St. John's vs Fairleigh Dickinson November 25th 2007

St. John’s vs Fairleigh Dickinson

Coming off one of the more lopsided victories in recent memory, St. John’s will try to remain undefeated Sunday night when they take on another NEC foe, Fairleigh Dickinson University. The Red Storm never allowed Sacred Heart to be in the game Tuesday night, as they came out of the gates firing from long range, with Larry Wright and Eugene Lawrence leading the way. It was the game that everyone has been waiting to see from this team, but never really thought it could happen. The term blowout only seems to be associated with St. John’s when we are on the losing end. It was nice to see us easily handle an opponent for a change. On paper these early season non-conference games should all be like this, but unfortunately we learned the hard way last year (Illinois State) that this team can take nothing for granted. Hopefully they can build on a win like this and come out with the same
intensity against Fairleigh Dickinson. Every game we win without Mason Jr. makes me believe that this team can win more games this season than some “experts” might believe. Last season, we didn’t win games like that at all, let alone without a player like Mase in the lineup. This year’s team is so much deeper and more athletic than we’ve seen the past decade. If we can continue to rack up the W’s now, it will just instill more confidence in the team especially once Mason Junior comes back. At this point, asking for a 6-0 record going to Hawaii seems like a very reasonable request. But, hopefully that is not on any of the players or coaches minds right now. They must continue to focus on the task at hand, play hard every minute, and the record will take care of itself. Let’s hope we don’t suffer a Thanksgiving hangover and take care of business Sunday night. SEE YOU IN THE JUNGLE.

-The Game-

On Sunday November 25th, the Red Storm of St. John’s University will play host to the Knights of Fairleigh Dickinson University. The game is scheduled for 7:30 PM at Carnesecca Arena and can be heard live on Bloomberg Radio 1130-AM.

-The Lineups-

ST. JOHN’S (2-0)

Norm was able to get every scholarship player substantial minutes last game due to the big lead we had throughout the game. The Cavataio rumor was put to rest when he checked in during the first half, and we even saw some good things from Evans while he was out there. My only problem with the rotation, was that Norm continues to have Boothe and Geno on the floor at the same time. I just don’t think that’s a great idea, especially with the way Wright and DJ have played thus far. The status of Mason Jr. is still questionable and unless he ate some magic turkey on Thanksgiving, I don’t expect to see him play. Look to see the same five from last game start on Sunday.

PG – Eugene Lawrence Senior / 6-1 210lbs / 11.0 points, 6.5 assists

SG – Larry Wright Sophomore / 6-2 172lbs / 17.0 points, 2.5 rebounds

SF – D.J. Kennedy Freshman / 6-6 208lbs / 8.0 points 11.5 rebounds

PF – Justin Burrell Freshman / 6-8 235lbs / 13.5 points 6.5 rebounds

C – Tomas Jasiulionis Junior / 6-11 249lbs / 4.0 points 3.5 rebounds

Fairleigh Dickinson (1-3)

The Knights started their season with two blowout losses to St. Joseph’s and Siena at the NIT Tipoff regionals in Syracuse. They were able to follow that up with a 98-92 victory in a shootout at Lafayette. But then went on to lose 85-70 against a Rider team that played NC State tough down in Orlando on Thanksgiving Day. FDU likes to play small, as they start with essentially 3 guards and 2 forwards. They give up a lot of size up front, but make up for it with their outside shooting. As a team, they shoot 45% from 3-point range and 44% from the field. Head Coach Tom Green uses an eight man rotation, as 4 of his starters average over 30 minutes per game.

PG – Bernell Murray Senior / 5-9 173lbs / 11.8 points 2.5 assists

SG – Manny Ubilla Senior / 6-2 185lbs / 21.8 points 3.8 assists

SF – Sean Baptiste Sophomore / 6-3 185lbs / 16.5 points 6.8 rebounds

PF – Eric Hazard Senior / 6-6 213lbs / 9.3 points 3.8 rebounds

C – John Galvin Freshman / 6-8 250lbs / 9.8 points 4.8 rebounds
-Keys to Victory-

REBOUNDING. St. John’s did a great job of out rebounding Sacred Heart (47-30) and limiting them to only 10 second chance points. This will again be the key against an even smaller FDU team. They love to shoot it from the outside and have been very effective at it so far this season. So when they do miss, we must grab the rebounds and limit their opportunities. I want to see Burrell build on his 11 rebound effort from last game and put up double figures again.
DEFENSIVE INTENSITY. I liked the way we were all over the Pioneers last game on the defensive end. We even showed a full court press at times after a made basket, forcing SHU to turn it over 18 times. We need to keep that up against this Knights team, who average 18 TO/game themselves, especially applying pressure on the outside. Getting a hand in their face every time they touch the ball on the perimeter can hopefully help defend against their 3 point shooting. Guards Sean Baptiste and Manny Ubilla are shooting 67% and 44% from behind the arc respectively. Keep Center John Galvin outside the paint as he doesn’t like contact but can score if left alone, don’t sleep on him as he scored 20pts in 2 of the first 4 games but in the other 2 games he didn’t score 1 basket as he matched up with much more athletic bigs of St. Joes and Rider.
FREE THROWS. For all the great shooting the Johnnies did while the clock was running, they couldn’t seem to put the ball in the hoop when it was stopped. As a team, St. John’s shot 57% from the charity stripe. Luckily, free throws weren’t necessary to beat Sacred Heart, but they will be of extreme importance as the season goes on. Hopefully last game was a one time thing, and they can get back to hitting their foul shots on a more consistent basis.
RUN THE BREAK. We didn’t see much fast break opportunity against Sacred Heart maybe because it wasn’t needed with such a commanding lead however with a thin Fairleigh Dickinson team we need to make them run and utilize our athletic prowess to get the rebounds and run against this jump shooting FDU team.

-Prediction-

After a convincing win on Tuesday, I know that it is actually possible for St. John’s to win in blowout fashion. However, this Fairleigh Dickinson team can shoot the ball, something that Sacred Heart could not. So I’m not so sure if we can expect another 20+ point victory. My prediction skills have been called out recently on Jungle Radio, and I can’t argue. But, I’m feeling lucky on this holiday weekend. My prediction:

St. John’s 74 – Fairleigh Dickinson 62

The Notes: The Red Storm served nearly 1,200 people at the St. John’s Bread and Life soup kitchen in Brooklyn on November 21st…..FDU Head Coach Tom Green is not the same man who put a mouse in his mouth in the movie Road Trip, got dumped by Drew Barrymore, or sang the bum song…..FDU Junior guard Cameron Tyler is from Jamaica, NY. He has yet to see any action in a game this year…..Super Senior Eric Hazard is 24 years old and is now 6 years out of highschool and also went to the same high school as Johnny Jungle Founder Dave Krupinski until Hazard was kicked out for failure of attending class and final exams. I propose the Jungle chants “6th year senior” whenever needed to keep Hazard from being a factor…..Reserve guard could be mistaken for the brother of actors Ben or Fred Savage better known as Kevin Arnold of the Wonder Years and Corey Matthews of Boy Meets World….Back up 7’2 center Lawrence brown looks like a cross between the Unibomber and My Giant George Muresan….The last time these two teams met was way back on 12/22/1998 at Alumni Hall, when St. John’s won easily 81-54. St. John’s, who was ranked 14th in the nation at the time, was led by Bootsy Thornton’s 15 points and Ron Artest’s 13 points.

By: Garrett Knieste Johnny Jungle Staff Writer