LAS VEGAS — Shortly after St. John’s lost its first game of the season, more than two weeks ago at the Garden against Alabama, Rick Pitino felt it was a setback that would only help his team in time.

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The loss exposed shortcomings, particularly on the perimeter, that had to be addressed.

“We played these early games so we can find out where we need to get better,” the Hall of Fame coach said then.

This week in the Players Era Festival, we’ll see how far the No. 14 Johnnies have come since that frustrating defeat to the No. 11 Crimson Tide.