Three takeaways and perspective from St. John’s men’s basketball’s 79-71 overtime win over Xavier

The Red Storm continue to win without depth scoring and three-point shooting

A crowd of 14,500 came out on a frigid evening to take on a motivated and well-prepared Xavier Musketeer squad looking to compete with a now league-leading Johnnies team. St. Johns fans were expressing concerns despite the team’s five-game win streak. The lack of Deivon Smith meant the five starters, Aaron Scott, Kadary Richmond, Simeon Wilcher, Zuby Ejiofor, and R.J. Luis, would have to play a large number of minutes against a Xavier team, which had defeated top ten ranked Marquette, just four days earlier.

First Half

The Johnnies opened the half positively as Wilcher drove down the right of the lane and drew a foul by Dayvion McKnight of Xavier. He converted the two free throws for a 2-0 Johnnies lead.

Xavier brought the ball downcourt and passed the ball around the horn, drawing Ejiofor twenty feet from the basket and leaving senior Zach Freemantle open for an easy layup tying the score at two. After a Johnny miss, the Musketeers found Freemantle free underneath for another easy layup.

A McKnight three extended the lead to five, 7-2, and Xavier seemed on its game.

With four minutes played, Richmond took the ball out of bounds under the Xavier basket. Cutting around a screen, Wilcher hustled down the right of the paint, where Richmond passed him for an easy layup. A fan stated, “Richmond has done that several times this year. He has a broad vision of the court”.

Reserve center, Vince Iwuchukwu entered the game with 13:30 to play in the half. He soon after made a difference. Once again, Richmond found a teammate open, this time under the basket on the left, and Iwuchukwu was fouled, putting up a shot. Iwuchukwu made both free throws and the Johnnies were ahead by one. After the game’s high scorer Ryan Conwell hit a layup reclaiming the lead, Iwuchukwa sank a hook shot, was fouled, and converted a foul shot, and the Johnnies were up by two, 11-9.

The teams exchanged baskets, and with 8:30 to play, the score was tied. Xavier was playing with composure and gradually pulled ahead with various Musketeers scoring. The ball was moving, and the Johnnies’ vaunted defense was a step behind Musketeer shooters. In addition, the Johnnies had yet to score on a fast break. Lastly, there were few offensive rebounds and no putbacks for baskets, as had frequently happened in the earlier game against Xavier.

With the Red Storm down by seven, Richmond hustled out of bounds to retrieve an errant pass and, in one motion, passed the ball under the basket to Ejiofor for a dunk, cutting the lead to five. Richmond would play all but one minute of the game, scoring, rebounding, and assisting on plays like this throughout.

At the end of the half, the Johnnies found themselves down by ten points.

Halftime

Red Storm fans were encouraged by a brief run at the end of the half, cutting the deficit to ten. However, two statistics at the half easily identified why the Musketeers were leading. The first was that each team had taken down ten rebounds, much different than the earlier contest during which the Johnnies out-rebounded the Musketeers 46 to 27. Secondly, Xavier had 12 assists on 13 made baskets and was hitting 50 percent of their shots. They were outplaying the Johnnies.

Second Half

The crowd was subdued as the Red Storm played from behind. Like the first half, the Johnnies scored the first basket, and Xavier quickly responded. With seventeen minutes to play, the lead expanded to sixteen, 50-34. At a media timeout with 15:18 remaining, fans asked, “Will Coach Pitino call for the team to press?”

R.J. Luis entered the night as St. John’s’ leading scorer but only had two points with three-quarters of the contest complete. But shortly thereafter, Richmond found him free for a layup. After the basket, the Johnnies went into a press, challenging the Musketeer inbounds pass, then dropping back to defensive positions. Though the Red Storm initially did not force turnovers, they did force Xavier to take time off the 30-second shot clock to beat the pressure. Instead of getting organized with 25 or 26 seconds to shoot, as was the case earlier in the game, Xavier was now starting its offense with 21 or 22 seconds to shoot.

Frustrated Musketeers began to throw up off-balanced shots, knowing that the shot clock was running down. Red Storm defenders held firm on the defensive boards whenever a shot went up.

Luis suddenly became more involved, mostly off drives to the basket.

With 10:39 to play, Scott found Ejiofor alone under the basket and hit him for a two-foot turnaround, and the Xavier lead was down from 16 to six with still ten minutes to play. The crowd sensed the tide turning and roared, “Defense … defense”.

