Johnnies Face Tough Road Following a Disappointing Garden Debut

 

      St. John’s will head into their game Thursday against North Texas facing an early test. They will try and bounce back from an 89-73 loss to Michigan in a game that was supposed to be a grand Garden opening for Rick Pitino and the Johnnies but turned out to be considerably less than that.

    Michigan’s backcourt of Nimari Burnett and Dug McDaniel combined for 47 points while posting career highs of 21 and 26 points respectively. They may provide an example of what can be effective team building in this new age of college hoops. Burnett, is a long athletic wing who transferred to Ann Arbor from Alabama. McDaniel, on the other hand is a sophomore at Michigan a rare (these days) returning player who’s well known to recruiting gurus in these parts for his good work at Pope Paul VI High School in Washington DC.

   Burnett torched the Johnnies from the start scoring 15 of his team’s first 16 points and finishing the 1^st half with all of his 21 points. After Chris Ledlum’s free throw gave St. John’s a 31-29 advantage Burnett’s third 3-ball of the opening half gave the Wolverines the lead for good. Michigan closed the half with an 11-3 spurt and lead 48-38 at the intermission.

            Pitino was succinct and to the point (play on words intended) when he described McDaniel’s performance by saying simply “he dominated us” That choice of words may have been a reaction more to what he saw on the court than what he read on the stat sheet. McDaniel set an early tone of physicality for his team and ran their offense perfectly. And in the second half while Burnett was quiet he took on a share of the scoring load, adding 16 of his 26 in the latter 20 minutes.

    Pitino admitted that St. John’s played terribly at both ends of the floor but said that the dysfunctional offense surprised him the most. “They went one-on-one way too much,” Pitino said of his team. “That was surprising because we hadn’t seen that from our guys.”

            Hopefully the quick turnaround and a trip to Charleston will provide the fresh look at things the team now seems to need. This early season adversity is an important test St. John’s must pass.

  Congratulations to Joel Soriano Joel scored the 1000^th point of his career in the 1^st half of tonight’s game. The senior from Stepinac HS scored a team high 15 points and had 6 rebounds for the Johnnies.

 

 

 

 

St. John's Roars Back From First Loss With win Against DePaul

 

   St. John’s flipped the script from Sunday’s loss at Iowa state, which saw them start the game trailing 17-2, and roared out of the gate in their Big East opener against DePaul. They used a 12- 0 start to seize control of the game early and earn a decisive 86-67 win over the Blue Demons, raise their record to 9-1 overall and, for the moment at least, give them a share of 1^st place in the Big East Conference.

     “After our performance at Iowa State we wanted to pick it up a little bit”, said Joel Soriano who led the way with 17 points and 13 rebounds for his 8^th double double of the season. “We emphasized a lot of moving of the basketball and buckets in transition. When we move like that it’s beautiful basketball.”

     The “beautiful basketball” to which the Johnnies’ leader referred to produced an effort that was both well balanced and efficient. In addition to Soriano’s 17 points four other Johnnies, Andre Curbelo, Dylan Adde-Wusu, Posh Alexander and David Jones all hit for double figures. And they shot a combined 50.8% from the floor that included outscoring the Blue Demons 50-38 in the paint.

   DePaul closed the margin to six points with 9:06 left in the first half when Ahmad Bynum converted a pass from Da’Sean Nelson to make the score 24-18. St. John’s responded with a run of their own when Dylan Adde-Wusu and Rafael Pinzon worked a give-and go for a Pinzon layup and included a flurry of activity that saw Curbelo connect on helpers to both Soriano and Alexander for baskets. The Johnnies took a 40-29 margin into the locker room and bumped it to 45-29 when Alexander hit Montez Mathis for a deep triple in the opening moments of the second half.

   A 12-5 DePaul run that featured 5 points by Philmont Gebrewhit and a triple by K.T. Raimey trimmed the deficit to 50-41, David Jones and Da’Sean Nelson traded buckets before St. John’s reasserted control of the game. Despite a poor shooting game from beyond the arc, their ball movement passing and cutting helped them build a margin of 24 in the game’s closing moments. “I talked about taking the sense of urgency up many notches”, coach Mike Anderson said. “Defensively that was our most consistent effort…I think the game rewarded is with a win in conference play against a DePaul team that’s going to scratch and claw.”

