St. John's basketball aimed to ignite its long range touch in the Red Storm's return to March Madness. Oziyah Sellers answered the bell, hitting four 3-pointers in the 79-53 rout over Northern Iowa Friday in San Diego. Yet why was head coach Rick Pitino “mad?”
Sellers hit 11 points in the end, which didn't necessarily upset the coach. Pitino told ClutchPoints the reason for his “mad” state.
He believes Sellers should've taken more shots.
“He's off the charts with his percentages. But I got upset at him in the second half. He passed on four open threes,” Pitino explained to CP.
Looks like Sellers tying for the team lead in threes wasn't enough for the national champion winning head coach's standards.
Did St. John's still improve 3-point game with Oziyah Sellers?
The Red Storm has looked off on occasion from behind the arc. UConn's Feb. 25 rout is an example of how up-and-down the 3-point shooting is for St. John's.
But the Big East power shot 34.5% from long range compared to the Panthers' 21.4%. Defending the three isn't an issue for St. John's. Nor even for the Stanford and USC transfer Sellers. It's surrendering the basketball when he's all alone.
“He made a good move on the basket and missed the layup. But I get upset at him all the time for not shooting his open threes,” Pitino said.
Is there a target goal Pitino has for the transfer?
“I'd like for him to take 10 or 12 a game. He got nine of them,” Pitino said. “He's open but he passes the ball. It really drives me crazy. I mean if a coach said that to me, I'd probably take 30.”
Still, Sellers emerged as one of three Red Storm players surpassing double digits in scoring. And St. John's avoided the upset alert as well. A possible meeting with Darryn Peterson and Kansas now could loom next.