The drama of the game was rising. Marcus Foster of Xavier responded with a three, stretching the lead back to nine. Then, with 9:51 to play, Scott was fouled while shooting a three. A fan nervously responded, “He’d better make them. We need them”. When Scott hit the third of his three shots, the fans started to believe that the team could recover from a large deficit and that another miracle finish was on the way.

With five minutes to play, two Wilcher free throws cut the lead to three. Scott’s defensive pressure led to a Musketeer turnover, and Richmond hit a ten-foot jumper, and the deficit was down to one.

After the final regulation media timeout with 3:52 to play, Richmond drove down the right of the lane for a layup and the Red Storm’s first lead since the middle of the first half. The crowd roared its approval, and the roar doubled in volume after Luis stole Xavier’s inbounds pass and laid the ball in for a three-point lead.

A minute later, Xavier pulled back ahead as Conwell hit a three, and the Johnnies were down by two but had the ball. Unable to score, they fouled Jerome Hunter. Hunter had a chance to extend the lead with 1:18 to play but missed the first of a one-and-one. Luis took down the rebound and pushed the ball upcourt, finding Richmond for a layup, tying the score.

Overtime

With the score tied at 65, Richmond stole a Xavier pass. He passed to Wilcher, who fed Ejiofor for a layup, putting the Johnnies back in the lead. They wouldn’t relinquish the lead and walked off the court with a 79-71 victory.

Takeaway #1: St. John’s is winning without the three-point shot

At the end of the first half, the Johnnies were behind by ten points and made only one of nine three-point attempts. St. John’s only took three attempts from deep in the second half, making none, and focused on a more aggressive rim-running offense led by Kadary Richmond, who, in addition to his layups, would pull up from mid-range and hit ten-footers. R.J. Luis came alive and also hit a twelve-footer from the corner but made most of his baskets on drives or putbacks.

In the overtime session, the team looked to Zuby Ejiofor under the basket, and he responded by hitting two layups and drawing a foul, after which he hit one of two free throws. His efforts, mixed with another ten-foot jumper in the paint by Richmond, put the Red Storm up by seven with two minutes to play.

Takeaway #2: The Red Storm must stick to the defensive scouting report

Red Storm defenders were hustling in the first half but were often caught out of position when playing defense. Uncharacteristically, the team was leaving Xavier defenders free from long range. In the first half, the Musketeers hit four of six threes.

In the second half, Xavier hit four more threes but took fourteen attempts. What was the difference? Coach Pitino offered a clue. As he has shared before, the team needs to incorporate knowledge from scouting reports of opponents into their game preparation individually. This knowledge was not successfully put to use in the first half.

The good news is this. Once again, from the press conference, Coach Pitino shared that the team is a humble group, and both players and coaches know what it takes to win. “The key is humility. If you have it, you will get better.” He made it clear that the players never give up and are most willing to learn.

Takeaway #3: St. John’s’ depth is getting tested

At the beginning of the year, there was a reasonable discussion about who deserves what amount of playing time. With Brady Dunlap out indefinitely and Deivon Smith out for an uncertain amount of time, the team’s depth is in question.

The five starters are strong offensively and defensively. In many ways, they are interchangeable. We have seen Luis, Scott, and Richmond play in the backcourt and on the wing. Ejiofor can play wing or center. Wilcher is mostly a backcourt player.

Prey has been a good defender and rebounder, and Iwuchukwu is stronger offensively but not quite as mobile as Prey is on defense. They will adequately serve to give Ejiofor a breather.

Jaiden Glover and Lefteris Liotopoulos can provide relief, but it is uncertain how well they can perform over long stretches.

Deivon Smith is a solid point guard who can lead the way, but will they be ready for a tough away game at Georgetown?

Georgetown, Marquette, and Connecticut are uptempo teams, and fatigue can come into play. Hopefully, Smith is back, and one or more reserves will step up once St. John’s reaches this part of the schedule.

Outlook

Being 17-3 at this stage of the season is special, but the team still has four games remaining against Big East contenders Connecticut and Marquette. In addition, as was evident in the second game with Xavier, opponents will be more prepared for when the Johnnies are playing the second game of two-game sets.

The team’s character is unquestionable, and the defensive effort is well-established. Fans can expect a competitive game no matter who the opponent is. The lack of three-point shooting is apparent. Whenever Smith returns, this may improve not only due to his own shooting but also the speed at which he plays and his ability to distribute the ball to teammates.

The Johnnies improved last year by leaps and bounds about this time of the year. With a humble group, willing to learn, a late January and February improvement is reasonable to expect.

St. John’s moves onto Georgetown, a winnable game, but it will be a challenging road test. If each player studies the scouting reports and takes them to heart, it is reasonable to expect a victory.