MBB: No. 22 St. John’s pounds Cavaliers, 80-55, in Bahamas finale

By Scott Ratcliffe

Virginia’s trip to the Bahamas came to an end with another lopsided loss against No. 22 St. John’s Friday in the third-place game of the Baha Mar Championship in Nassau, falling 80-55.

The Cavaliers (3-2) were outplayed on both ends of the floor for a second straight night against a ranked opponent, and will look to bounce back with a pair of home games next week.

Rick Pitino’s Red Storm (5-1) were fresh off a double-overtime, buzzer-beating loss to Baylor on Thursday, but showed no signs of fatigue, using a 10-0 run to grab an early advantage Friday.

Later in the half, the Johnnies scored 16 unanswered points while the Wahoos went through a scoring drought of seven minutes-plus and found themselves on the wrong side of a 19-point gap on the scoreboard just before halftime. During that stretch, Virginia turned the ball over six times.

Just like in Thursday’s loss to Tennessee, UVA committed multiple costly turnovers, and the Red Storm took full advantage, just like the Volunteers did the night before. The Hoos coughed it up 11 times in the first half alone, which translated into 14 St. John’s points, and Virginia trailed 39-26 at the half.

“This was a great test. You go up against two of the top teams in the country, some of your warts are going to show,” said interim head coach Ron Sanchez.

The Red Storm outscored the Cavaliers, 16-6, to start the second half as the lead ballooned to 23. UVA trailed by as many as 29 in the contest and were never really in contention outside of the opening minutes.

Virginia shot at a 40-percent clip (18 for 45), connecting on 32 percent from long range (9 for 28) and just 56 percent (10 of 18) from the charity stripe. Conversely, St. John’s went a scorching 53 percent from the field (32 for 61) and 42 percent from downtown (10 for 24), turning in several highlight-reel dunks along the way.

The Johnnies outrebounded the Hoos, 34-26, recorded 13 steals and scored 18 points off of 16 UVA giveaways, all while dominating the Cavaliers in the paint (40-12) and on the fast break (11-0).

Elijah Saunders bounced back from his woeful 1-for-8 performance Thursday with a team-high 12 points Friday (4 for 7 FG). Isaac McKneely also had a much better output against the Red Storm, adding 10 points and three triples. Andrew Rohde chipped in with 11 points off the bench.

“The one thing that we did here is we learned a lot about ourselves,” Sanchez explained. “The question is how are we going to use that knowledge? Are we going to grow or are we going to waddle in it?”

RJ Luis Jr. led the Johnnies with a game-high 18 points, while Kadary Richmond added 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Former Georgia Tech guard Deivon Smith just missed out on a triple-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists.

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Virginia fell to 3-2 with the non-conference loss
• UVA has lost back-to-back games by 22 or more points for the first time since 2007-08 (Xavier and Duke)
• UVA is 0-2 vs. ranked opponents
• The Cavaliers are 1-1 vs. Big East opponents in 2024-25
• UVA (16 turnovers) has 11 or more turnovers in each of its five games
• St. John’s outscored UVA 40-12 in the paint
• St. John’s shot 52.5 percent and made 10 3-pointers in the win
• St. John’s forced 11 first half turnovers to lead 39-26 at the break
• UVA went on an 8-0 run to cut the St. John’s lead to 19-16
• St. John’s answered the 8-0 run with a 16-0 run to gain a 35-16 advantage

Series Notes

• The Cavaliers are 1-8 against St. John’s in the all-time series that dates to 1958
• The 25-point loss was the second largest by UVA in the nine-game series with St. John’s
• UVA is 0-2 against the Red Storm on neutral courts
• St. John’s defeated Virginia 64-58 in the other neutral-site matchup that took place in New York, N.Y., in 1986

Player Notes

• Double Figure Scorers: Elijah Saunders (12), Andrew Rohde (11), Isaac McKneely (10)
• Saunders scored in double figures for the third time (9 career)
• Rohde scored in double figures for the second time (33 career)
• McKneely scored in double figures for the fourth time (30 career)
• Rohde has made two of more 3-pointers in three straight games
• Anthony Robinson played a season-high eight minutes

UP NEXT

The Hoos return to John Paul Jones Arena for a 7-p.m. tipoff Tuesday against Manhattan (ACC Network).