The hits just keep coming for St. John’s.
Hours after Malik Stith left the team for personal reasons, the Red Storm suffered yet another setback at the hands of Cincinnati. In a rivalry that normally features defensive struggles, the Bearcats walked into Madison Square Garden and thoroughly decimated an undermanned St. John’s team to the tune of a 76-54 runaway.
St. John’s will once again have to resort to a six-man rotation as they enter their final seven games of the regular season; and JohnnyJungle.com gets you caught up on the first of these matchups, a meeting with No. 11 Georgetown in which the Red Storm look to avenge a 69-49 defeat at Madison Square Garden from four weeks ago.
Date: Sunday, February 12, 2012
Location: Verizon Center; Washington, D.C.
Time: 1:00 PM EST
TV: ESPN (Bob Wischusen, Fran Fraschilla)
Radio: WBBR 1130 AM (John Minko, Tim O’Toole)
St. John’s Red Storm (10-14, 4-8)
Head Coach: Steve Lavin* (2nd season at STJ; 31-26, 176-104 overall)
*- Assistant coach Mike Dunlap will serve as interim coach while Lavin recovers from offseason prostate cancer surgery
Projected Starting Lineup:
G Phil Greene (6-2 Jr., 7.4 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 35% FG, 75% FT, 2.9 APG, 1.2 SPG)
G D’Angelo Harrison (6-3 Jr., 16.6 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 38% FG, 38% 3pt, 81% FT, 2.0 APG, 1.6 SPG)
F Amir Garrett (6-6 Fr., 6.1 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 41% FG, 54% FT, 1.0 APG, 1.1 SPG)
F Sir’Dominic Pointer (6-5 Fr., 6.4 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 41% FG, 57% FT, 1.5 APG, 1.1 BPG, 1.6 SPG)
F Moe Harkless (6-8 Fr., 15.8 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 45% FG, 65% FT, 1.5 APG, 1.6 BPG, 1.6 SPG)
Key Reserves:
F God’sgift Achiuwa (6-8 Jr., 10.3 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 55% FG, 69% FT)
Keys To Victory:
– A near-perfect game. St. John’s was fortunate to have Fordham as its opponent the first time only one man came off the bench for the Red Storm; but the task, to use a Steve Lavin phrase, is much more arduous this time around. Georgetown’s Princeton offense will open up more than one spot inside against St. John’s, which forces Moe Harkless to seemingly carry the team on his back in the paint. If D’Angelo Harrison replicates his cold shooting effort against Cincinnati, it will be a long afternoon.
– Transition. The St. John’s transition game hasn’t been seen in a long time; and if it comes back to life on Sunday, Phil Greene needs to be the reason why. Although a freshman, Greene should have the edge against Georgetown’s backcourt of combo guards that have not been able to translate their game to the point as well as the Chicago native has in his rookie campaign. Greene has been playing well lately, and needs to be more of a facilitator in the early going to set the tone before deciding to attack the basket.
– Matchup zone. When they do not drive inside or go to their world-famous backdoor cuts, Georgetown has burned many opponents from long range. St. John’s will try to be mindful of this statistic when they resort to the matchup zone defense in an attempt to combat the distance shooting of the Hoyas, who shoot 36 percent from beyond the arc as a team.
Ladies and gentlemen, your scouting report on the opponent…
No. 11 Georgetown Hoyas (18-5, 8-4)
Head Coach: John Thompson III (7th season at Georgetown; 178-78, 246-120 overall)
Projected Starting Lineup:
G Markel Starks (6-2 So., 8.0 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 47% FG, 38% 3pt, 78% FT, 1.5 APG)
G Jason Clark (6-2 Sr., 15.0 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 50% FG, 35% 3pt, 73% FT, 1.7 APG, 1.8 SPG)
F Hollis Thompson (6-8 Jr., 13.6 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 50% FG, 48% 3pt, 69% FT, 1.5 APG)
F Nate Lubick (6-8 So., 3.7 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 47% FG, 50% FT, 2.0 APG)
C Henry Sims (6-10 Sr., 11.6 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 44% FG, 74% FT, 3.6 APG, 1.5 BPG)
Key Reserves:
F Otto Porter (6-8 Fr., 8.7 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 50% FG, 70% FT, 1.7 APG, 1.2 SPG)
G Jabril Trawick (6-5 Fr., 3.8 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 41% FG, 76% FT)
F Greg Whittington (6-8 Fr., 3.2 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 31% FG, 52% FT)
F Mikael Hopkins (6-9 Fr., 2.7 PPG, 1.3 RPG, 42% FG, 80% [16/20] FT)
Keys To Victory:
– Nothing too fancy. This is one game in which Georgetown can afford to play conservative against a short Red Storm bench. Eventually, St. John’s will hit a wall physically, so the Hoyas will end up coming in with a “let them beat themselves” mentality. Don’t be too surprised if the game is close in the first half before the Hoyas pour it on down the stretch.
– Swing vote. Hollis Thompson’s 48 percent clip from three-point range leads the Big East, and that number will likely improve against the distance-challenged Red Storm. Thompson; who has been one of college basketball insider Jon Rothstein‘s many player comparisons, (“so much [former Georgetown star] Brandon Bowman in Hollis Thompson”) has the ability to exploit St. John’s from both sides of the arc.
– Ivy League influence. John Thompson III is a Princeton graduate and former coach of his alma mater, and it is evident in his Hoyas team. Not only does Georgetown run the Princeton offense better than most teams in the nation, they also take high percentage shots and are quite successful in doing so. The Hoyas shoot 46 percent from the field as a team, and five of the players in their rotation shoot above that average. If St. John’s has trouble closing out defensively, Georgetown could approach 60 percent from the field for the game.
So, Who Wins?
The Red Storm and Hoyas are adversaries from a rivalry that dates back to the 1980s, when Chris Mullin and Lou Carnesecca led the then-Redmen up against Patrick Ewing and John Thompson Jr.‘s Hoyas. The two programs have not replicated their past glory, but the battles are still intense. This meeting should be no different. For St. John’s, it is a chance to prove that their maturity is exceeding expectations, while the Hoyas simply need to survive and advance. Georgetown will (regrettably) win this game convincingly; but St. John’s plays best when they have nothing to lose, which gives Red Storm fans something positive to consider when gearing up for this game.
Final Score: Georgetown 70, St. John’s 51
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