Three takeaways and perspective from St. John’s men’s basketball’s 68-66 win over Providence

The Johnnies withstood a frenzied Friar comeback thanks to Kadary Richmond’s clutch offense

Pregame

St. John’s fans were concerned when they did not see Aaron Scott with the team twenty minutes before the start of the game. The team was focused on taking three-point jump shots during warmups, and there was no Scott. Of all the Johnnies, R. J. Luis seemed most accurate, hitting well over fifty percent of his long-range shots during warmups.

Relief came for fans when Aaron Scott appeared with his right leg wrapped from the hip down. “Was he injured?” fans questioned.

First half

Starting for the Johnnies were Zuby Ejiofor, R.J. Luis, Kadary Richmond, Aaron Scott, and Simeon Wilcher. With a Garden loud with fan support as the half began, the Johnnies gave them a reason to cheer by defending the Friars’ first possession so completely that Providence were assessed a thirty-second violation even though 23 seconds elapsed without a shot. Fifteen seconds later, Luis, around an Ejiofor screen, hit a three from the top of the key for a three-to-nothing lead.

On the Friars’ next possession, the Johnnies held them without a shot for thirty seconds for another 30-second violation. All seemed well at the Garden. A Richmond free throw and a twelve-foot jumper just short of the free throw line extended the lead to 6-0.

But this is the Big East. The Friars, particularly reserve Jabri Abdul-Rahim, got hot, while any Johnny, not named Kadary Richmond, was having trouble finding the basket. An Abdur-Rahim dunk at the 8:51 mark of the first half extended the Providence lead to 14-8.

With 6:23 to play, the Red Storm was down 17-12. Providence was outrebounding them 15-10 and outshooting them 37% to 21%. It was clear that the Friars had gotten the message to keep the Johnnies off the offensive boards as they limited the Johnnies to three offensive rebounds.

In the last three minutes, the Johnnies began to find an answer to the Friars’ zone. Earlier, they had been attacking it with drives towards the hoop. Now they were moving the ball quickly around the horn and, first, found Richmond cutting into the middle of the paint for an open eight-footer, cutting the Friar lead to one, 21-20. The defense was tightening, and no one scored for two minutes. Then Deivon Smith hit a three from a little left of the key, and the Johnnies took a 23-21 lead. The defense tightened again, and no one scored for the next minute until Smith passed to Richmond, who quickly found Ejiofor open in the middle of the paint for a ten-footer to increase the lead to 25-21 as the half ended.

Halftime

A fan summed up the first half with the following assessment: “A sloppy first fifteen minutes of offense was followed by better ball movement and thus more success hitting their jump shots. The defense was great all the half”.

Statistics showed that the Friars outshot the Red Storm 35% to 29% and outrebounded them 20 to 14. Some fans commented that they were surprised that the Johnnies were in the lead.

Most amazing was the fact that the five starters for Providence had scored but two points in the first half. It was the reserves who were doing the damage.

Second Half

The second half opened with a battle between Richmond and Abdur-Rahim, who seemed unstoppable from out deep. In the first three minutes of the half, Richmond hit two jumpers, and Abdul-Rahim hit a three and was fouled, converting the free throw. Four points for each shooter, and the lead was cut to three at 31-28. The two competitors were just beginning their heroics in the half.

The Johnnies went on an 11-0 run to extend the lead to fourteen. But thirty seconds later, Abdul-Rahim hit a three to drop the lead to eleven with thirteen minutes to play.

A Richmond layup and converted foul shot extended the lead to nineteen with ten minutes to play, and all seemed well. The vaunted Red Storm defense had held the Friars to 34 points in the first three-quarters of the game.

But the Friars were not giving up. The Friars went on an 11-2 run to cut the lead to eleven, 55-44, with six minutes to play. The Friars faithful, clearly a minority of fans, began chanting, “Let’s Go Friars.” St. Johns’ fans countered with “Let’s Go Johnnies,” but the Friars fans were louder. Red Storm fans were getting nervous as Providence trimmed the deficit.

Over the next minute, Richmond found an open Ejiofor, then Smith found an open Luis for jumpers, and the situation seemed stabilized as teams traded baskets.

