“Ponds is the linchpin to everything St. John’s does. He’s a good three-point shooter (36-for-90, 40%), he’s an effective scorer off the dribble who can finish at the rim with a variety of acrobatic moves that create space despite his 6’1″, 180 pound frame, and he’s skilled at drawing fouls around the basket (his 44.9% free throw rate — FT attempts divided by FG attempts — is one of the tops in the country; he’s 79-for-97 at the line). His ballhandling and vision is key to their transition game. And in the half court, they need his ability to attack the basket and kick it out to open shooters in the corners when defenses collapse on him. Without him on the floor, defenses don’t have to collapse on drivers, which in turn takes away their open looks from three-point range. For a team who takes 40% of their shots from three-point range, that’s a big problem.
Ponds is officially listed as day-to-day. I’d expect him to play, but with St. John’s who knows? Marcus LoVett was listed as day-to-day for damn near three months last season and wound up missing nearly the entire season.
Creighton is in nearly the same boat at this point, unfortunately. With Damien Jefferson also day-to-day, and Jacob Epperson done for the season, Creighton’s bench is woefully thin.
“Without Damien today, there were a couple of times where I felt like Marcus needed a break, or we just needed to get him off the floor for a second to calm him down, and we couldn’t,” Greg McDermott said in his postgame radio show after the loss to Villanova. “Ty-Shon had a stretch in the second half where he was a little rushed, too. But I talked to my staff, and we were like, we just have to roll with it — we have to go with what we have.”
“It was unfortunate DJ couldn’t go today,” McDermott continued. “He’s played some good basketball for us. I don’t know for certain when we’ll get him back, but I’m hopeful we can get him back on the practice floor soon and at least have him for part of this next road trip.”
If Jefferson remains out for Creighton, and Ponds remains out for St. John’s, this might well become a war of attrition on Wednesday night between two teams riding their top six or seven players.”
https://whiteandbluereview.com/preg...-of-an-end-to-their-three-game-losing-streak/
Ponds is officially listed as day-to-day. I’d expect him to play, but with St. John’s who knows? Marcus LoVett was listed as day-to-day for damn near three months last season and wound up missing nearly the entire season.
Creighton is in nearly the same boat at this point, unfortunately. With Damien Jefferson also day-to-day, and Jacob Epperson done for the season, Creighton’s bench is woefully thin.
“Without Damien today, there were a couple of times where I felt like Marcus needed a break, or we just needed to get him off the floor for a second to calm him down, and we couldn’t,” Greg McDermott said in his postgame radio show after the loss to Villanova. “Ty-Shon had a stretch in the second half where he was a little rushed, too. But I talked to my staff, and we were like, we just have to roll with it — we have to go with what we have.”
“It was unfortunate DJ couldn’t go today,” McDermott continued. “He’s played some good basketball for us. I don’t know for certain when we’ll get him back, but I’m hopeful we can get him back on the practice floor soon and at least have him for part of this next road trip.”
If Jefferson remains out for Creighton, and Ponds remains out for St. John’s, this might well become a war of attrition on Wednesday night between two teams riding their top six or seven players.”
https://whiteandbluereview.com/preg...-of-an-end-to-their-three-game-losing-streak/
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