@Creighton, Tue., Dec. 31, 4p, PEACOCK

[rehobie]

The definite of insanity is …..

We are getting nothing from Scott, yet he is getting big minutes. We need a rotation change.

I suggest we go big and put Vince at center and Zuby at power forward. Sprinkle in some of Luis, Scott and the three guards to fill out the rotation.

 

[Larry Wright]

We didn't lose because of Kadary yesterday. He shot 4 of 10 and played solid defense and rebounded.

Jenkins is as the worst clutch “bucket getter” in the history of the program. Do you not remember we lost last year because he missed two shots and failed to secure a rebound in the last 3 possessions of the game. Swap Jenkins for Richmond and this is an NIT team again. All of our shortcomings tonight can be remedied. There was no fixing Jenkins.

You have to stop with that. I was annoyed with Jenkins last year as well but only a crazy person would claim Kadary has been a better player so far.

 

[redmanwest]

[

If you watch the end of that game there are 3 guys open with their hands out begging for the ball. Of course there was zero chance that RJ was going to do anything other than what he did.

Maybe at some point he will figure out that the fact that the whole world knows that makes him too easy to defend and the only thing that saves him is his superior athletic ability, which is not going to get him nearly as far against high level competition as it does against some teams.

THIS exactly.

 

[SLYFOXX1968]

How's that working out for Sha?

We didn't lose because of Kadary yesterday. He shot 4 of 10 and played solid defense and rebounded.

Jenkins is as the worst clutch “bucket getter” in the history of the program. Do you not remember we lost last year because he missed two shots and failed to secure a rebound in the last 3 possessions of the game. Swap Jenkins for Richmond and this is an NIT team again. All of our shortcomings tonight can be remedied. There was no fixing Jenkins.

We didn't lose because of Kadary yesterday. He shot 4 of 10 and played solid defense and rebounded.

Jenkins is as the worst clutch “bucket getter” in the history of the program. Do you not remember we lost last year because he missed two shots and failed to secure a rebound in the last 3 possessions of the game. Swap Jenkins for Richmond and this is an NIT team again. All of our shortcomings tonight can be remedied. There was no fixing Jenkins.

You might need therapy . You are sadly disillusioned about Jenkins .
Always have been . If a survey were taken among fans here , Jenkins would be a overwhelming choice over Richmond . At least I think that would be the result. Richmond , frankly , has been awful , lazy ,out of shape and missing at crunch time . Terrible shooter and can’t make Free throws .,
For a million bucks , he’s been a terrible investment .
KR will never see the NBA , even on a 2 way contract .
He might not even see the G league .

 

[Silly Donovan]

Scott= yet another "up" transfer struggling with the higher level of competition. Can't say I'm shocked when this happens to anyone, now, even though I know there are some who have beaten that handicap.

He probably drilled the corner three against AAC teams, but here, the defender gets there 1 or 2 seconds sooner, and are probably 1 or 2 inches taller on average. That can make all the difference in the world.

Yet Scott had 13 points and 7 rebounds when St Johns beat N Texas last year 53-52 scoring a quarter of their points with only Danis Jenkins (17 points) scoring more in the game. And that was against a pretty formidable front line of Soriano and Ledlum.

 

[MJDinkins]

Dingle and Ledlum were smarter and tougher than most of the players on the StJ’s roster this season. St’s would be a better team if either or both were on this years roster.
………

Question: can anyone explain why Pitino did not push the pace on offense. It seemed to me that all game StJ’s was in a slow paced motion offense rather than attempting to push the pace up the floor.
………

Ashworth proves that better basketball players do not have to be athletic.

.

Ashworth is a better athlete than given credit. He won't wow you as a speedster and high-rise, but he quickly sets his feet on shots and adeptly uses angles when given a bit of space on drives (although he may not always turn the corner, so to speak).

 

[espken]

The narrative about Ashworth can be said for a million other guys not named Rex Chapman, Jason Williams (obviously not our Jayson) or Matt McClung.

