree of difficulty will immediately increase for this almost entirely new Red Storm roster.
Six days later, St. John’s will face Big Ten powerhouse Michigan at the Garden in the annual Gavitt Games.
The Red Storm then will travel to South Carolina for the Charleston Classic.
They will play three games there, starting with North Texas on Nov. 16.
They could meet LSU in the semifinals the following day and Houston in the title game on Nov. 19 if all goes according to plan.
St. John’s will face two more high-major opponents, a trip to West Virginia in the Big East-Big 12 Battle on Dec. 1 and a meeting with Boston College at Barclays Center on Dec. 10.
The Big East schedule has yet to be released, but it is expected to begin the third week of December. St. John’s is planning to play six league games at the Garden, its most in quite some time.
The Red Storm also will face Rutgers in a closed-door scrimmage on Oct. 21, according to a source, and will play Pace in an exhibition on Oct. 29 in Queens.