Notes and Observations: New Jersey native freshman Zion Cruz led DePaul with 14 points while Earl Penn a graduate transfer forward from LIU-Brooklyn contributed 6 points and 7 boards.

Pinzon had his 3^rd straight strong game off the bench for St. John’s scoring 9 points while adding 4 rebounds and a pair of assists, one of which was a pretty drive and dime play to Soriano for a dunk.  When evaluating Pinzon’s progress, it’s worth noting that because of illness and injury last night marked his 20^th college game. Under more typical circumstances that would put him 2/3 of the way through his freshman season right about the time when good players begin to figure out what they can do at the “next level”.

 St. John’s next faces New Hampshire on Saturday at Carnesecca Arena at 6 pm.  Coach Bill Herrion’s squad will be coming off a win vs. ACC foe Boston College on Tuesday that featured a 34-point 14 rebound performance from junior forward Clarence Daniels as well as a 20-point 8 rebound effort from redshirt junior and former All Hallows (BX) standout Nick Johnson

Curbelo Takes MVP honors, Leads St. John's to Empire Classic Title in OT over Syracuse

 

   David Jones’ pull up jumper from the right side 2:11 left in the extra session gave St. John’s the lead for good at 69-67.  Syracuse’s Joe Girard, perhaps fatigued from being chased by a diligent Red Storm defense missed the front end of a one and one.  At that point Posh Alexander and Andre Curbelo, the two point guards that many worried might not be able to work together combined in a way that even the most optimistic Johnnies’ fan might not have imagined.

   Curbelo initiated the set play against the Syracuse zone. Posh set a screen for him at the right elbow. When Curbelo passed him the ball he quickly shifted a pass to Joel Soriano, who tried to power in a dunk and missed. For one of the few times in the game and at the rim a Syracuse defender was called for a foul. Soriano’s first free throw crawled over the rim and gave the Johnnies a 3-point lead. He calmly swished the next one, pushing the lead to 4 with 1:27 left. Curbelo then stole a Syracuse pass and then scored on a goaltending call. After ‘Cuse’s Jesse Edwards scored in the lane it was up to Curbelo to cap his MVP performance. Dribbling to the foul circle, probing a now extended zone defense. He found Jones again for a triple that affectively ended the ballgame, provided the final margin of victory (76-69) and gave St. John’s the Empire Classic Tournament Championship in a game that was held at new venue (Barclay’s Center) but had the feel of an old-fashioned Big East slug fest played at MSG or the Carrier Dome.

     St. John’s opened the game determined to make Joe Girard work for every point. They had, after all, watched him torch Richmond for 31 points in the Orange’s opening round win. While that strategy worked thanks to Posh Alexander, Montez Mathis and Dylan Adde-Wusu’s sharing the task, the Orange found scoring elsewhere, primarily in the person of freshman guard Judah Mintz who scored 16 of his team high 20 points in the opening half.

   Even when the Johnnies tried to get some traction in the first half, they seemingly sabotaged the effort. After Curbelo connected on a deep triple to cut what had been an 11-point deficit to 3 with six seconds left. Mintz took a quick pass from talented sophomore Benny Williams who converted a 3-point play to give the Orange a six point margin.

   Syracuse briefly bumped their margin back to 10 points when Girardi connected on a long 2-pointer on what may have been his only clean look of the game.  To their credit St. John’ kept coming. After Curbelo and Syracuse’s Chris Bell traded triples to make the score 50-40 with 15:08 left in the game the Johnnies went on 16-2 run. Jones gave them their first lead of the 2^nd-half when he followed in his own miss and completed a 3-point play with 9:28 left. A moment later Mathis connected on two free throws to complete the run and give the Red Storm a 56-52 lead. The Johnnies led by 65-61 after a bucket by Curbelo 2:39 left in regulation. After that senior center Jesse Williams scored four straight points on two free throws and a post-up. With the game tied at 65 the Johnnies forced a tough shot from Symir Torrence to force the extra 5 minutes. Both teams turned the ball over on their first possession of OT and that set the stage for the Johnnies. Jones and Curbelo provided the offensive spark while Adde-Wusu, whom coach Anderson subbed in for Mathis because he “wanted someone with fresh legs” to guard Girardi provided the defensive effort. “I like gritty”, Anderson said when asked to asses his team’s potential after the game. He got plenty of that from Adde-Wusu and the rest of his charges and they earned a terrific in season tournament win against an old but still hated rival.

