Johnny Jungle

The 6th Man of St. John's Basketball

For the die hard St. John's fan.
The unofficial 6th man. est. '07
You are here: Home / Archives for Red Storm

Get Down With the Brown

by 2 Comments

St. Bonaventure (from Olean, NY) is coming off of an emotional win over local rival University at Buffalo (aka SUNY Buffalo). And On Tuesday, they trip south from the bleak confines of northern New York State to face the Red Storm in a rematch of last year’s tilt in Rochester.

You may remember that last year’s game included a lackluster second half from the Red Storm, a pair of foul shots from Malik Boothe to seal the game, and a whole lot of palpitating hearts listening to the radio back in the five boroughs and adjacent areas. This year, St. John’s has a new coach, the game is on television (SNY), and everyone hopes that the outcome won’t be as in doubt as last year’s contest was.

In the pregame press conference, Coach Steve Lavin mentioned that he gave the Johnnies some time off to keep them fresher. Here’s hoping that the team can keep Bonaventure’s star out of the paint; last year, Andrew Nicholson rolled his way through the paint with finesse and scored 26 points on 11 of 15 shooting. This is a chance for St. John’s to show how they can stop an agile and talented forward. The Red Storm are also on a winning streak; they hope to continue their winning ways against the Bonnies and extend their winning streak to 6, while working out the kinks that have kept games a little close for comfort at times.

For extra motivation, the ladies beat the Bonnies’ women’s team. The men have to keep up!

[gigpress_related_shows]

Team Reviews

St. Bonaventure Bonnies (4-2)

So far this young season, the Bonnies’ best opponent has been Cleveland State… who beat the squad from Olean, 69-51.  The team has a win over Cornell, a loss to Canisius, and the aforementioned win over Buffalo. Bonaventure plays a seven-man rotation, and haven’t been particularly impressive at any one aspect of basketball. They play an average pace and try to get the ball to Nicholson. They rebound solidly on the defense end, with Nicholson leading the way, but assisted by rebounding efforts from nearly everyone. Their interior defense has also been solid.

But the team that rebounds and defends as a unit also gives the ball away as a unit. Nicholson has the lowest percentage of turnovers per possessions, and even his isn’t great. The team’s offensive rebounding isn’t very good, but with their height, they may be able to put up a good effort on their misses against St. John’s.

The Bonnies’ 3-point shooting looks bad, but is a bit of a mirage; two players have combined to shoot 3-28 (10.7%), bringing down some very good efforts from the Bonnie guards. Then again, Andrew Nicholson also shoots 2-9 from beyond the arc… maybe their coach should sit some of the players down for a talk.

Players:

[table id=150 /]

Mississaugua (Toronto suburb) resident Andrew Nicholson is the star of the team. He’s an extremely effective scorer in the paint, with tricks, jump hooks, and even some scouts from the NBA giving a look on him every now and then. He carries the team on his shoulders, rebounds well, and has a little range on his shot. Nicholson blocks shots, as well. Fellow forward Da’Quon Cook from Elizabeth, NJ, has been a nice scoring complement to the team’s stars. He hasn’t rebounded as well, but that may be because of the presence of Nicholson. Then again, he didn’t rebound particularly well in his freshman year. He is backed up by former Marquette commit Brett Roseboro, who has shot poorly but rebounded decently.

Team captain, British Under-23 men’s national team member, and point guard Ogo Adegboye is a little turnover-prone. But he has shot extremely well from the outside in nearly 38 minutes of action per game. Clearly, the Bonnies don’t like to take him off the floor. He shoots 46% from beyond the arc (less inside), and gets to the free throw line almost as much as Nicholson… where he shoots 48.4%. How a guy can shoot the same from beyond the arc and from the free throw line is hard to fathom.

Michael Davenport starts at guard. His shot has been a little off (16.7% from beyond the arc, 41% overall), but shoots 82% from the free throw line. Demetrius Conger plays small forward. He is the Bonnies’ most dangerous offensive rebounder and has hit 56% of his three-point attempts (9 of 16). The team’s main backup at guard is Toronto-bred freshman Matthew Wright, who has shot and missed a fair amount in his time on the court. Dutch guard Sam de Haas, a captain of the Under-18 team and a member of the nation’s Under-20 squad, also gets some minutes.

