St. John’s Flies By Fordham On Festive Opening Night

 

Brady Dunlap buries a baseline jumper six minutes into the second half that put St. John's up 17 points. Photo by Jason Schott.

The St. John's Red Storm opened one of their most anticipated seasons in recent memory with a resounding 92-60 win over New York City rival Fordham, on Monday night in front of a sellout crowd of 5,602 at Carnesecca Arena.

St. John's dominated this one from the jump, racing to a 10-3 lead at the 14:39 mark of the first half on a three-pointer from RJ Luis.

Fordham then made a run, really their only one of the night, when they pulled to within 19-17 on a three-pointer from Josh Rivera at 7:40. 

St. John's responded with a 13-1 run capped by a Kadary Richmond jumper at the 2:58 mark that made it 32-18 and they took a 40-26 edge into halftime.

The second half was more of the same, as the Red Storm opened up a 24-point edge, 62-38, at the 9:54 mark on a Richmond layup.

Simeon Wilcher led the way for St. John's with 17 points on a near-perfect 7-for-9 from the field, including 1-2 from behind the arc, with three rebounds and two steals.

Simeon Wilcher dropping in a layup at the 4:07 mark of the first half. Photo by Jason Schott.

Richmond, a transfer from Seton Hall, had 16 points on 7-12 from the field (1-2 on three-pointers) and 10 rebounds to give him a double-double, with five assists and a steal. 

Kadary Richmond drives to the basket before he was fouled with around six minutes left In the first half. Photo by Jason Schott.

Aaron Scott and RJ Luis Jr. had 12 points apiece, as Scott shot 5-8 from the field, including 2-5 on threes, with five rebounds, two assists, and two steals, while Luis was 4-7 overall (2-4 behind the arc), with two rebounds and an assist. 

Brady Dunlap chipped in nine points off the bench, as he shot 4-6 (1-3 on threes), with five rebounds, two assists, and a steal in 19:36 off the bench.

PITINO POSTGAME: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino addressed the media after the game, and he opened with this statement: “We did some good things, offensively and defensively; defensively in the first half, offensively in the second half. For the first game, I was very pleased. We made a lot of mistakes that we will correct, but you expect to make a lot of mistakes in the first game.”

Rick Pitino addressing his team in a huddle in the first half. Photo by Jason Schott.

On the defensive work the team has done in the preseason: “I would say normally we work 60/40 on defense. This year has been 80/20. All we've been doing is working on defense. We haven't focused on pressing, haven't focused on the 2-2-1 back to the zone. All we've been doing is working on our man defense, our switching defense, and we knew we had to be ready early in the season because of Quinnipiac, New Mexico and then the Bahamas. We're getting better. We got a long way to go, but we're getting better.”

 

On Simeon Wilcher and Brady Dunlap: “I told [Simeon Wilcher] and Brady [Dunlap] the other day, the thing I want to see you guys do is smile more, have more fun and don't apply stress to yourself. I think both of the guys tonight had that; they had fun. Playing in the game, playing hard, and that's what I want out of Sim. There's no doubt about his abilities. I just want to see him have fun.”

 

On the depth of his team: “They all can play. We're going to have a lot of lineups. The starting lineup tonight will not be the starting lineup next game. We will play a lot of different matchups based on defense. They all can play. They're all very good and they're all going to get a lot of minutes.”

St. John's being introduced before the opening tip off. Photo by Jason Schott.