After its win over third-ranked Connecticut last Friday, expectations for the Red Storm were rising. However, the coaches and players were careful to focus on “One game at a time”.
Fans were talking about
Tre Carroll of Xavier, who torched the Johnnies for 31 points in the first meeting in January. Who would draw the assignment to guard him?
First Half
The Red Storm once again opened with the same starting lineup that had started during the winning streak: Zuby Ejiofor, Dillon Mitchell, Oziyah Sellers, Ian Jackson, and Bryce Hopkins.
Hopkins was given the task of guarding Carroll, and the first time down the court, Carroll drove down the left side and hit a ten-footer from the left that gave Xavier an early lead.
One minute later, Sellers hit a three-pointer from the top of the key, assisted by Jackson. After holding the Musketeers on their next possession, Hopkins freed himself with a spin move down the left side and hit a layup. The Johnnies led 5-2.
Jovan Millicevic hit a three-pointer and brought Xavier within one. Zuby Ejiofor made a layup assisted by Mitchell, and the Red Storm was up 7-4. The passing between the Johnnies frontcourt was, once again, very evident.
Hopkins was active, driving to the basket as Ejiofor was setting up around the foul line, drawing Xavier forwards away from the basket. Hopkins seemed a step quicker and definitely more aggressive than earlier in the year. In the first four minutes, he hit two layups and drew the second foul on Carroll, who left the game for extended minutes. Red Storm fans smiled at one another, but the Musketeers, with their leading scorer out for extended minutes, found other teammates ready to step in. A three-pointer by Malik Messina-Moore brought Xavier within one at 14-13.
The game remained a one-point game for a minute and a half until Jackson made a three-pointer to extend the lead to 17-13, but an 11-2 run pushed the Musketeers ahead by five at 24-19 despite Carroll sitting on the bench.
Hopkins committed his second foul at the 7:59 mark of the half and had to leave the game. Forty-five seconds later, Carroll returned. But it was not Carroll who stood out. It was Dylan Darling who had entered the game. He stole the ball and four seconds later hit a driving layup to bring the Johnnies within one. Then, a minute and a half later, he hit a layup and was fouled, converting the free throw to tie the game at 26.
The game went back and forth for the rest of the half, with the Johnnies pulling ahead by three on a Darling three with 11 seconds to play, only to allow Xavier to tie the score on a three with a second to play.
Halftime
With the score tied at 42, little separated either team in the stat column. The Johnnies shot 48.6 percent, but that was more than matched by Xavier. The Musketeers nailed 54.5 percent of their field goals, even with top scorer Tre Carroll only scoring four points and sitting for long stretches due to foul trouble. The Johnnies were outrebounding the Muskies, 19-16, and had an 8-3 lead on the offensive boards.
Red Storm fans felt some uncertainty at the break. What if Carroll gets hot and takes over the contest? The Johnnies were led by the front-court duo of Ejiofor (11 points) and Hopkins, with eight. Dillon Mitchell, though he didn’t score, led the team, taking down four rebounds.
Second Half
The teams played a competitive second half, with the difference in scoring being no more than two until a Milicevic three-pointer put the Musketeers up by four with 14:14 to play. Later, Ejiofor from the foul line hit a cutting Hopkins, who was fouled and hit one of his two shots at the stripe. On Xavier’s next possession, Ejiofor blocked a Xavier shot, and Darling took down the rebound. He pushed the ball up the court, passed to Hopkins, who forwarded the ball to a driving Ejiofor for a layup, cutting the lead to one at 58-57. Isaiah Walker hit a layup, and St. John’s finally found the three-point basket they had been wishing for. Sadiku Ibine Ayo was left wide open by the Musketeers on the right wing and hit the game-tying three to send the Garden into hysterics.
For the next two minutes, the game remained no more than two points apart. A brief five-point lead by Xavier was reduced by a Sellers dunk off a Hopkins assist, then two free throws by Hopkins.
It was a time for Carroll, who would score 17 points in the second half, and Darling to take over in the final five minutes. Within 45 seconds, Darling converted two free throws, assisted Mitchell in a layup, then rebounded a Carroll miss and drove down the court for a layup, giving the Johnnies a three-point lead.
With the score tied, Carroll drove and laid the ball in at the 46 seconds to play to give Xavier a 78-76 lead. In response, the Johnnies missed three times, but hit the offensive board after each attempt. On the fourth attempt, Sellers tipped in his own miss, tying the score at 78.