 

Notes And Observations: Curbelo finished his MVP effort with a career high 23 points on 9-13 shooting that included a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc. Jones and Soriano each had double doubles.  Jones had 19 points and 13 rebounds while Soriano added 18 and a career high 14 rebounds. Posh Alexander’s modest numbers (7 points and 4 boards in 44 minutes) should not diminish in anyone’s eyes how well he’s playing. He did a terrific defensive job on Mintz in the 2^nd half but continued to set up easy baskets for his teammates (5 assists). He demonstrates the ability to see plays develop no matter where he’s positioned in the offense. That ability will help the process of two dynamic and ball dominant point guards learning to play well together. Last but not least an observation about starters playing heavy minutes.  Curbelo played 40, Jones all 45, and Posh 44. I think that was done primarily because of the importance of the games with respect to rankings and a possible at-large tournament bid. I suspect the staff will go back to trying to develop the bench in these next few games. If they can succeed even a little bit the Johnnies may have some more options when they need them most.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Curbelo's Late Buckets Lift St. John's Past Temple For Empire Classic Showdown vs. Syracuse

 

        Andre Curbelo worked through a game that saw him shoot 4-14 from the floor and commit 6 turnovers. Fortunately for him, and for St. John’s, he saved his best work for when it mattered most.

     The former LuHi star and Illinois transfer converted two tough right-handed drives while moving down the left side to give St. John’s the lead for good in what would ultimately be a 78-72 win over Temple in the first round of the Empire Classic at Barclay’s Center last night.  The first of those drives came after the Owls’ Zach Hicks connected on a trey to give his team a 72-70 lead. Curbelo was fouled as he banked in the layup and made the free throw to give St. John’s a 1-point margin. On Temple’s next possession, his partner in the backcourt Posh Alexander forced Damian Dunn, the Owls leading scorer, to dribble the ball off his foot. Curbelo then made a similar right-handed drive down the left side, a little closer this time perhaps, but with the same result save for the foul, gently banked in off the glass.

  Prior to Curbelo’s heroics, Hicks’ basket that had briefly given Temple the lead came following a turnover where St. John’s tried to force an inbounds pass along the sideline to Alexander. It’s worth noting because the ups and downs of the game’s final sequence were indicative of the entire game for St. John’s

   The Johnnies began the game shooting terribly (4-25 at one point and 0-8 from 3-point distance in the first half) and Temple took advantage with the help of one of the Big 5’s best shooters Khalif Pratt who scored 13 of his 17 points in the opening 20 minutes. The Owls lead by as many as 13 in the first half but St. John’s countered using terrific pressure defense and inside scoring.  A 20-5 half closing run gave them a 32-30 margin at the break.

   Temple started quickly in the second half with a 10-3 run before St. John’s responded with a run that included 6 points from David Jones as well as key baskets from Alexander and O’mar Stanley, who was a perfect 4-4 from the floor and provided great energy and toughness on defense.

   The game see-sawed back and forth with both teams making clutch plays until the stage was set for Curbelo’s clutch baskets. Montez Mathis who, as his coach Mike Anderson suggested “looked like a mature senior” lead the Johnnies with 18 points. Joel Soriano finished with 15 points and 12 boards all while engaging in a terrific battle down low with Temple’s Jamille Reynolds who finished with a game high 21 points. Reynolds’ individual point total may have been higher but that should take nothing away from Soriano’s effort. In a fast-paced game and despite foul problems, he provided a tough and strong presence in the lane. With the Johnnies’ win and Syracuse’s 74-71 overtime win over Richmond the stage is set for a clash between two old Big East rivals.  It’s perhaps fitting that they will be playing for a championship in Brooklyn, where two of their greatest players, Chris Mullin for St. John’s and Pearl Washington for Syracuse, honed legendary games. 

 

 

                                                                                                                

St. John's Posts Convincing Opening Night Win, With one Big Red Flag

 

St. John’s new arrivals from the transfer portal helped propel them to a convincing 97-72 win over Northeast Conference rival Merrimack in their season opener at Carnesecca Arena last night. Juniors Andre Curbelo (Illinois) and David Jones (Depaul) led a balanced attack that featured five double digit scorers.