St. John’s (5-1)

[table id=149 /]

St. John’s offense has gotten more efficient. And by a significant amount. Shot attempts instead of turnovers! Of the regulars, only Malik Boothe is turning the ball over; the team is learning the principles of Lavin and Dunlap – action that goes somewhere, instead of aimless dribbling and probing.

The ability of the team to get to the line seems to have improved, though they have been sent to the charity stripe at the ends of games, so that number doesn’t speak to the team’s ability to draw contact. And the conversion rate at the line is down from what it was last year at the same time. The offensive rebounding has also been very good, grabbing 37% of available misses instead of 35%.

The team will want to work on getting opponents to miss a little more. The style of pressure defense means that opponents will get some easy shots off when they beat the pressure, and the zone means that there will be open shots available. Still, there is significant improvement, which I’ve written about to greater extent on the East Coast Bias site.

Keys to the Game

Force Them Into Turnovers. Tuesday’s opponent features a number of players who have struggled to hold on to the ball against weak competition. St. John’s should press, trap, and harass them into turnovers, runouts, and a fast-paced beating reminiscent of the Drake game. It might come slowly, but St. John’s should have a stretch where they frustrate the Bonnies into a number of miscues and run with them.

Slow Down Nicholson. Last year, Andrew Nicholson looked like an NBA player against St. John’s.  So did a number of other forwards.  This game is a chance to see what changes in the defense will do to the kind of agile forward that ate up St. John’s last year in non-conference play; the zone will certainly help in restricting Nicholson’s touches.

Score Efficiently. St. John’s struggled to put the last game against Wagner away, in part because they clanked jump shots and free throws. The Red Storm have to take their chances and score with them.

Build On Success. The Red Storm have been great at holding on to the ball and getting their shots up. It would be good to see the team build on that and get another complete offensive performance from the whole team. Certainly, St. John’s can’t afford a sloppy, turnover-filled game; that could let the Bonnies back in the game.

Defensive Awareness. Cover the Bonnies’ very good three-point shooters. Even the bad ones; those guys are likely taking shots they think they can make.  And St. John’s doesn’t want to be surprised by a sudden fit of straight-shooting by St. Bonaventure.

Prediction: I like the Johnnies to turn the Bonnies over a LOT. Johnnies win, 74-63.

Brought To You By The Letter “D”

by Leave a Comment

The last time St. John’s played on December 1st was two years ago, when the Red Storm welcomed St. Francis into Carnesecca Arena.  In that game, the Johnnies led by 19 points at the half before withstanding a late Terrier run to prevail 69-61.  Exactly two years later, the boys of Queens took the court against another Northeast Conference team, Wagner College of Staten Island. After a stifling defense took St. John’s into the intermission up ten, the Red Storm stretched its lead to sixteen before Wagner fought its way back in the final minutes of regulation. Ultimately, the Seahawks fell just a little short. The final score, you might ask? 69-61, just like the final on December 1, 2008; a date on which a game of similar style and tempo was contested. St. John’s (5-1) used a total of 15 steals, nine of which came in the initial stanza, along with a suffocating press defense to hold Wagner (3-3) at bay, preserving head coach Steve Lavin’s 150th career win while simultaneously enforcing their belief in the concept of deja vu.  Lavin improved to 126-7 all-time when his team holds the lead inside the final five minutes of regulation with the victory.

Justin Brownlee is breaking out into a serious scoring threat for this St. John's Red Storm team this season. (Icon SMI)
“When I have openings, I try to attack,” said Justin Brownlee, who came off the bench tonight despite being the team’s leading scorer on the season.  Brownlee’s attempts proved to be successful en route to his 17 points and 6 rebounds on 7-of-12 shooting.  After a quiet night in the Great Alaska Shootout championship, D.J. Kennedy also started the game from the seated position, coming off the bench to lead the Red Storm with 20 points.  “Anytime on the court, no matter what the lineup is, Coach (Lavin) wants me to be aggressive,” said the senior known to some fans as “Big Play” or “The Hitman.”  “Once Brownlee got in foul trouble, I looked a little more for my shots,” remarked Kennedy. “It’s up to us (the seniors) to close out games like that.” Dwight Hardy was the only other player to amass double figures for the Johnnies tonight, finishing with 10 points.

