Shooting, they say, cures many ills. Conversely, not shooting well does the opposite. St. John’s found that out in their 78-63 setback to Villanova at Finneran Pavilion on Wednesday. The loss dropped St. John’s to 11-2 (1-1) while Villanova improved to 7-5 (1-0).

Possessions: 75- an uptempo paced affair which is expected when St. John’s pressures and speeds you up.

Offensive Efficiency: Villanova 104, St. John’s 84. Good number by Villanova. Not a very good one by the visiting Red Storm who average a 107 offensive efficiency.

Four Factors:

What St. John’s did well. Hit the boards. Mike Anderson’s Red Storm owned the offensive glass by a 14-4 count. Joel Soriano matched Villanova’s total of four offensive rebounds on a night he paced all with 13 boards.

What Villanova did well. Shoot with proficiency. Kyle Neptune’s group shot 55% from two point range and 32% from three. That more than compensated for their disparity on the offensive boards and a night that saw them above their season average for committing turnovers.

Kenpom.com MVP: Eric Dixon. The Villanova junior paced all scorers with 18 points.

St. John’s scoring honors went to Soriano with 17 while AJ Storr was the other double digit scorer with 15 off the bench.

St. John’s shot 42% from two point range and 24% from beyond the arc.

Villanova did a good job getting to the line. They shot 17 free throws and converted 16. St. John’s was just 3 of 6 from the charity stripe.

St.John’s, as noted, forced turnovers especially early in the contest. Red Storm had an 11 point lead late in the first half. Villanova settled down and at the break held a four point advantage. Final twenty minutes belonged to the host Wildcats.

Next up for St.John’s is a home date against Xavier on December 28. Sean Miller’s club is on a six game win streak and has an unblemished 2-0 record in Big East play. St. John’s had a three game win streak snapped with their loss to Villanova.