    Curbelo finished with 13 points and 7 assists as he started alongside returning point man Posh Alexander. The two of them together worked out as many had envisioned. Posh added 14 points and 5 assists of his own while contributing 6 steals. Jones scored 14 of his game-high 21 points in the second half and helped St. John’s maintain the margin they built early despite the one huge red flag that came with the win, 29 turnovers.

   Merrimack came into the game sporting a brief yet impressive division one history. They arrived from one of the best D-2 leagues in the country, the Northeast 10, and adjusted quickly, winning the Northeast Conference’s regular season title in 2019-’20. Given what passes for wisdom at the NCAA these days despite their quick success coach Joe Gallo’s Warriors could not compete for a post-season tournament title and the NCAA bid that went with it because they’re still thought by the powers that be to be in the “transition phase” to Division one athletics. Make no mistake, they are thriving, favored to be regular season league champs again featuring pre-season conference player of the year Jordan Minor.

     Gallo’s teams feature a sticky 2-3 match-up zone and while St. John’s built their early lead moving the ball well against it once they built that lead they got careless.

   The Johnnies used a 23-5 run to take a 32-14 lead with just over 9 minutes to go in the first half. Jones and Soriano provided the scoring punch while Curbelo and Posh pushed the tempo. The Johnnies took a 51-30 lead into the locker room, and saw that lead extended when Jones connected on three treys early in the second half.

            Merrimack was finally able to make St. John’s pay a bit for the turnovers as they closed the gap to 15 points with 8:34 left in the game. After that St. John’s regained their footing and following a steal and bucket by Posh the Johnnies had their largest margin of 87-58 with 5:02 left in the game

Notes Observations And OMG 29 Turnovers: First and foremost, congratulations to Montez Mathis who scored his 1,000^th career point with 6:15 remaining in the game. While most of those were scored during his time at Rutgers, he has carved out an important niche at St. John’s as a defender and scorer on the court and a leader in the locker room congratulations.

Before we get to the bad stuff here’s some of what was good: Five double figure scorers is always good and in addition to Posh, Curbelo and Jones, Mathis and Soriano each hit double figures. Soriano had a double double with 12 and 11 caroms. The Johnnies limited the Warriors to 20.7% shooting from deep and won the battle of the boards 47-26. St. John’s will need to keep having statistical advantages in those areas (especially 3-pt% defense) as the level of competition improves and especially once conference play begins)

Here we go 29 turnovers: As I mentioned earlier Merrimack coach Joe Gallo plays what appears to be a 2-3 match up zone defense. It’s hard to follow in part because it’s hard to know when and where they’ll match up other than ALWAYS it seems defending guards out front. That said. It would be nice to tell you that part of St. John’s turnover problem stemmed from seeing an unusual scheme for the first time. It would be nice but it wouldn’t be true. As coach Mike Anderson noted “We got a lead and we got sloppy with the basketball. We got quick and we got in a hurry”. Then he added quickly, “that will be addressed”. With one in the books, and a game Saturday vs. Lafayette one thing is certainly lots of work to do.

Coburn Scores 20 as St. John's Sweeps Xavier

 

    With last night’s 81-66 over Xavier at Carnesecca Arena last night, St, John’s snapped a two-game losing streak. They welcomed back junior center Joel Soriano, who contributed 10 points and 5 boards after missing the two losses with a left knee injury. And they completed a season sweep of the Muskies.

    All of that might well be considered secondary because Tareq Coburn, the graduate transfer from Hofstra who has fashioned one of the best stories in a disappointing season for St. John’s added one more great night to what has been an exemplary career as a student athlete. He led 5 double-figure scorers for St. John’s with 20 points, made 5 of his 7 field goal tries from beyond the arc and tied a career high with 3 blocks. While it was a signature game for him it’s only a small part of a great legacy.

    He is, after all, a player with deep New York City basketball roots. He prepped at Cardozo High in Queens where he developed in to one of the PSAL’s best 3-point marksmen. After freshman struggles at St. Bonaventure, he transferred closer to home, landing at Hofstra University where he blossomed both on the court and in the classroom.

   On the court he helped the Pride to a regular season CAA title in 2019 and a CAA tournament title in 2020. The beginning of the pandemic that year cost Coburn and his teammates a chance to compete in the NCAA tournament.