Tyler Murray led the Seahawks and all scorers with 21 points in the losing effort before fouling out in the final minute of regulation.  For Wagner, the loss was a statement game for those who felt the Seahawks would end up at the bottom of the NEC standings under new head coach Dan Hurley.  “We’re happy with the growth of our team program,” said Hurley.  “I was real proud of the effort.”  For Wagner, who opens its conference slate Saturday afternoon on the road against Sacred Heart, their performance tonight coupled with their win against Bucknell Monday night is an obvious pick-me-up for the upstart Staten Islanders.  “We only set one goal for ourselves for the year, and that was to qualify for our conference tournament,” stated Hurley, whose Seahawks need to finish in the top eight of the NEC to achieve that goal.

St. John’s won a defensive battle in both halves that was marked by missed opportunities inside and outside for both teams, who also fell victim to foul trouble.  In fact, each team (St. John’s in the first half, Wagner in the final stanza) went into the double bonus before the midway point of each period.  Lavin addressed his team’s free throw inefficiency by stating the Johnnies “left 14 potential points” at the line, but insisted that his players are “getting a better feel for what we expect.”  Despite being outrebounded 44-38, Lavin remained optimistic about his team’s lineup and composition moving on through his maiden season at the helm in Queens.  “You’d like to believe that you’ve got this recipe, like Mrs. Fields’ cookies,” was Lavin’s response to a question of how he is able to inspire his players to hold leads and understand crunch time scenarios.

After a well-deserved break in the schedule between their last game in Alaska and tonight’s contest, the Red Storm are the beneficiaries of a five-day gap in the action before their next on-court appearance, which comes at Carnesecca this Tuesday night against Atlantic 10 member St. Bonaventure.

The Champs’ Frontier

by Leave a Comment

Early on in the Great Alaska Shootout championship game and before the opening tip, it looked as though Arizona State was going to leave St. John’s in the dust on their way to the trophy. The Red Storm had other ideas, instead choosing to prove why games aren’t played on paper and aren’t over until the final buzzer.

Riding the momentum forged by their defense en route to nine second-half steals, the Johnnies picked up their first regular season tournament win since the 2005 Holiday Festival with a 67-58 win over the Sun Devils, sending ASU back to the valley of the sun empty-handed after Arizona State jumped out to a 30-20 halftime lead. After shooting just 26% from the field in the opening stanza, the Johnnies came out firing over the final twenty minutes, outscoring ASU 47-28.

Justin Brownlee, who led St. John’s (4-1) with 20 points, was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. D.J. Kennedy was also named to the all-tournament team despite two quiet outings against Arizona State and Drake. Dwight Hardy received the same honors after scoring all of his 14 points in the second half, making up for an 0-for-7 start. After not having their most effective outings since making the cross-country trip, Paris Horne and Malik Stith continued their solid and underrated play, (11 and 10 points, respectively) helping to not only tie the game midway through the second half, but also giving the Red Storm a lead it would never relinquish. Ty Abbott paced the runner-up Sun Devils and all scorers with 22 points, and for a while it seemed as though he would be the latest shooter to render Steve Lavin’s zone defense a non-factor in much the same way Clint Steindl did for St. Mary’s in the Red Storm’s season opener.

Looking back, the Johnnies executed on the keys to victory that were outlined earlier today. They were able to shoot in the second half after not getting baskets to fall in the early going, and the energy level over the game’s final minutes reached crescendos never seen under Norm Roberts as St. John’s played aggressive by forcing turnovers and hard fouls.

St. John’s gets a few days to rest after traveling back to New York as their next game is Wednesday night at Carnesecca Arena against Staten Island invaders Wagner College and first-year head coach Danny Hurley. Tipoff is slated for 7pm, and since the game is not televised, you can listen to the free online stream of WSJU Radio with Johnny Jungle’s own Dan Martin and Tim Dimas on the call.

