In the lead
up to last night’s game against Nebraska, Coach Chris Mullin gave his team a
very simple and direct edict. “This is a physical team, typical of the Big 10
we need to match their physicality”.
Following last night’s79-56 win over the
Cornhuskers Coach Mullin may well have been more succinct in comments made over
a happy and boisterous celebration in the locker room with two simple words, “mission
accomplished”
On paper, this looked like a potential
pitfall for St. John’s since Nebraska’s starting unit that included two post players
(including Georgetown transfer Isaac Copeland) and 6’6” junior wing James
Palmer Jr. presented size and length that St. John’s had not seen and could not
match.
St. John’s set an aggressive tone against
all that size from the outset. On defense they picked up full court and applied
pressure from start to finish. And on offense they set that tone by driving to
the basket and scoring primarily inside. They made just 5 of 17 three point
tries but won the rebounding battle 50-39 and outscored Nebraska 44-16 in the
paint.
Shamorie Ponds once again led St. John’s
in scoring with 22 points. And as he had in Tuesday’s win over Central
Connecticut Justin Simon had a double double. This time he reached that mark
with 13 points and 12 caroms, and seemingly to complete a great defensive stat
line he added 3 blocks and 4 steals.
While all these numbers tell the story of
the game pretty thoroughly, the eye test makes the win seem even more
impressive. St. John’s won the paint battle despite Nebraska’s big bodies
because their guards (particularly Ponds and Simon) got in the paint seemingly
at will and made shots consistently over taller defenders. They also limited
Nebraska’s effectiveness inside with the combination of help defense inside and
pressure on Nebraska’s perimeter players. That perimeter pressure was
particularly aggressive because Simon, Ponds and Lovett new they had great rim
protection thanks to Tariq Owens, whose 6 blocks represent part of a terrific
impact he had on the game despite scoring just 4 points.
St. John’s led 37-24 at the
intermission. A quick 5-0 run by Nebraska included a bench technical on St.
John’s was followed by a quick time out. The Red Storm then countered with an
8-2 run of their own that included a triple each from Marcus Lovett and Bashir
Ahmed and a tough two-point jumper from Ponds. St. John’s put an exclamation
point on the win with a trio of dunks, two by Simon and one by Ahmed, that
brought a crowd that had been engaged all night to its’ feet for one final
time.
In what Coach Mullin called their biggest
test of the early season they passed with high flying colors.
Other Notes and Observations
1. Although bookkeeping will call it a
bench technical the T was called when Mullin smashed a water bottle following
Nebraska’s 5-0 second half start. Give Chris credit for being T’d up by a name
brand official since long time NFL ref Gene Steratore got him.
2. Perhaps lost a bit in the excitement
of the win was Bashir Ahmed’s best effort of the year for St. John’s, He
finished with 13 points and 5 boards, hit 2-4 treys and did a much better job
of letting the game come to him than he had in the earlier games.
Up next for
St. John’s is a Monday night contest vs. Division II Molloy College of Long
Island at Carnesecca Area. The Red Storm then will play in the AdvoCare
Invitational tournament in Orlando Florida. Their first game will be against
Oregon State Thanksgiving Day at 2 pm.
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