good to see young men step up and play more the way Rick wants. Despite giving up 82 tonight they actually looked better on defense in second half closing out on 3's better than in 1st half. They was more talking on defense so switches were more efficient. Joel handled the low post effectively and did it without picking up fouls.
(Charleston Classic) Utah, Sun., Nov. 19, 5:30p, ESPN
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Silly Donovan
Well-known member
Just got back from the arena where Houston destroyed Dayton. If we played against Dayton the way we played today, no way Dayton beats the Johnnies.
What a great game and effort by our kids today. Unlike in the past few games, every time Utah made a run, the Johnnies responded with a run of their own. Only thing that needs a little work was ending a game with a considerable lead. That was a bit hairy for me.
What a great game and effort by our kids today. Unlike in the past few games, every time Utah made a run, the Johnnies responded with a run of their own. Only thing that needs a little work was ending a game with a considerable lead. That was a bit hairy for me.
How do you figure, they scored over 50 points on us in the second half?
St. John’s shows its potential in win over Utah as defense impresses
In Rick Pitino’s fifth game as the Johnnies coach, the St. John’s team experts projected to be one of the better squads in the Big East showed its potential.
nypost.com
St. John's reinvigorated by defeating tough Utah team
By Roger Rubin
CHARLESTON, S.C. — If this St. John’s season ends up being the breakthrough that begins Rick Pitino’s promised ascent back to college basketball’s elite, all may look back on Sunday night’s performance as the turning point..
The Red Storm may have found its identity, formed in the image that Pitino has sought to shape. They played fast and moved the ball quickly to find the open man on offense and played tough man-to-man defense. They scored three-pointers in bunches and didn’t give them up when it mattered most. And they withstood a late charge and finished off a very strong Utah team for a 91-82 victory in the Charleston Classic third-place game at TD Arena.
“We beat a tremendous team tonight . . . it’s flat-out great to finish third,” a clearly please Pitino said. “We finished in third and we’re a little disappointed we didn’t win it. But we’re elated to come out of this 2-1 [in the three games].”
For the second game in a row, St. John’s (3-2) played its best first half, but this time they showed a will to win in the second half this time when the opposition made a run at them. In the end, several of the Storm players had turned in their best game of the season to date.
Daniss Jenkins had 19 points and eight assists, Jordan Dingle had 18 points including four three-pointers and five assists, Chris Ledlum had 15 points and nine rebounds and Joel Soriano had 12 points and 15 rebounds for St. John’s. Nahiem Alleyne came off the bench with 10 points and showed he could play a very important role for the Storm.
“The best thing about tonight was we finally played I would say closer to a complete game,” said Dingle, who credited the large contingent of St. John’s fans that made the trip. “Our energy with everybody on the team and the coaching staff was amazing. We really picked each other up. I was really proud to see us playing so hard for 40 minutes.”
St. John’s followed a very strong first half by staggering in the early going of the second. Utah (3-2) scored the first 11 points while the Storm made four turnovers and turned a nine-point halftime deficit into a 54-52 lead. The Storm didn’t respond well to second-half bursts in the Michigan and Dayton losses, but it did this time.
They answered with a 19-6 burst dotted with highlight reel plays. On consecutive possessions Dingle shucked a pair of defenders at the perimeter and drove the lane for a massive two-handed dunk over 6-9 Ben Carlson and then drained a three-pointer from the wing. Soriano capped the run by finishing an alley-oop dunk off a lob from Alleyne for a 71-60 lead.
St. John’s ended up shooting 54% including 13-for-26 on three-pointers.
St. John’s now has glimpsed its potential in the heat of competition and that means momentum going forward. Before it opens Big East play against Xavier on Dec. 20, there are five winnable games. More to the point, they faced major conference competition during this stretch of four games in seven days.
