Rick Pitino emphasizes the positives from St. John’s preseason loss to Michigan

One week ago, St. John’s faced mid-tier opponent Towson.

The johnny I found a way to win that game.

Saturday night, they lost, but there were reasons to be encouraged by the 96-94 overtime setback to Michigan at the Garden.

There has been progress – in the Johnnies’ battling, their ability to rally weak spots a few times and their overall frontcourt play.

“I saw a lot of really good things,” coach Rick Pitino said afterward. “But I think the weakness is that there are only eight new players (used to) playing together. Great game – great game.”

It was an entertaining showcase between two top-10 teams in the preseason that featured two of the best forwards in the country, Zobe Ejiofor for St. John’s and Jaxel Lindeborg for Michigan.

They all played well, combining for 49 points. St. John’s forwards Bryce Hopkins and Dillon Mitchell also had plenty of strong moments, each scoring 13 points, and guard Dylan Darling (seven points, two assists) rebounded from a shaky game against Towson.

In the end, Michigan was better on the glass, outscoring St. John’s by 12 points, and shooting 52.2 percent from the field, compared to 39.7 percent for St. John’s.

Pitino stressed the need for his guards to rebound and defend better, while praising the performance of his active front line.

It didn’t help that the Johnnies’ starting guards, Oziyah Sellers and Jason Sanon (14 points), fouled out and saw limited minutes as a result. Michigan coach Dusty May felt that was the difference in the game.

The Red Storm trailed by eight points early in the extra session, until Lefteris Liutopoulos caught fire, scoring eight straight points. The sophomore had a chance to give them the lead with 8.4 seconds left, but missed two of three free throws.

Pitino and Ejiofor were more concerned with the fact that the Johnnies have been outmatched in both exhibition games, and with several new players, aren’t connecting as much as they would like.

The defense forced 22 turnovers, but allowed 54 points in the paint to the Giant Wolverines, who have two 7-footers in Maurice Johnson Jr. and Adai Mara.

“We’re trying to get back to the defensive mentality we had last year,” said Ejiofor, who finished with 24 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals. “It’s going to take some time, but we’ll figure it out.

“There are no excuses. Winning is the standard we are trying to build here at St. John’s. Everyone came here to win, all the transfers came here to win. Just be better and learn from it.”

Pitino spoke several times about the experience of facing an elite competitor in the Garden, because of what he and his players learned from the defeat. He has put together a tough non-conference schedule, and this contest will better prepare St. John’s for that.

“We’ll be ready for Quinnipiac. I don’t know if we’re ready for Alabama or Kentucky, Ole Miss and the trip to Las Vegas,” the Hall of Fame coach said. “But we will get it done. There are a lot of people in the same boat as us with the new players. I set the schedule strictly because I need to know (where we need to improve).”

“If we play a (lesser) team and win the game easily, we don’t know what our weaknesses are. So I wanted to know, and I found out tonight what our weaknesses are. It’s a great learning tool.”