Ian Jackson, Joson Sanon have game to forget in St. John’s loss

LAS VEGAS — It was a forgettable afternoon for St. John’s high-upside sophomores Ian Jackson and Joson Sanon.

Within the 14th-ranked Johnnies’ irritating 83-82 loss to No. 15 Iowa State within the Gamers Period Competition, the duo mixed to shoot 4-of-16 from the sphere with no single rebound.

Sanon, who bought the beginning, was 2-of-10 from the sphere and St. John’s was outscored by 13 factors in his 27 minutes.

Jackson got here off the bench and was restricted to 5 factors.

Coach Rick Pitino’s focus was extra on their lack of rebounding.

“I don’t take a look at what people do after they give nice effort. Each Joson and Ian give nice effort,” Pitino stated. “I give the opposite workforce credit score for enjoying good protection on them. The rebounding, they’ve bought to do a greater job of, clearly.”

The hope was that Jackson was hitting his stride after scoring 20 factors in a latest blowout of Bucknell.

However The Bronx native dedicated two early turnovers and by no means discovered a rhythm.

Oziyah Sellers hit 5 3-pointers in six makes an attempt within the loss, but it surely was one which he didn’t take that caught with Pitino.

St. John’s was trailing by one with 30 seconds left when Sellers missed a driving shot within the lane.

“I needed him to shoot the three. He was open and he took a troublesome 2,” Pitino stated. “He’s open, we would like him to get extra 3s up. He’s open for a glimpse and you bought to shoot the ball. As a substitute, he goes into [traffic]. It’s one thing that’s a weak spot on his half proper now as a result of we’d like him to shoot 3s.”

St. John’s has dropped 5 straight video games towards ranked opponents in nonconference motion, three of them with Pitino as coach.

The Johnnies’ final nonconference victory over a ranked foe got here in 2019 towards Arizona.