One week later, St. John’s basketball fans are still buzzing about the game against St. Francis. But as expected, there are many different takes on how this team played last week. Some people see it as a team with their star player on the sidelines and 7 freshman playing in their first collegiate game, battling an experienced Terriers team
throughout, and coming away with an 8 point victory. The pessimist sees a Big East team playing on their home court escaping with a narrow victory against a team from the NEC that went 9-22 last season. Personally, I had mixed feelings after the game last week. I was excited as anyone to finally see what our freshman could do and for the most part I was impressed. But even without Mason Jr., I felt that we should have handled that team much easier than we did. It’s clear that this argument could go on for at least a week, but fortunately for everyone there is another game to be played Tuesday night. And that is where the focus should be, on Sacred Heart. In the end, this team needs to take this season game by game and if they can find a way to come out with the W, this could be a better season then we all might have thought. SEE YOU IN THE JUNGLE.
-The Game-
On Tuesday November 20th, the Red Storm of St. John’s University will play host to the Pioneers of Sacred Heart University. The game is scheduled for 7:30 PM at Carnesecca Arena and can be heard live on WFAN 660-AM.
-The Lineups-
ST. JOHN’S (1-0)
At this point it is apparent that Norm and his staff are being very cautious with Mase. He will be a game time decision on Tuesday night, and if we can survive and win basketball games without him, it’s not the worst idea to keep him on the bench. This team can not afford to
have their best player be on a day to day basis all season. Recover and heal from the injury now and hopefully it will be gone for the rest of the year. Plus, I don’t think many people will argue with DJ seeing more minutes as a result.
PG – Eugene Lawrence Senior / 6-1 210lbs / 5.0 points, 5.0 assists
SG – Larry Wright Sophomore / 6-2 172lbs / 19.0 points, 2.0 rebounds
SF – D.J. Kennedy Freshman / 6-6 208lbs / 9.0 points 14.0 rebounds
PF – Justin Burrell Freshman / 6-8 235lbs / 12.0 points 2.0 rebounds
C – Tomas Jasiulionis Junior / 6-11 249lbs / 6.0 points 5.0 rebounds
Sacred Heart (0-4)
Despite being selected as the pre-season favorite to win the NEC, the Pioneers are off to a slow start. In addition to losing their home opener to Army, they lost games on the road at Yale, Hartford, and most recently at Fairfield. The loss of 2006-2007 First Team All-NEC honoree Jarrid Frye to graduation has hurt the Pioneers, as they have had a hard time putting up enough points to win. The team is led by senior captains forward Brice Brooks and guard Drew Shubik.
PG – Chauncey Hardy Sophomore / 6-0 170lbs / 11.5 points, 2.5 assists
SG – Drew Shubik Senior / 6-4 205lbs / 9.3 points, 6.5 rebounds
SF – Corey Hassan Sophomore / 6-4 196lbs / 9.0 points, 3.0 rebounds
PF – Ryon Howard RS Junior / 6-6 225lbs / 7.8 points, 6.8 rebounds
C – Brice Brooks Senior / 6-7 210lbs / 9.3 points, 5.5 rebounds
-Keys to Victory-
PROTECT THE BASKETBALL. It might have just been first game jitters, but the freshman combined for 14 of our 15 turnovers. Kennedy, who had a great game otherwise, led the way with 5 turnovers. Luckily, St. Francis didn’t capitalize too much, only scoring 17 points off the 15 turnovers. Don’t expect to get away with that all season; they must improve on that now. On the bright side, hopefully Geno can continue to protect the basketball the way he did last game, as he didn’t turn it over once.
REBOUNDING. There is no reason St. Francis should have out rebounded our team last game, but they did (39-35). If it wasn’t for DJ, the number is much worse than that. Our big men, especially Burrell (2 rebounds) and Coker (0 rebounds) must do a better job on the glass against a pretty solid rebounding Sacred Heart squad. Getting second chance points will be the only way a team like Sacred Heart could beat us.
MAKE ‘EM SHOOT. It might just be an early season funk, but so far this year the Pioneers are not shooting the ball well, especially from beyond the arc. Through 4 games this year, they are shooting 24% (22-90) from 3 point distance and 38% from the field. If we can keep them out of the paint and rebound the basketball, we should be able to hold this team to a low point total.
BEAT THE ZONE. I don’t know for a fact that this Pioneer team likes to play a zone. But then again every coach in America should know that we look lost against any form of zone defense. So I would like to believe that 30th year Head Coach Dave Bike will be smart enough to know what to do. We saw new faces running the show, but the same lousy offense against the zone against St. Francis. Passing the ball around the perimeter until there are 10 seconds on the shot clock is not exactly a solid game plan. Without that lights out shooter and a coach that seems like he doesn’t have a clue against the zone defense, it gets painful to watch our offense against a 2-3. Can someone fix this problem?
-Prediction-
Regardless of Mason’s status, we should be able to win this game easily. But then again I thought the same last week against a less talented St. Francis team. Maybe Burrell has a coming out party and we blow the Pioneers out of the building. Or maybe he gets in early foul trouble again, Larry Wright is off, and we struggle to even win the game. My guess is as good as yours with this team right now:
St. John’s 71 – Sacred Heart 60
The Notes: Individual tickets for all games at MSG go on sale beginning Monday November 19th at 12 Noon….. Jungle sources claim the rumor that freshman guard Mike Cavataio will be red shirted this season is false but there is still no official word from the team regarding that information….. Senior center Brice Brooks gave the Sacred Heart Basketball program a nice little black eye last season. Brooks allegedly assaulted a security guard and then had to be subdued with pepper spray by a Fairfield police officer after he was involved in an argument with a girl while attending a concert in Connecticut. He was suspended by Coach Dave Bike for all first semester games last season (The Jungle MUST utilize this information)…..The Pioneers have a reserve big man straight from the UK, Liam Potter, no relation to Harry, I checked…… The last time these two teams met was back on 12/29/99, when St. John’s won easily 95-66, behind 22 points from Erick Barkley.
By: Garrett Knieste Johnny Jungle Staff Writer
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