      Off the court he was twice named the CAA’s scholar athlete of the year and an academic All-American. His good work in the classroom earned him admission to St. John’s prestigious physician’s assistant master’s degree program. He was approached by Red Storm assistant coach Van Macon about playing for the Johnnies after he had been on campus already enrolled in the program.

    “It says something that he wanted to be part of this”, coach Mike Anderson said of Coburn’s decision to play a final season of basketball while matriculating in an exceptionally demanding graduate program. “It’s amazing I’m in awe of him”, coach Anderson added.   Julian Champagnie who finished with 19 points of his own added “It’s something about senior night I wanted him to have a big game”

   He led a well-balanced and winning effort for St. John’s. They held Xavier to a season low 32% from the floor.  And the return of Soriano helped anchor a defense that had given up 99 points to DePaul on Sunday.  At 16-13 overall and 8-10 in conference play St. John’s concludes the regular season at Marquette knowing they will enter the Big East tournament as the 7^th seed.  The high hopes of the early season have been replaced by disappointment. For Coburn, this season and his career as a student athlete has been a richly deserved success. And all of us who have watched his career as we follow New York basketball no that his basketball career will mark the beginning of a great life’s work.

 

     

St. John's Suffers Crucial Loss to Creighton 81-78

 

    Poor execution down the stretch and uncharacteristically poor shooting games from forwards Julian Champagnie and Aaron Wheeler cost St. John’s dearly as they squandered another chance at an elusive quad one win, losing for just the second time at Carnesecca Arena 81-78 to Creighton last night.

     The Johnnies had rallied from a 75-71 deficit, scoring five straight points when reserve center Esahia Nyiwe connected on a 3-pointer off a steal and pass from Dylan Adde-Wusu and a moment later Montez Mathis hit a 2-pointer off another steal and pass, this one from Posh Alexander. They took the lead 76-75 with 3:16 left to play.

  After that, St. John’s faltered and Creighton took full advantage. Mathis missed a free throw following the hoop and harm and St. John’s lead 76-75. Creighton’s Arthur Kamula connected on a jumper and Creighton retook the lead. Following a Mathis miss Creighton’s Ryan Hawkins followed in a Ryan Kalkbrenner miss to give the Blue Jays a three-point margin. Adde-Wusu would convert an offensive rebound for the Johnnies’ last two points but following a pair of Kalkbrenner free throws that gave Creighton their final margin Adde-Wusu made an errant pass to Aaron Wheeler with 5 seconds left. After that St. John’s still had a final chance. Following a missed one-and-one front end by Alex O’Connell, Wheeler took the rebound, pushed it quickly and got a good look at a game tying triple. The ball bounced off the board and rim, and Creighton had a well-earned road win.

   The Blue Jays got that win thanks to a dominant effort by their front court stars Hawkins and Kalkbrenner. They combined for 44 points on 18-31 shooting as well as 14 rebounds. Kalkbrenner’s 7’1” presence at the rim anchored Creighton’s defense and had much to do with the shooting struggles of Champagnie and Wheeler. They combined to shoot just 4-26 from the floor. While the two Ryan’s were terrific Creighton’s MVP for the game was freshman guard Trey Alexander, who stepped in at point guard after Ryan Nembhard, the likely Big East Rookie of the Year suffered a broken wrist in a collision with Posh Alexander with 12:55 left in the game. Trey’s good work at point guard included game totals of 18 points. 6 assists and 4 turnovers. Most significantly he helped orchestrate a 2^nd half effort that saw Creighton commit just 7 turnovers, after committing 10 in the opening stanza.

   St. John’s nearly overcame all of that to earn a badly needed win. They rallied from a 10-point deficit in the games early moments to take a 46-39 lead at halftime. With Champagnie and Wheeler struggling, and in the absence of improving center Joel Soriano, the Johnnies got 13 points from Mathis and great bench production from Nyiwe and freshman O’mar Stanley. Nyiwe started for Soriano who missed the game with a left knee contusion and contributed 7 points 5 boards and 2 blocks. Stanley who got extra minutes at both forward and center, matched his season high with 14 points and 3 boards.

  With 3 regular season games left St. John’s chances at an at-large NCAA bid suffered a critical blow. While games against Xavier and at Marquette offer chances to gain ground, Sunday’s game at DePaul is one the Johnnies must win just to keep from losing it. St. John’s only remaining path to the big dance may well be a conference tournament win, a herculean task that given the strength of the league will be nearly impossible to accomplish.