“[Utah] is really deep and they run a lot of great sets, which is kind of characteristic that a lot of the top teams we’ll play in the Big East,” Dingle said. “This team today was probably the biggest team we're going to play all year — they were huge [and] shoot the ball really well — so it’s similar to a lot of the stuff we're going to see down the line. And it's great for us to get that exposure early on and figure out what it is that we need to do as a team in order to improve on those areas where we may be lacking. This schedule has given us a great opportunity to do that.”
“Going 2-1 [here] and going home with some momentum,” Ledlum said. “I think it will set us off.”
St. John’s had some issues in its two losses with players getting tired and making mistakes because of it. That wasn’t the case against Utah because the Red Storm got 17 solid minutes from Alleyne off the bench. To this point Alleyne hadn’t contributed much and even went to Pitino and apologized for his performances before this game.
“He was a big factor tonight playing small forward,” Pitino said. “Tonight he gives us a big lift. He gets three assists, zero turnovers, one steal.”
New Yorkers are not patient. They don’t wait for the train — they look for it. And that’s been the case with those who follow the Red Storm. After two weeks of looking into a dark tunnel, they may see their train coming.
By Roger Rubin
CHARLESTON, S.C. — If this St. John’s season ends up being the breakthrough that begins Rick Pitino’s promised ascent back to college basketball’s elite, all may look back on Sunday night’s performance as the turning point..
The Red Storm may have found its identity, formed in the image that Pitino has sought to shape. They played fast and moved the ball quickly to find the open man on offense and played tough man-to-man defense. They scored three-pointers in bunches and didn’t give them up when it mattered most. And they withstood a late charge and finished off a very strong Utah team for a 91-82 victory in the Charleston Classic third-place game at TD Arena.
“We beat a tremendous team tonight . . . it’s flat-out great to finish third,” a clearly please Pitino said. “We finished in third and we’re a little disappointed we didn’t win it. But we’re elated to come out of this 2-1 [in the three games].”
For the second game in a row, St. John’s (3-2) played its best first half, but this time they showed a will to win in the second half this time when the opposition made a run at them. In the end, several of the Storm players had turned in their best game of the season to date.
Daniss Jenkins had 19 points and eight assists, Jordan Dingle had 18 points including four three-pointers and five assists, Chris Ledlum had 15 points and nine rebounds and Joel Soriano had 12 points and 15 rebounds for St. John’s. Nahiem Alleyne came off the bench with 10 points and showed he could play a very important role for the Storm.
“The best thing about tonight was we finally played I would say closer to a complete game,” said Dingle, who credited the large contingent of St. John’s fans that made the trip. “Our energy with everybody on the team and the coaching staff was amazing. We really picked each other up. I was really proud to see us playing so hard for 40 minutes.”
St. John’s followed a very strong first half by staggering in the early going of the second. Utah (3-2) scored the first 11 points while the Storm made four turnovers and turned a nine-point halftime deficit into a 54-52 lead. The Storm didn’t respond well to second-half bursts in the Michigan and Dayton losses, but it did this time.
They answered with a 19-6 burst dotted with highlight reel plays. On consecutive possessions Dingle shucked a pair of defenders at the perimeter and drove the lane for a massive two-handed dunk over 6-9 Ben Carlson and then drained a three-pointer from the wing. Soriano capped the run by finishing an alley-oop dunk off a lob from Alleyne for a 71-60 lead.
St. John’s ended up shooting 54% including 13-for-26 on three-pointers.
St. John’s now has glimpsed its potential in the heat of competition and that means momentum going forward. Before it opens Big East play against Xavier on Dec. 20, there are five winnable games. More to the point, they faced major conference competition during this stretch of four games in seven days.
“[Utah] is really deep and they run a lot of great sets, which is kind of characteristic that a lot of the top teams we’ll play in the Big East,” Dingle said. “This team today was probably the biggest team we're going to play all year — they were huge [and] shoot the ball really well — so it’s similar to a lot of the stuff we're going to see down the line. And it's great for us to get that exposure early on and figure out what it is that we need to do as a team in order to improve on those areas where we may be lacking. This schedule has given us a great opportunity to do that.”