 

[MJDinkins]

Just about every Big East team has a guy or a defense that is going to result in an RJ failure or turnover at the end of a game if we do what we did yesterday. You cannot get away with 4th grade basketball against high major competition. He may hit a few if someone makes a mistake or he gets lucky. But his predicability will be his downfall

As much as I love Luis, he is typically predictable. He's either going to lower his head like a running back and bully his way towards the basket (results tend to differ) or pull up for a jumper. He has shown the ability, this season, he can be a really solid passer when he decides to give up the rock but he doesn't do it enough IMO.

Yesterday, he should've relied on his pull-up jumper once he got a second opportunity to win the game (although he was fouled IMO) as he has been hitting that shot with decent consistency.

 

[SLYFOXX1968]

How's that working out for Sha?

Despite the Hall this season , I doubt Holloway is bemoaning the loss of KR. Remember KR left SH for a 2 game stretch last year and Holloway never gave a explanation but ….
I will say that over and over .
Sha has been outspoken about Players who don’t listen , don’t read scouting reports , don’t follow his plays or instructions , etc .
He didn’t name any but , it’s a result of NIL and transfer portal .
Free agents are ruining College Sports . Both , BB and football .

 

[lycidas]

Ashworth is a better athlete than given credit. He won't wow you as a speedster and high-rise, but he quickly sets his feet on shots and adeptly uses angles when given a bit of space on drives (although he may not always turn the corner, so to speak).

But Ashworth, as a point guard, is an inferior ball handler. He lost the ball twice yesterday without being guarded and had 10 turnovers.

He made a few deep 3’s off deflected balls and broken plays that ultimately were the difference in a one point game, but he would have been the reason they lost had RJ’s shot gone in.

 

[Knight]

Like many of you, I'm disappointed in KR's play thus far. Watching him shoot free throws is cringeworthy. To drop from an 80%+ FT shooter to where he is, makes me wonder if he is injured. Simple way to improve his FTs is to shoot like I learned as a kid--shoot, arcing his shot to hit the inside back of the front rim.

 

[Jack Williams]

Gee whiz . What games have you been watching? .
Excellent defense ? Where ? On the ball maybe but , can’t defend a 3 to even a little bit
Camden of Delaware torched us for 33 in the game prior . Yesterday the Blue Jays scored 27 points from 3 point distance . That won them the game !
Who cares if Ashworth turned it over 10 times . Did we score off those miscues?
He dropped 18 against us with 4 3’s . We had no one , Smith , KR , Wilcher , etc who defended him from 3 . He’s the type of non athletic player who over time kills us in games . Time and again .

Creighton is averaging 75.4 PPG this season. We held them to 57. You take that everytime especially at their place. They average 10 threes a game. We held them to 9. Not incredible but, you don’t play Creighton and expect them to hit 0 threes. They’re gonna get some.

We competed well on defense. There were miscues but there always are. Ashworth had 10 turnovers and 6-18 from the field. To act like we didn’t make things difficult on him is absurd. The shots he hit were mostly off of broken plays from offensive rebounds. It happens.

Sometimes feels like for the team to get a compliment from some of you guys they’d have to hold the team to 0 points. We lost the game on offense

 

[MugCostanza]

[

If you watch the end of that game there are 3 guys open with their hands out begging for the ball. Of course there was zero chance that RJ was going to do anything other than what he did.

Maybe at some point he will figure out that the fact that the whole world knows that makes him too easy to defend and the only thing that saves him is his superior athletic ability, which is not going to get him nearly as far against high level competition as it does against some teams.

RJ needs one of those practices where he's not allowed to shoot during the 5 on 5 portion but only him and the coaches are in on it.

 

[SLYFOXX1968]

But Ashworth, as a point guard, is an inferior ball handler. He lost the ball twice yesterday without being guarded and had 10 turnovers.

He made a few deep 3’s off deflected balls and broken plays that ultimately were the difference in a one point game, but he would have been the reason they lost had RJ’s shot gone in.

