When the Pitt men’s basketball team squares off against St. John’s on Sunday, it will do so in a matchup of teams tied for fourth in the Big East conference as the regular season hurtles into its final set of games.

The No. 20 Panthers (20-7, 8-6 Big East) desperately need a win against the Red Storm (16-10, 8-6) at Madison Square Garden this weekend, with only four games remaining on Pitt’s schedule — four games that hold immeasurable weight in determining Pitt’s position in the Big East and in the NCAA Tournament.

Pitt enters the game with two-consecutive losses to No. 17 Marquette and No. 25 Notre Dame and must stop the bleeding before any real damage is done to its postseason aspirations.

The contest between Pitt and St. John’s follows arguably Pitt’s worst performance of the season, in which the Panthers blew a 19-3 lead to Notre Dame, eventually succumbing to the Irish 51-42. Redshirt senior point guard and Pitt’s leading scorer Travon Woodall attributed the loss to selfish play by the Panthers.

“We played selfish,” Woodall said on Monday. “Our assist numbers indicate and our rebound numbers indicate how selfishly we played tonight, and it resulted in a loss.”

On Sunday, Pitt will need to get back to playing as it usually does with a foundation set in the fundamentals of successful basketball — executing good shots, rebounding and defending. This is the style head coach Jamie Dixon stresses day in and day out with his team.

“I think it’s pretty obvious what we’ve gotta do, what we’ve gotta get better at,” Dixon said. “The rebounding thing is pretty obvious, when we out-rebound opponents [is] when we put ourselves in the toughest position [to be beaten].”

On Monday, Notre Dame out-rebounded the Panthers by 15, 40-25 — the worst any team has beaten Pitt on the boards this season. Overall, Pitt is one of the nation’s best teams when it comes to rebounding, as the Panthers average a margin of 7.4 rebounds over their opponents.

Part of rebounding better will come as a byproduct of playing more physically on the floor, according to forward J.J. Moore. Playing this way is also a crucial step toward neutralizing the effectiveness of the Red Storm’s front line.

“We have to look out for Sir’Dominic Pointer. He goes to the boards. He had 10 rebounds against South Florida last [Wednesday]. Jakarr Sampson, he rebounds the ball really [well], and their big man [Chris Obekpa], he leads the nation in shot-blocking,” Moore said. “We just gotta be more physical and go out there and play hard.”

Offensively, the issue of playing selfishly as Woodall detailed Monday resulted from players passing up good looks at the basket for tougher, contested shots. Among those players is Moore, who said Pitt “definitely” passed up good looks at the basket Monday.

“I hold myself accountable for that. I passed up some real good shots,” Moore said.

Shot selection will also be key for Dixon. It is something he mentioned Thursday despite his tendency toward the conversation topics of defense and rebounding.

“Shot selection, just one area of it is something that is a constant challenge, and it’s never something that is safe and perfect. There’s always going to be, I wouldn’t say adjustments, but you’ve gotta continually guide and watch it,” Dixon said. “We gotta take good shots. That’s what we’ve done and what we’ve always done, and our offensive numbers indicate that.”

As a result of players passing up so many open shots — most of those on the perimeter — Pitt made no 3-pointers Monday for the second time this season. Both games ended in a loss for Pitt. Do not be surprised to see Pitt let open looks from beyond the arc fly Sunday afternoon in New York City.

The Red Storm come off a 15-point victory over USF after losing back-to-back games against Syracuse and Louisville. D’Angelo Harrison leads St. John’s in scoring at 18.3 points per game, the third-best mark in the Big East. “I think transition offense,” Dixon said in regard to what St. John’s does well. “Anyone that rebounds well can take it down the court and so they have the ability to get five guys out in transition.”

Even with four important games approaching, Dixon is only focused on the game directly in front of the Panthers.

“We’ve talked about there being four games left, but our focus is on our next one and playing our best basketball. We’ve got to take care of business against St. John’s, who’s obviously playing very well,” Dixon said. “We can’t focus on the four [games remaining]. We’ve gotta focus on the one [Sunday] right now.”