The Red Storm once again made up for poor three-point shooting, this time by fighting on the glass and shutting down the Musketeers’ offense
Somehow, some way, St. John’s continues to win without three-point shooting.
The Red Storm led Xavier for almost all of Tuesday night’s 82-72 victory thanks to suffocating defense and a spirited effort on the glass, all while shooting 2-of-16 from three (12.5%). St. John’s dominated the boards, outrebounding Xavier, 50-30. The Red Storm also tallied 20 offensive rebounds, almost as many as Xavier’s 23 defensive rebounds.
The Johnnies built up a 14-point first-half lead, then saw that advantage cut down to four at halftime, but they spoiled the Musketeers’ comeback attempt with a 20-9 run to open the second half. A Simeon Wilcher fastbreak layup with 8:29 left in the second half gave St. John’s a 67-49 lead, their largest of the game. Xavier triggered a scoring run near the end of the game to make the final margin more respectable, but it would not matter at the buzzer.
Five different St. John’s players scored in double-figures. Zuby Ejiofor and R.J. Luis each posted 18-point double-doubles in the win, while Aaron Scott put behind a cold shooting stretch and nearly had a double-double of his own with 12 points and eight rebounds. Kadary Richmond helped set the tone, scoring the Red Storm’s first six points to open the game and eventually finishing with 12 points, six assists, and four rebounds. Simeon Wilcher also scored 15 points off the bench, including a late three-pointer that could become a slump-buster.
The Red Storm frustrated Xavier all night with physical defense, holding the Musketeers to 36.7% shooting from the field. Xavier also appeared to catch the Red Storm’s three-point shooting bug, shooting 4-of-18 (22%) from three after entering Tuesday night’s game as the 12th-best three-point shooting team in the country. Ryan Conwell, who is second on the Musketeers in points per game, was held to his third single-digit scoring game of the season with nine points on 1-of-10 shooting and 1-of-8 from three.
St. John’s improves to a 13-3 record, their best start through 16 games since the 2018-19 season, and they have started 4-1 in Big East play for a second straight season. The last time the Red Storm won four of their first five conference games in consecutive years was in the 1999-00 and 2000-01 seasons. Next for the Johnnies is a Saturday night matchup with the Villanova Wildcats (10-5, 3-1 Big East) at Madison Square Garden (7 p.m., CBSSN).