(POST GAME) St. Peter's, Tue. Dec. 3, 6:30p, FS-1, 970 WNYW

I understand why you play an early season game vs a St Peter’s like team. However, in this market if you think people are going to come out in large numbers for a game like this you are crazy. This is a game St John’s could’ve and probably should’ve won by a lot more than 10. Scheduling games against some better competition would be helpful.

Realistically, I have a feeling based on our last several years and playing the game in Carnesecca Arena probably limits who is willing to show up in Queens. The student issue I don’t get. I would think kids not showing with free tickets is mystifying. Big night on Union Tpke I guess. Can’t worry about what you don’t control.
 
If we play as sloppy as we did against the Peacocks, we're going to be feather-dusters against WVU and most of the Big East, including perennial cellar dweller DePaul.
 
What a weird game. We come out flying and throttling them. Then towards the end of the 1st half we took our foot off the gas and let them think they had a chance down only 13 or so when it should've been 30+. Then SP comes out with a new sense of urgency and simply wanted it more. They were getting tons of rebounds and when we went to rebound we would be first to the ball, but it seemed to get knocked back out or fall out of our hands. Tons of careless play with the ball on our end. Nothing drives me crazier than seeing us on a fast break and Dunn assumes no defender is behind him about to pick his pocket. Our guys were holding onto the ball way too long including Dunn, Caraher, and Sears especially. If this game was 2 minutes longer we would've lost. They had all the momentum. Positives were most of the 1st half and Champ especially with a great game...but man that was scary in the 2nd. This wasn't Vermont it was one of the worst D1 teams in the country.

Maybe this is a wake up call for WVU game. Lots of Big East teams seem to manage to take down F5 teams even in down years pretty regularly. Would be nice if we can do that once this year against WVU because Arizona is way too tough for us at this point.
 
Maybe I'm alone here, but I'm not nearly as concerned about those last few minutes as most others appear to be.

My biggest takeaway during the game, and still now, is that Saint Peter's was getting extremely LUCKY. For instance, during the last 9 minutes they were 5/7 from 3 (before missing 2 3's during the last 23 seconds- which is why we still won by 10). A lot of those 3's I believe were contested.

Even bigger, they were winning every 50-50 ball. Not necessarily due to effort, but rather getting lucky bounces. For instance, there was a sequence where they were fouled, hit the first, missed the second, and then got the rebound due to a lucky bounce. Then they hit a 3. 4 point play.

Don't get me wrong, we were playing poorly and looked to have been a bit shook, but the only reason they got it so close was a stretch of 1. cold shooting from us 2. hot shooting from them 3. them getting lucky (winning EVERY 50/50 battle). Take away any of those 3 and we win by at least 15-20 and everyone leaves bored rather than slightly stressed.

All of our 7 wins have been by double digits. I don't think we've suddenly become a bad team due to a 10 minute stretch out of 360 (2.7%). This is just an overreaction due to recency bias and a strange set of events where everything went wrong for us and right for them. As we all know this scare happens to every team at least once during the season (even Duke and Kentucky). The question is whether or not you will keep your composure and escape with the win. End of the day we got the W and still won by the maximum NET will allow, which is true for every cupcake game this season.

I'm sure CMA will be running extra practices (as he should- we played poorly at the end), but as a fan I'm not concerned and happy with the end result.
 
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[quote="Zeeman" post=365917]Those 3's at the end of the game looked far more open then contested.[/quote]

They might have been, I can't remember. That's the only part I wasn't sure of, which is why I stated "I believe" before. I also believe the open ones were due to them getting long offensive rebounds and the defense not being set yet. Regardless, going 5/7 (even if all 7 were wide open- which I doubt) is still better than they should do (aka lucky).

It was a bad stretch and I'm not denying that, I just don't think it was nearly as bad as it looked. If a couple of those 50-50 balls went our way then it never would have gotten within single digits. I'm confident if we replayed those last 9 minutes we would have still won >99% of the time.
 
