After the first two exhibition matches for St. John’s men’s basketball, Head Coach Rick Pitino was very critical of his men and the way they had played.
“Fundamentally, we’re not a good basketball team,” said Pitino after playing against Rutgers last month. “We make a lot of mistakes due to the fact that they haven’t played together.”
But in the regular season, after a solid performance against Monmouth and a dominant display against Iona, the Johnnies look ready to play.
The backcourt is legit
One component St. John’s struggled with last year was consistent guard play. Ian Jackson couldn’t reach the level he was expected to, playing out of position from his natural shooting guard. With the addition of true point guard Quinn Ellis, the former North Carolina Tar Heel can play where he feels comfortable, and it has shown.
Over the first five games, Jackson is averaging 16.8 points, almost five points higher than his freshman year career high of 11.9. He has also worked hard in other areas on the court, with 17 rebounds and 10 assists over this span. While it may be too early to make career-year claims, he is showing signs of exponential growth and could finally be shaping into the guard Pitino wants him to be.
Ellis complements this play perfectly. The English international only has one game scoring more than 10 points, but he makes up for it with his command over the court. The point guard addition is averaging eight assists and 2.8 steals per game, and has done wonders when it comes to shot creation and overall spreading the floor.
Combine this with players like Tounde Yessoufou, who provides elite minutes off the bench with 16.4 points, five rebounds, and 3.2 steals per game, and this St. John’s backcourt is ready to take on anyone.
The fundamentals are finally there
Something the Red Storm struggled with through the exhibitions was the overall fundamental play.
The team put up 19 turnovers against Drexel, led by Babacar Sane with five. The Senegalese transfer has been a point of note for Pitino as someone who has the potential to improve drastically.
“[Sane]’s got talent, but he doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing out there… I’d rather have the talent on the team that we have to teach, than a guy that doesn’t have athletic talent,” Pitino said after playing Rutgers. “He’s a wonderful, tremendous young man. [The team] voted him captain for a reason.”
Since playing against Rutgers, the Red Storm’s ability to execute the small things has gotten better with each game. The full-court press, as well as the defense in general, has been increasingly effective.
Against Iona, St. John’s only committed four turnovers, while forcing the Gaels to commit 19. Since committing 19 turnovers in the first exhibition versus Drexel, the Johnnies have yet to finish a game matching that number, with the next highest being against Rutgers with 15.
The bigs still need work
With Zuby Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins and Dillon Mitchell all graduating at the end of last year, massive holes were left in the St. John’s front-court. After five games, it’s not certain whether those holes will be filled properly.
Portuguese junior Ruben Prey was called upon to take Zuby’s spot at center this year after such a dominant campaign from the now-Atlanta Hawk. Whether he can live up to the expectation is still in question.
Prey is naturally a power forward and has shown he can be effective on the attack, but the rebounding has been lacking. He is averaging just under three rebounds a game and has some work to do defensively.
After losing junior forward Donnie Freeman to an Achilles tear, the front-court room is headlined by freshman Theo Edema, Hungarian senior Zsombor Maronka, graduate student Reed Bailey, and the aforementioned Sane
Edema has shown the most promise to compete for boards off the bench and is going to play meaningful minutes whenever Prey needs a rest. Bailey has also shown to be effective off the bench, putting up 16 rebounds off the bench through five games.
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