UConn's Dan Hurley Praises St. John's Defense: 'Way Stronger Than We Are'

The Johnnies forced Hurley's club into 22 turnovers

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The 2024-25 St. John’s Red Storm boasts one of the nation’s best defenses, and that’s a testament to Hall of Fame head coach Rick Pitino.

St. John’s fell behind early in a hostile road environment on Friday night, but Pitino kept his guys locked in and the Red Storm slowly chipped away at the lead using a suffocating defensive effort that completely overwhelmed UConn as the game wore on.

The Huskies committed 22 turnovers on the night after committing 25 versus Marquette in their last game. Pitino knew that UConn was turnover prone and designed a game plan that featured the Red Storm’s characteristic switch-everything defense with some full court pressure thrown in.

UConn, lacking sufficient point guard play, collapsed against this strategy, enabling St. John’s to get back in the ball game and ultimately outplay the Huskies for the majority of the 40 minutes.

After the game, UConn head coach Dan Hurley acknowledged the supreme defensive energy that St. John’s brings to the table.

“One of the best defenses in the country, and they’re an awesome rebounding team,” Hurley said.

“Their defense is real. The pressure they put on you … the switching, their ability to rotate and scramble, and obviously the physicality.”

“Marquette’s defensive style is pressure and athleticism. They get into you. St. John’s does similar things, except they’re even more physical. They’re way stronger than we are just across the board physically.”

“They got a little bit of a Houston vibe with the way that they play. The defense, the rebounding … they got a formidable team … them and Creighton look like the two best teams in this league.”

Solo Ball was smothered by St. John’s’ long and active on-ball defenders after getting off to a hot start to the game. The Red Storm was also able to completely neutralize Alex Karaban by keeping more athletic defenders on him.

Liam McNeeley was the only Husky who appeared to have success penetrating the teeth of the St. John’s defense, but unfortunately for UConn, McNeeley was playing in his first game back from injury in over a month and had to work through some rust.

Hurley noted that a team like St. John’s is a bad matchup for UConn due to their physical defense and athletic depth chart.

It’s hard to imagine that the Huskies won’t be faced with exactly these types of teams if and when they advance through the NCAA tournament in March.

Is this iteration of UConn simply not athletic, strong, or tough enough to compete for a national title?

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