All that about Ashworth matters little . He’s a shooter and had 12 points off 3’s and we had 6 .
If you are as good a shooter as he is , you don’t quibble about his defense , turnovers , lack of Athleticism , jumping ability , etc
Your right though , he’s playing out of position as PG , he’s a SG but, McDermott has enough faith in him to handle the ball a lot .
He was on the winning team yesterday and was 1 of the reasons why Creighton won .

 

[tom in salem]

A disappointing loss, but it’s not worth all the angst on this board today. Our defense is excellent, our ball movement is generally good and our shot selection is fine. (RJ still forces it too much, but he also makes things happen.). We’re not good from long range - other than Scott. That’s a weakness, not a terminal illness…

What does concern me is free throw shooting. That simply has to get better.

Smith and Wilcher both above 40% from 3. Scott 27%. Team is 33%. We've had worse.

2024-25 Men's Basketball Cumulative Statistics

The official 2024-25 Men's Basketball cumulative statistics for the St. John's University Red Storm

redstormsports.com

 

[MJDinkins]

[

If you watch the end of that game there are 3 guys open with their hands out begging for the ball. Of course there was zero chance that RJ was going to do anything other than what he did.

Maybe at some point he will figure out that the fact that the whole world knows that makes him too easy to defend and the only thing that saves him is his superior athletic ability, which is not going to get him nearly as far against high level competition as it does against some teams.

If Luis quickly swung the ball to Wilcher; Sim is wide open for a trey. He probably could've done the same for Smith and Richmond as they were near the basket.

 

[SLYFOXX1968]

Creighton is averaging 75.4 PPG this season. We held them to 57. You take that everytime especially at their place. They average 10 threes a game. We held them to 9. Not incredible but, you don’t play Creighton and expect them to hit 0 threes. They’re gonna get some.

We competed well on defense. There were miscues but there always are. Ashworth had 10 turnovers and 6-18 from the field. To act like we didn’t make things difficult on him is absurd. The shots he hit were mostly off of broken plays from offensive rebounds. It happens.

Sometimes feels like for the team to get a compliment from some of you guys they’d have to hold the team to 0 points. We lost the game on offense

Jsck, I like your posts , whether I agree with then or not.
I didn’t look it up but , we have scored in the 90’s several times this year against limited opponents and our average points per game is probably in the high 70’s or 80’s?
Holding Creighton to 57 points is immaterial . They held us to 56 . They won the game .

 

[tom in salem]

We didn't lose because of Kadary yesterday. He shot 4 of 10 and played solid defense and rebounded.

Jenkins is as the worst clutch “bucket getter” in the history of the program. Do you not remember we lost last year because he missed two shots and failed to secure a rebound in the last 3 possessions of the game. Swap Jenkins for Richmond and this is an NIT team again. All of our shortcomings tonight can be remedied. There was no fixing Jenkins.

Best post I've read in months.

 

[lawmanfan]

The narrative about Ashworth can be said for a million other guys not named Rex Chapman, Jason Williams (obviously not our Jayson) or Matt McClung.

One of these things is not like the others and that thing is McClung

 

[Jack Williams]

Jsck, I like your posts , whether I agree with then or not.
I didn’t look it up but , we have scored in the 90’s several times this year against limited opponents and our average points per game is probably in the high 70’s or 80’s?
Holding Creighton to 57 points is immaterial . They held us to 56 . They won the game .

I obviously know they held us to 56 and won the game.

The point is, your post is making the case that we didn’t play good defense because Creighton won, Ashworth hit some threes, and they scored “27 points off of threes”

If you look at the full context of Creighton as a team. Much of their offense is generated from attempting 3s. Ashworth is a huge part of their offense. To turn him over 10 times and have him shoot close to 30% from the field was a job well done by the defense of this team.

We still lost, I know that. But it doesn’t mean the defense wasn’t good. It was. You can play great defense and still lose a game. Especially when your offense is playing with zero confidence