Tre Carroll had one more chance to send the St. John’s fans home miserable. However, Dillon Mitchell stonewalled Xavier’s star and forced him to hoist a mid-range jumper that missed everything as the second-half buzzer sounded with each team deadlocked, sending the game to overtime.
Overtime
Beginning the overtime, three Musketeer players had four fouls. Twenty-two seconds in, Ejiofor hit a 19-footer for a two-point lead off a Mitchell assist. A minute later, Xavier hit a twenty-footer to tie the score. In the next minute and a half, Ejiofor, then Hopkins, and once again Ejiofor hit both foul shots on each trip to the line, and the Johnnies come away with a five-point victory, 87-82.
Takeaway #1: The backcourt needs to assert themselves more defensively
In the press conference after the game, Coach Pitino praised his team’s defense for stepping up at the end of close games when it was truly needed, then he clarified that he was not happy with the defense for most of the game. Xavier converted 54.6% of their shots in the first half despite their best shooter dealing with foul trouble. Coach Pitino stated that his frontcourt plays tough defense, but some of the Johnnies guards have to stop backing up and go chest-to-chest with their opponents.
In the upcoming game at Providence this Saturday, fans should watch the Red Storm guards in particular. Are they playing chest-to-chest, or are they backpedaling, looking for a steal opportunity but giving up valuable ground? It is not only giving up a better shot for one’s opponent but also allowing the opponent to be in a better position for an offensive rebound should the shooter miss.
Coach Pitino summarized the team’s defense as “they are not an overpowering defensive team like last year’s team was”.
Takeaway #2: Each player is capable of bringing something to the table defensively
Zuby Ejiofor and Dillon Mitchell are clearly the best defenders on the team. They cover for each other, particularly when Ejiofor is away from the basket. Both will block shots and rebound. Most importantly, they have no problem playing tight, forcing opponents to take shots out of their range or off-balance.
Bryce Hopkins is picking up pace in every game on offense and defense. He has fast hands and hits the defensive boards. His quickness helps him step into passing lanes for steals. He was assigned the best scorer on Xavier, and for one half, he kept the lid on Tre Carroll’s output.
Ruben Prey can defend bigs, and like Zuby Ejiofor, can pick up ball-handlers away from the basket. He always hustles and is not afraid to dive on the floor for loose balls. He’s an excellent sub to give front-court players a rest.
Sadiku Ibine Ayo is considered a defensive specialist. He’s quick enough to stay with opposing guards and tough enough to go chest to chest with opponents.
Joson Sanon and Ian Jackson came to St. John’s for their offensive skills and have been learning Pitino’s defensive system. Each sophomore is quick and seems to have found their niche in the constantly switching systems. Do they play chest-to-chest? It is worth looking into for the Providence game. The Friars have good long-range shooters like Jamier Jones and Stefan Vaaks. Is the answer playing them tighter and chest-to-chest?
Oziyah Sellers seems to have good lateral movement and can play away from the basket or assist under the basket. He will crash the glass toward the defensive boards and be an extra body to assist the frontcourt. He has gotten off the floor on occasion to block an opponent’s shot.
At six feet, one inch tall, Dylan Darling is a chest-to-chest player except if a switch puts him on a seven-footer. Somehow, when caught in this situation, he finds a way to annoy his opponent. When waiting for opposing guards coming across the mid-court line, Darling does not give ground easily and challenges opponents, causing them to take valuable time off the 30-second clock. His quick hands will, at times, result in a steal and an aggressive trip downcourt for an unopposed layup.
We know that other rotation players also play hard and provide competition for their teammates during practice. However, we have not seen them enough in game action to offer an accurate assessment of their defensive skills.
Takeaway #3: St. John’s still has a ceiling they haven’t reached
There is still improvement for this team. Coach Pitino talked about defensive mismatches that were apparent earlier in the game. The corrections the team made near the game’s end resulted in a more controlling defense.
Can such corrections be made to create easier attempts from long range? Perhaps, hitting the three-point attempts in the mid-thirties would give the team a weapon that would be available when needed.
Outlook
It has been a one-game-at-a-time approach, and that’s fine with the coaching staff and the players on this St. John’s team. That kind of mentality has been successful since the Providence loss, and the players have been focused. Perhaps the one lesson to be learned and incorporated for the Providence team is to draw the line in the sand when playing defense: Nothing open, nothing easy. Go Johnnies.