Quicker Picker Upper- Brownlee!

by 1 Comment

For most of the game, it was more of the same for St. John’s. From allowing the game’s first seven points, to the inability to hit a shot at various stages, to the free throw struggles that plagued the Johnnies under Norm Roberts; it seemed like the Red Storm were intent on turning back the clock and falling to 1-2.

Fortunately, Justin Brownlee had other ideas.

Brownlee had what many would consider the game of his life earlier this morning, posting a career-high 20 points to go along with 8 rebounds as St. John’s overcame adversity and ineffectiveness to defeat Ball State in overtime by the final of 78-73. Even though Dwight Hardy added 12 points of his own, including a 5-of-6 performance at the free throw line during the extra session; Brownlee was there whenever the Johnnies needed a spark. The Georgia native helped ignite a first-half Red Storm run with a three from the top of the key, and saved his most impactful contributions for when they mattered most. Brownlee’s layup in the final minute of regulation tied the game at 63, and he picked up right where he left off in overtime by scoring the first points in the five-minute bonus stanza.

Jesse Berry paced the Cardinals with 18 points; and although he wasn’t as ubiquitous as some would normally expect, D.J. Kennedy had yet another solid game for the Johnnies. “The Hitman” tallied 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, with his triple from the left wing in the final minute of overtime serving as the icing on the cake, as it put St. John’s ahead 70-65. Ball State would cut the deficit to just three before Hardy’s two final free throws sealed the outcome.

While the Red Storm shot 51% from the field, they were only 16-of-30 (53%) at the charity stripe, something Steve Lavin must find a remedy for before St. John’s (2-1) tips off tomorrow night against Drake in the semifinals of the Great Alaska Shootout.

The Excellence of Execution

by 1 Comment

Less than two days after playing their hearts out on the other side of the country in a 76-71 loss to St. Mary’s, St. John’s returned home to Carnesecca Arena and battled a hot-shooting Columbia team in Steve Lavin’s first home game as head coach. Despite trailing the Lions by four at halftime, the Red Storm hit their best stride coming out of the locker room and held on down the stretch to preserve Lavin’s first victory at the helm of the Johnnies; a 79-66 decision over the Ivy League school on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Justin Burrell slammed a thunderous alley oop from teammate Malik Boothe midway through the 2nd half that caused the arena to rise to their feet. (RedStormSports.com)
“We wanted to get this one for Coach Lavin,” said senior Justin Burrell, who despite only scoring two points made an impact by stuffing a Malik Boothe alley-oop into the net to put St. John’s ahead 70-57 late in the second half. Fellow fourth-year player Paris Horne chimed in by saying his team needed the win because “no one wants to start 0-2.” D.J. Kennedy led the Johnnies with 18 points, while Justin Brownlee chipped in with 15 of his own.  For the second consecutive game, Malik Stith and Dwayne Polee reached double figures with 11 and 10, respectively; which earned yet another round of praise from the head man.  “I gave him the Woody Allen line: Half the battle in life is showing up,” said Lavin after the game when asked of Polee’s maturity.

The Red Storm engaged Columbia in a long-distance shootout early on, with Columbia shooting 53% (8-for-15) from beyond the arc in the opening stanza. Dyami Starks managed 15 points (all from long range) for Columbia in the first half, giving Lavin’s team flashbacks to Monday night/Tuesday morning when Clint Steindl was seemingly unstoppable from outside for St. Mary’s. Columbia used their outside trajectory to pull ahead late in the first half, and Lavin placed the blame squarely on his shoulders. “I think I oversubstituted and we lost our rhythm,” said the coach. “I’ll take the fault for us losing that lead.” After being outrebounded 26-17 through the first twenty minutes, St. John’s regrouped in the second half to outhustle the Lions on the glass 24-14 over the final frame.  (41-40 overall)

Even with four Johnnies scoring in double figures and coming back from an early deficit, the night still belonged to Lavin after picking up his first win on the sidelines since 2003 just several hours after wrapping up his 2011 recruiting class with the signing of highly-touted prospect Amir Garrett. “I’ll keep it in the office upstairs,” he remarked after Burrell announced in the postgame press conference that the coach would be presented with the game ball following the final buzzer.

St. John’s (1-1) now prepares for the Great Alaska Shootout, and their first game in that tournament comes next week against Ball State.