A Slow Start And Three Point Shooting Doom St.John's in Opener 86-75

o            In fairness to a St. John's team that will spend much of the early season sorting out roles and other issues around that elusive basketball ingredient called chemistry, Wisconsin. a team that's always hard to play is especially tough to face in your season opener. Playing in Sioux Falls South Dakota St. John's took a while to find its stride and the Badgers seemingly took advantage of every defensive error .While their pace may have been quicker than what fans are accustomed to from Bo Ryan's teams, the ball reversal spacing and shot making were as per usual for the Badgers, very good.

              St. john's would trail by as many as 18 points as they searched for rhythm, and cut the deficit to 35-23 at halftime. From there they made several attempts to climb out of the hole they dug and several players had good moments.  D'angelo Harrison and Jakar Sampson each found their scoring touch. Harrison finished with a game high 27 points while Sampson added 21.  Together with Orlando Sanchez, who looked comfortable offensively but had his minutes limited by foul problems, and Rysheed Jordan who did his best work in the second half, St. John's cut the deficit to as little as 4 with 7 minutes and change to go. Sanchez had one play in particular where he grabbed a rebound, pushed the ball up himself and fed Sampson for a dunk. Jordan, who settled in nicely during the second 20 minutes, provided consecutive old school three point plays; one where he scored himself and another where he fed Sampson on a cut to the middle of the lane for a short jumper.

              Each time St. John's tried to rally Wisconsin had an answer.  And primarily it was from beyond the arc, where they outscored the Red Storm 33-6.  After St. John's cut the deficit to 4 Badger forwards Sam  Dekker and Josh Gasser responded with consecutive triples to help keep a determined St. John's team at arm's length. Gasser finished with 19 points while Gasser added 26 to lead 5 Badgers in double figures.

              St. John's will look to bounce back when they  come home Friday Nov 15th to face Wagner.