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Honestly, I didn't even think we were playing our game, when we were ahead 28-6. That was all on the back of perimeter shooting, which is not our game, at all.

It's tough to get upset over that, because they were good, open shots, created by good ball movement, and they were going in. However, even then, I felt it was not sustainable. Obviously, Holloway felt the same way, because he never really changed his defensive philosophy.

I actually liked our play better, in the first 12 minutes of the second half. That was more along the lines of what we want to do, IMO.
 
I wouldn't worry too much about this WIN. It is natural for athletes to play down or up to their competition, what I saw in the second half was unmotivated players whom were comfortable with the lead they built and then they got punched in the face by a hungry opponent. I have faith that this coaching staff is able to change this; onto the next game and Big East Play. Time to get tested.....
 
I think that this "win" can be a good learning experience. Seems we looked past this opponent midway through the first half, and repeated that in the second half.
 
[quote="Knight" post=365833]19 turnovers and out rebounded 44-40. Not impressed with the coaching tonight either.[/quote]


Totally out hustled and outplayed in the second half. The whole team was out of sync poor, passing and turnovers were plentiful. And how about St.Peter's hitting the boards. Champagnie continues to shine. Can't wait for Steere to return, Sears is no threat, shouldn't get many minutes in B.E play.. Did Earlington do anything wrong, just wondering after he took a three pointer with 10 minutes left he was removed and didn't return.
 
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[quote="JackofVirginia" post=365986][quote="Knight" post=365833]19 turnovers and out rebounded 44-40. Not impressed with the coaching tonight either.[/quote]


Totally out hustled and outplayed in the second half. The whole team was out of sync poor, passing and turnovers were plentiful. And how about St.Peter's hitting the boards. Champagnie continues to shine. Can't wait for Steere to return, Sears is no threat, shouldn't get many minutes in B.E play.. Did Earlington do anything wrong, just wondering after he took a three pointer with 10 minutes left he was removed and didn't return.[/quote]

Marcellus took a 3 pointer and missed. That's not his assignment. It would have been ok on the free for all Mullin teams. CMA seems to expect his players to play to their strengths and not their weaknesses.
 
[quote="redmannorth" post=365900][quote="SJU11Redmen" post=365895]Took a look back, this was the most lightly attended regular season home game (attendance: 2,845) since December 8, 2008 when we beat an NJIT team in the midst of an historic losing streak. 2,808 fans attended that game. The game featured a long delay while they had to replace a basket.[/quote]

Truth be told told this staff deserves a great deal of fan support , much more so than any other staff since Louie retired. There are working super hard in all aspects and are putting a good product on the floor. Last year we either knocked or defended the staff for playing the starters the entire cup cake tour and then had no bench when BE games rolled around. I would much rather see coach play his entire bench during the weaker part of the schedule and provide everyone with game experience than win by a greater margin and have no bench ready when the time comes , and it will. At least we all know that Dunn, Caraher, Earlington, Williams and Damian have all been in game situations and the staff has a solid idea of what they can expect from them.[/quote]
Agree. Remarked to my friend last night at game, that MA was intentionally using combinations that did not include the starters. Obviously trying to develop depth when the opportunity presents itself
 
[quote="JackofVirginia" post=365986][quote="Knight" post=365833]19 turnovers and out rebounded 44-40. Not impressed with the coaching tonight either.[/quote]


Totally out hustled and outplayed in the second half. The whole team was out of sync poor, passing and turnovers were plentiful. And how about St.Peter's hitting the boards. Champagnie continues to shine. Can't wait for Steere to return, Sears is no threat, shouldn't get many minutes in B.E play.. Did Earlington do anything wrong, just wondering after he took a three pointer with 10 minutes left he was removed and didn't return.[/quote]
Re: Earlington

I said he would be pulled as soon as he shot it. He has been chided for taking those shots going back to the open practice. I respect fact that MA wont tolerate mental errors.

Rutherford also knew he was coming out as soon as he made a careless pass.
 
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