Shortly before 6:30 p.m, the Garden went dark. Pyrotechnics, flames and all the bells and whistles of a Knicks game followed.
That was as good as it would get for St. John’s in Rick Pitino’s MSG debut.
The Johnnies were outclassed Monday night at both ends of the floor, unable to deal with Michigan point guard Dug McDaniel or the Wolverines’ deep front line. St. John’s never recovered from a poor close to the first half and suffered an ugly 89-73 loss in the annual Gavitt Games in front of 14,188.
After an offseason of hype and expectations, this was a buzzkill, a shaky performance that few saw coming.
Daniss Jenkins, Pitino’s point guard who followed him from Iona, couldn’t stay with McDaniel, and neither could any of his teammates.
It looked like a brand new team.
Ball movement was poor, with too much one-on-one.
St. John’s was scattered on defense, missing assignments.
Pitino had repeatedly said it was going to take time for this group of newcomers to jell, and he wasn’t kidding.
The Johnnies looked more like the group that lost an exhibition game to Division II Pace than the one that was impressive in blowing out Stony Brook in the regular-season opener last Tuesday.
They appeared to be moving in slow motion, thinking rather than reacting.
As a team, St. John’s shot 37 percent from the field and tallied more turnovers (15) than assists (11).
Joel Soriano had 15 points and nine rebounds to lead the Johnnies, and Jordan Dingle and Jenkins each added 10 points.
McDaniel was the best player on the floor, notching 26 points, seven assists and six rebounds, and Nimari Burnett added 21 for Michigan, which shot 51.6 percent from the field and hit 11 of 26 3-pointers.
Michigan took a commanding 10-point lead into the break following an 11-3 run over the final 2:36 of that opening half.
The Wolverines hit their final five shots from the field and finished the opening 20 minutes shooting the ball at a blistering 54.5 percent clip.
St. John’s hurt itself with seven turnovers, a combined six from Chris Ledlum and Jenkins, and they shot 40.5 percent from the field.
Michigan’s Burnett, a former All-American who transferred in from Alabama, was the big surprise of the first half.
He scored 21 points in the opening 20 minutes and didn’t miss a shot, going a perfect 8-for-8 from the field and making all four of his 3-point attempts.
He scored a total of 13 points in the Wolverines’ first two games.
St. John’s led by two with 6:28 left in the first half, but managed just seven points the rest of the half as the offense stalled and Michigan pulled ahead by double figures. It only got worse from there — much worse.
St. John’s hosted five-star guard VJ Edgecombe of Long Island Lutheran, the entire Archbishop Stepinac basketball team, four-star signee Jaiden Glover and sophomore point guard Jermel “Magic Mel” Thomas of Cardinal Hayes. … Celebrities Fat Joe, Jadakiss, ESPN boss Jimmy Pitaro and former Mets closer and St. John’s alum John Franco were in attendance.
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