When Malik Boothe committed a foul getting beat off the dribble in the first defensive possession of the game, I knew that the Calm Before the Storm title, Upward Sledding, was going to hold true.
In the preview the author, Pico Dulce, mentioned keys to the game which I felt were almost interconnected. In order for St. John’s to slow down the pace they needed to make shots offensively. St. John’s shot 11.8% from three and 34.3% overall for the game which allowed UConn to get up and down the court as they wanted.
In the first defensive possession there were plenty of bad omens to see how this game was going to play out. First Malik Boothe committed the foul after he was unable to keep his man in front of him and after a missed shot Stanley Robinson went right over the head of DJ Kennedy for an offensive rebound and was fouled on the put back. Ugh this is going to be a long day.
St. John’s showed some resolve and poise in the early goings. Dele Coker played very well on both ends of the floor and its very surprising he only logged 12 minutes of play. The announcers sounded very surprised when Coker stroked it from the baseline. How many times does he have to knock down that shot before he receives more playing time?
St. John’s started to jump out to an early lead however couldn’t find any offensive continuity that allowed them to build upon their lead but led them to squander it going into the locker room down by three points. A very bright note for St. John’s is the only had 3 turnovers at halftime and they shot very very poorly and were only down three.
UConn proved to be too much for the Red Storm in the 2nd half as the Huskies started shooting and hitting from 3 while the Johnnies struggled to answer back. The game quickly got away from the Red Storm and quickly put St. John’s fans back into the reality that they’re not over the hump yet.