“Going 2-1 [here] and going home with some momentum,” Ledlum said. “I think it will set us off.”
St. John’s had some issues in its two losses with players getting tired and making mistakes because of it. That wasn’t the case against Utah because the Red Storm got 17 solid minutes from Alleyne off the bench. To this point Alleyne hadn’t contributed much and even went to Pitino and apologized for his performances before this game.
“He was a big factor tonight playing small forward,” Pitino said. “Tonight he gives us a big lift. He gets three assists, zero turnovers, one steal.”
New Yorkers are not patient. They don’t wait for the train — they look for it. And that’s been the case with those who follow the Red Storm. After two weeks of looking into a dark tunnel, they may see their train coming.
Relax, we beat a very slow team that made Jenkins look like McDaniel. The bar has still been lowered significantly with what happened in Charleston and that is very disappointing.
But we are still alive. A loss to Utah and we would have essentially been done.
I went into Michigan expecting, maybe unfairly, to win a game in the NCAA tournament. Now I’m hoping we can slide into the tournament by the skin of our teeth.
Agree. That said, our guys are clearly far from a finished product and Rick P was very clear that we aren’t near the team we will be in a month or two. It’s obvious though that we have 11 new guys and are still struggling to play Pitino-ball together but we are getting better at it rapidly. That said, we have played almost all good teams thus far this year, if not powerhouses. We’ve been tested and maybe should have one loss to Michigan at this point if we were a bit more together against Dayton.
The positive is we are healthy and I see us continuing to improve. Pitino will have us playing good ball down the stretch I think and for being in year 1 of a total revamp, the real talent is yet to be added. Time to keep building and improving.
There are a lot of dumb posts on this site!
Great pic!
passitback
Well-known member
Classic line that defines NY to the core!!!
"New Yorkers are not patient. They don’t wait for the train — they look for it."
I think this is too pessimistic but as a long suffering fan, I get it.
To early in the season to make predictions fir the rest of the season. Luis hasn’t played yet. And the rotations are not set yet.
Saint Johns has a coach who knows what he is doing. He’s been around the game and been successful everywhere he’s been. If Anderson was still coaching I would agree with you.
billthetruth
Well-known member
You are nuts…you said the season was on the brink last night on November 19th and SJU under Rick Pitino was going 7-13 in conference this year.
Please tell me you were not being serious. Because those were the two stupidest statements (and that is saying something) I have read on this site in years.
Silly Donovan
Well-known member
I wouldn’t be too harsh on Marillac2 and others who were ready to give up on the season already. While I do believe that posters calling the season on the brink at this point in time was a bit premature and over the top, I get it. This program has us conditioned to expect the worst which usually happens. What people need to focus on is that there is a new sheriff in town and a new mind set. Last night was an eye opener of the team’s potential. And while there will still be bumps in the road along the way, for the first time in a very long time there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
While yesterdays game definitely was encouraging, let's face facts; Utah is one of the most unathletic high D1 teams we'll face all year. We've struggled against the 3 athletic teams that we've faced so far. Hopefully we improve on yesterday, but I'm not about to pass judgement on this team till we get to conference play.
Silly Donovan
Well-known member
However, Utah took a very good Houston team (that destroyed Dayton) down to the wire with some game ending free throws that won it for Houston. Perhaps while big, their one big guy was a step slow but Utahs wings were not. Much credit to some good D played by our guys.There were definitely some positives to take away from this game.
billthetruth
Well-known member
Utah is also cut out of the mold of the teams that have beaten our brains out over the last 3 decades.
Pop in the BYU vs. St. John’s game from a few years ago at Mohegan Sun for reference.
No need to denigrate a win over a quality Quad 2 opponent who many on Friday said we had no shot of beating given their height and 3 point marksmanship.
Rick Pitino is the GOAT and this team will get exponentially better as season goes on.,,take that to the bank.
billthetruth
Well-known member
Fair points Monte but don’t sell Utah short. They are a good team. So is Dayton who if we were to face them in another month we beat IMHO