But Abdul-Rahim kept hitting threes, even with Red Storm defenders on top of him, and his twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth, and twenty-seventh points of the game dropped the Johnnies’ lead to one with 2:21 to play. R.J. Luis, who had been shooting fairly well during the game, was fouled and made the first of two free throws but missed the second. Hustling, he retrieved an offensive rebound in the left corner and was immediately fouled. He missed the free throw, and the lead remained at two.

Ejiofor stole the ball and raced down the court only to have his layup attempt blocked. Luis took down an offensive rebound and was fouled. Back to the line, he went and made one of two free throws. The lead was three. After the Friars cut the lead to one, Luis, who had just missed three out of five free throws, made a clutch jump shot. The lead was back to three with thirty-eight seconds to play.

But the Red Storm dropped back on defense, and Bensley Joseph hit a three-pointer from the top of the key, tying the score with 32 seconds to play. Now it was Richmond to the rescue.

Takeaway #1: Kadary Richmond continues his ascension

St. John’s called time out. Yes, Luis scored the last six points for the Johnnies, and one was a fifteen-foot jumper. But it was not Luis who had the ball with the game on the line. It was Richmond. He dribbled the ball for 26 seconds from the left wing to the top of the key. With seven seconds left, fans were calling “Attack … attack”. No … that would be too soon. It would give the Friars a chance to counter if he made the shot so quickly. He did not start his attack until five seconds were left on the thirty-second clock, dribbling past the Friars and pulling up ten feet from the basket. Swish. The Johnnies were up by two with less than three seconds on the clock. A desperation 45-footer by the Friars failed, and the Johnnies went away with a 68-66 victory.

Richmond’s stats were impressive: 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting, eight rebounds, eight assists and three steals. Most encouraging was the fact that Richmond went two for two from three-point range, Richmond played 34 minutes and committed but two turnovers.

Takeaway #2: St. John’s finds an answer to the zone

It took a while, but the Johnnies seemed to find an answer to attacking the Friars’ zone. Put in place to impede the Red Storm drives to the basket, the Friars’ zone was effective through much of the first half. The quickness of Red Storm attackers was enough to get by the first defender, but the Johnnies then found themselves surrounded by other Friars. Turnovers and off-balanced shots were the result.

With five minutes to play, the Red Storm began to pass the ball around the arc and not simply run a weave. As the ball moved, an array of Johnnies would cut to an open position a couple of feet below the foul line. In the first half, sharp passes to Richmond and Ejiofor, rotating into that position, resulted in successful ten to twelve-foot jumpers. In the second half, Luis found the same opening. It was impressive that it was not just one Red Storm player who was able to beat the zone in this manner.

Takeaway #3: Providence found a way to break through the Red Storm defense late

The Johnnies came into the game with the fifth-highest-ranked defense in the country. By giving up 21 points in the first half to Providence, they kept their reputation up. But in the last ten minutes of the game, the team gave up 28 points — 25 of which were scored in the last seven minutes as the Friars made ten of thirteen shots in that span. What happened?

Were the Johnnies tired? Scott played but fifteen minutes as he was in foul trouble. Smith played 28 minutes, and the other four starters averaged 37 minutes of playing time in a fast-paced game.

Was Smith, who played 28 minutes, not ready for such a workload after missing three weeks of action? Was it complacency after building a nineteen-point lead? Or was it carelessness and a lack of focus on defensive responsibilities?

Outlook

If the game had stopped at the 10:05 mark of the second half after a Kadary Richmond three-point play and a 53-34 lead, it would be easy to predict positive things in the future for the team. But it didn’t. The team has to figure out what happened in the last seven minutes and correct it.

Fans have waited for the next four-game stretch to find out how good this team is. The Big East looks like it is a four-team race for the first four seeds in the Big East tournament.

The way the team fell apart in the last ten minutes cannot be attributed to the offense. The team made 37 percent of their shots in the last ten minutes. The poor play was much more the defense.

Coach Pitino stated after the game that the effort was there, but players did not remember their roles on defense. Possibly, this performance, in the long run, will help as it points to the fact that there is improvement to be expected and needed. What is positive is this? After the game, Kadary Richmond shared that the team never looks past the next game in its preparation. That is a mental attitude that should bear fruit.

One last thought. The Garden was overwhelmingly filled with Red Storm fans who were noticeably quiet as compared to recent games. Fans need to be loud to energize the Johnnies. The team — and its fans — both have roles to play to bring out the best in St. John’s during the back half of this season.