Valiant Effort Not Enough For St. John’s In 81-72 Loss To Arizona

For a team on which all but one player was making their Madison Square Garden debut, the youngest group in program history looked like a bunch that had been on the big stage before, or at least they did for the first thirty-six minutes.

Through those first thirty-six minutes, St. John’s held their own against the first ranked opponent Steve Lavin‘s squad has faced this season, but the Red Storm (3-1) ran out of gas, falling to No. 15 Arizona (4-0) at Madison Square Garden by the final of 81-72.

Four Johnnies provided double-figure scoring efforts, led by Nurideen Lindsey‘s 18 points. Despite the strong performance, Lindsey fouled out with 4:01 remaining in regulation, depriving St. John’s of their offensive sparkplug. Once Lindsey exited the game, Arizona reeled off a 16-4 run to take the lead for good, giving head coach Sean Miller a birthday present on the night he turned 43.

“Tonight, we showed our experience from some of our guys, having been in the winner’s circle from last year,” said Miller after the game. “When you go on the road for the first time; and you’re down in your first road game like we were, you can self-destruct. St. John’s has a very underrated team. They have so many players who could really put the ball on the floor, and we fell into that.”

In addition to Lindsey, D’Angelo Harrison also had an impressive Garden debut, finishing with 16 points, but his second-half productivity was hindered after picking up three fouls before the intermission.

Despite the loss, the leader of the Red Storm is still happy with what his players brought to the court. “Tonight demonstrated that we have a long way to go,” said Steve Lavin, “but there are a lot of positives to take away from this game.”

As St. John’s prepares for their second game in as many days, (later today against Texas A&M) we recap the key points inside last night’s matchup in our latest edition of “Lasting Impressions.”

Lasting Impressions
– First and foremost, last night’s game proved once and for all that Nurideen Lindsey is the “hub of the wheel” in the Red Storm offense in much the same way that D.J. Kennedy, and ultimately Dwight Hardy, were a year ago. Lindsey did a great job attacking the basket and driving inside the paint for most of the night, but St. John’s was a different team after the Philadelphia native fouled out with 4:01 left in regulation. The Red Storm were already in the midst of a 9-0 Arizona run when Lindsey departed, and the team only managed four points in his absence.

– Sir’Dominic Pointer got the start in place of God’sgift Achiuwa, who was benched at the start of the game for missing the team bus on the way to the game. Pointer provided an underrated seven rebounds, but Achiuwa had the least productive game to date in his young career, with just four points and two rebounds, while shooting 2-of-6 from the field.

– Just as hot outside shooting dug the Red Storm into a hole in each of their first two games, the same held true Thursday night. Arizona shot 48 percent (14-for-29) from three-point range, compared to the 3-of-8 effort managed by the Red Storm. For what it’s worth, St. John’s did do a much better job than anticipated against the Arizona frontcourt, outscoring the Wildcats 36-20 in the paint.

– Finally, Thursday night’s game ball will be distributed collectively to the Arizona team, who placed five players in double figures, led by Solomon Hill, who had 15 points. Jesse Perry posted a double-double, chipping in with eleven points and ten rebounds. The Wildcats also got contributions from their deep and talented bench, led by Nick Johnson (11 points) and Bronx native Kevin Parrom, who had six points and five assists in his second game back since the death of his mother and an offseason incident in which he was shot. Arizona’s biggest contribution to the box score was forcing 17 St. John’s turnovers and turning them into 22 points, while only committing just ten miscues of their own, six below their season average, to that point.