CALM BEFORE THE STORM
by Garrett Knieste
St. John’s vs. Connecticut
After splitting their first two Big East contests, the Johnnies begin a tough six game stretch with a trip to Storrs to take on the Huskies.
In front of 5,000 people Saturday evening, the Storm were able to take care of business against the Bearcats. Once again, impressive performances by Mason Jr. and Burrell helped set the tone for St. John’s. Unfortunately, as will be the case all season, there is no time to reflect on this victory. The rigorous 18 game Big East schedule has the Johnnies right back on the road against rival UCONN on Tuesday night. This game begins the toughest 6 game stretch of the season for St. John’s. After Tuesday night, they host Depaul, go to West Virginia, play Pittsburgh at MSG, take on the Cards in Freedom Hall, and then finish up against Georgetown back at the Garden. This is life in the Big East conference. But as we have seen already this season, any team can win on any given night. It is important for St. John’s to take it one game at a time, and not get too high after a win or too low after a loss. If they can bring the consistent effort on the defensive end that we have seen in the first two conference games, the Johnnies have the ability to stay competitive in every contest.
The Huskies are 1-1 thus far in the Big East, with both their games being on the road. They beat Seton Hall in Newark on the 3rd, 98-86, and then lost to a tough Notre Dame team in South Bend on national television Saturday night. Regardless, St. John’s has not beat Connecticut since the 2001-2002 season at MSG, when Marcus Hatten was leading the way for the Red Storm. The Johnnies have not won in the state of Connecticut since 1/16/00, when they knocked off the #4 Huskies 82-77 at Gampel, behind Lavor Postell’s 23 points. If St. John’s can play their game and keep the high scoring Huskies in check, they will have a chance to stick it to Yukon and Coach Calhoun. It would be great to get back-to-back wins and head into another winnable game against Depaul back in Queens. But like I mentioned before, they need to take it one game at a time. GUARD YOUR LAPTOPS.
The Game
On Tuesday January 8th, the Red Storm of St. John’s University go on the road to take on the Connecticut Huskies. The game will be played at Gampel Pavilion, with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 PM. This Big East contest can be seen on SNY and heard live on WFAN.com
The Lineups
St. John’s (7-6, 1-1 BIG EAST)
We saw Norm Roberts use a tight rotation for really the first time this season in the Cincinnati game. And what do you know, we won the game. Mason and Burrell each played 36 minutes, as they should. DJ had 28 productive minutes, scoring 13 points and grabbing 8 rebounds. Geno played 30 minutes, I think more of a result of Boothe getting 3 fouls and only playing 9 minutes. I wouldn’t mind it being more like a 25-15 split between those two. Larry finally got out of the doghouse seeing 15 minutes of action and cashing in with 9 points, including two important 3’s late in the 1st half. Once again it appears Tomas earns his start out of respect, because he only played a total of 8 minutes. It will be interesting how Norm rotates the big men against UCONN with Thabeet lurking down low.
PG – #4 Eugene Lawrence Senior / 6-1 210lbs / 10.6 points, 4.4 assists
SG – #10 D.J. Kennedy Freshman / 6-6 208lbs / 10.0 points, 7.5 rebounds
SF – #2 Anthony Mason Jr. Junior / 6-7 209lbs / 11.8 points 2.6 assists
PF – #24 Justin Burrell Freshman / 6-8 235lbs / 12.1 points 7.5 rebounds
C – #11 Tomas Jasiulionis Junior / 6-11 249lbs / 3.2 points 2.5 rebounds
Connecticut (10-3, 1-1 BIG EAST)
Coming off a season which saw the Huskies finish below St. John’s in the Big East (12th) and fail to make a postseason tournament, Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun has his young team off to a 10-3 start. Connecticut was in the same position last year that St. John’s is in this season, with lots of freshmen. The six man recruiting class from a season ago are now sophomores and are looking to use their experience from freshman year to make some noise this season. Guard Jerome Dyson leads the high scoring Huskies in scoring at 15.7 points/game. As a team, UCONN averages 82.2 points/game, which currently ranks 4th in the Big East. The starting five all average in double figures and junior point guard A.J. Price leads the Big East in dishing with 6.2 assists/game. The Huskies also lead the Big East in offensive rebounds per game, with Thabeet and Adrien doing most of the damage.
PG - #12 A.J. Price Junior / 6-2 181lbs / 12.9 points, 6.2 assists
SG - #11 Jerome Dyson Sophomore / 6-4 190lbs / 15.7 points, 4.5 rebounds
SF - #21 Stanley Robinson Sophomore / 6-9 200lbs / 11.4 points, 6.1 rebounds
PF - #4 Jeff Adrien Junior / 6-7 243lbs / 13.7 points, 8.8 rebounds
C - #34 Hasheem Thabeet Sophomore / 7-3 263lbs / 10.6 points, 4.0 blocks
Keys to Victory
• HELP OUT ON THE BOARDS. One of the key ingredients to winning games on the road is to limit the other teams’ second chance points. The Huskies are a very strong offensive rebounding team, as they are very big down low. It is important that we try to keep Adrien and Thabeet off the offensive glass, as they both get lots of their points from put backs. We need more than DJ and Burrell to be rebounding in order to do this. I would like to see Mason crashing the boards a little more, as he is only averaging about 2 rebounds a night. Additionally, if we can find a way to get some more second chance points (10 against Cincinnati) that would also help our cause.
• DON’T FORGET ABOUT JB. It seems every game that we go away from Justin in the 2nd half. He finished with 13 points last game, but only scoring 2 points on free throws after the break. I know teams tend to make halftime adjustments and come out doubling him, but we still don’t feed him the ball enough in the post. If he is drawing that double team, it helps create openings for other players. Getting the ball to him in the post will only create better scoring chances all around. Plus, I feel he has improved every game at recognizing the double team and passing it back out or finding an open man. It will be interesting to see how he fares against the likes of Jeff Adrien, but if he can consistently hit that jump shot he will make it tough for anyone to guard him.
• CONTINUE TO ‘D’ UP. The effort on the defensive end has been there all season for Norm Roberts’ young squad, and it must continue against the high scoring Huskies. St. John’s is holding opponents to 64.5 points/game, which is good for 7th in the Big East. UCONN doesn’t really shoot the ball well from downtown (34%), so it will be important for our guys to keep their man in front of them and try to cut down on penetration from Price and Dyson. Thabeet still is very raw on the offensive side of the ball, but his height could always cause problems. If we can bring the same defensive effort we saw against Cincinnati, with good rotating and sliding to the open man off the double team, we will be able to keep it close.
• MAKE THAT ADJUSTMENT. It is no question who the better coach is in this match up (Even though most everyone dislikes Calhoun). Last game against Notre Dame, the Huskies were down by 21 at the half. Like any great coach, Calhoun got his team to come out of the locker room fired up and ready to play. UCONN came all the way back and were able to take a one point lead with 6:25 to go in the game. Although they ended up losing, it showed what a coach can do at the break to get his team back in the game. It is hard to out coach Jim Calhoun, but it is crucial that Norm makes some adjustments at half, whether we are winning or losing, because if he doesn’t we could get blown out.
Prediction
I think we can definitely hang with this UCONN team. The game could come down to the wire if we play our trademark defense, limit the second chance points, and shoot the ball well. The Huskies are a great home team, and recent history would say that we won’t win this game. One week ago I would have said we get blown out, but our last two games have been promising. I still don’t think we win, but I wouldn’t be completely shocked if we escaped with a W.
UCONN 77 St. John’s 66