St. John's Ponds Named to All-Big East First Team

Shamorie Ponds. @StJohnsBball.

St. John's point guard Shamorie Ponds has earned a spot on the All-Big East First Team for the second straight season, it was announced on Sunday afternoon by the league office.
Ponds becomes just the fifth player in St. John’s history to garner consecutive First Team All-Big East bids and the first to do so since Marcus Hatten in 2002 and 2003.


In addition to Ponds and Hatten, the only other players in program history to record multiple First Team All-Big East bids are Chris Mullin (their current Head Coach), Mark Jackson and Malik Sealy.
The Brooklyn native enters the postseason ranked third in the Big East in scoring, averaging 19.8 points per game in 30 appearances. He has reached double figures 26 times, turned in 17 20-point outings and registered four efforts of 32 points or better.
Ponds currently boasts 594 points on the season and is just six points away from becoming just the fourth player in St. John’s history alongside Mullin, Sealy and Hatten to register multiple campaigns with at least 600 points during his tenure with the Red Storm.
In the team’s regular season finale on Saturday, a loss at Xavier, Ponds (1,814) passed Zendon Hamilton (1,810) for sixth on the program’s all-time scoring list and currently sits just 12 points away from tying Bob Zawoluk (1,826) for fifth.
Ponds also places among the Big East leaders in a number of other categories. He ranks second in the conference in assists, dishing out 5.2 helpers per game and boasting two outings of double-digits helpers this year. After distributing 10 assists and committing no turnovers in the Red Storm’s regular season finale at Xavier, Ponds retook the Big East lead in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.5-to-1. Defensively, Ponds leads the Big East and ranks 10th nationally with 2.6 steals per game.
Ponds, a two-time Big East Player of the Week and eight-time Big East Weekly Honor Roll selection this season, is looking to become just the third Big East player since conference realignment to finish a season inside the top three in both scoring and assists. Providence’s Bryce Cotton and Seton Hall’s Isaiah Whitehead, the other two student-athletes to accomplish the feat, both did so during seasons that featured a Big East title for their teams.
Ponds currently ranks third on the program’s all-time steals list with 216 and occupies the sixth spot on the Red Storm’s career assists ledger with 400. He is one of only two players in St. John’ history alongside his head coach to place inside the top 10 in scoring, steals and assists.
Ponds and the Red Storm will open Big East Tournament play on Wednesday night against DePaul at 9:30 p.m. on FS1.