St. John’s Surges Late To Roll Past Quinnipiac

Simeon Wilcher finishing off a layup at the 17:34 mark of the second half. Photo by Jason Schott.

The St. John's Red Storm went from being stunned early to putting together a stunning 61-point second half on their way to a 96-73 win over the Quinnipiac Bobcats on Saturday afternoon at Carnesecca Arena.

St. John's, now 2-0 on the season, was led by R.J. Luis Jr., who had 24 points on 8-for-17 shooting, including 0-3 from behind the arc and 8-9 on free throws, and 13 rebounds to give him a double-double, along with three assists and two steals.

Simeon Wilcher had 14 points (5-11 FG and 3-4 threes), with three rebounds, an assist and a steal. His dunk at the 17:34 mark of the second half set the tone, as it put St. John's ahead 45-43, and they never looked back.

Deivon Smith had a double-double with 13 points (4-9 shooting, 1-3 on threes) and 10 assists, plus five rebounds and three steals.

Deivon Smith burying a baseline jumper at the 2:22 mark of the first half. Photo by Jason Schott.

Brady Dunlap had 20 points off the bench, as he shot 6-8 from the field, including 5-7 on three-pointers, with four rebounds and a steal.

In what was an amped-up start to this one, St. John's went ahead 15-11 on a Kadary Richmond three-pointer at the 15:20 mark of the first half. It was the only basket he would make on the afternoon, as he had three points on 1-3 shooting, with six rebounds and six assists. (pictured below)

Kadary Richmond taking an early three-pointer. Photo by Jason Schott.

Quinnipiac set the tone in , as they raced out to a 16-15 lead on a three-pointer by Ryan Mabrey at 14:10, and that forced St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino to take a timeout far earlier than he could have imagined. 

That would eventually turn into a 10-2 run, and Quinnipiac held the lead the rest of the half, maintaining a six-point edge throughout, and entering halftime up four, at 39-35.

St. John's opened the second half on an 8-2 run, capped by a three-point play from Luis at the 18:00 mark that put them ahead, 43-41.

That was the first of many streaks by St. John's in the second half, including a game-defining 11-0 run capped by a Vincent Iwuchukwu dunk that put the Red Storm ahead, 68-52, with 9:45 remaining.

That lead would expand to 27 points, at 96-69, with 1:27 left on a pair of Wilcher free throws.

St. John's would outscore Quinnipiac, 61-34, in the second half, as they shot 52.6 percent (20-38), including 5-14 on three-pointers, and 16-19 from the free throw line, on their way to the 96-73 win.

PITINO POSTGAME: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino addressed the media after the game, and he opened with this statement: "Sometimes you get what you deserve. We had two of the worst practices this week that we've had all season. I told them, it's going to bite you in the [behind] if you practice like that, and it did. Now I will say so many people say, ‘Well, they didn't play well’. Yeah, but Quinnipiac made us not play well. So, you got to give credit to them. They moved the ball. They shot the ball well. So good teams come out and win in the second half, make the adjustments and win. And [we] did that in the second half. [We] were a totally different basketball team. What we wanted to do more than anything else was take away the three-point shot and the young man [Ryan Mabrey] was five for [nine], so the three-point line is the great equalizer in basketball. The transition defense was extremely poor. You play a team like New Mexico in The Garden like that and they'll beat us by 25 or 30 because they are a fast team end to end, and if we play transition defense like that, we have no shot of beating them, so we got to make the adjustments this week.”

 

On Brady Dunlap and Deivon Smith: “I think Brady is the reason we blew them out. I think Brady and Vince [Iwuchukwu] gave us a big lift. And I thought Deivon did a great job of finding Brady. He knew to penetrate and find Brady. Brady did a super job of moving without the basketball. But Deivon was the catalyst for that.”

 

On the team’s three-point shooting: “We knew they were going to [play] zone. The first play of the game, Zuby [Ejiofor] pops out and shoots a three, and everybody's on the perimeter. You have no chance to rebound. Then RJ [Luis Jr.] shoots a three and nobody has a chance to rebound. You can't shoot the three unless you have player movement first to give yourself a chance of have an offensive rebound. The second half we did that. But they're still getting to know each other and I was very impressed with the second half and how they responded the way they responded. Didn't panic, did the right things from a defensive standpoint, did the right things from an offensive standpoint. But without question, Brady [Dunlap], Vince [Iwuchukwu] and [Deivon Smith] did a fabulous job of finding the open people.”

On the improvements Brady Dunlap has made in his sophomore season:

“I think Brady learned the game. He moved without the ball. All he did last year was hunt threes. Now he moves without the basketball and he was the catalyst that turned around the game. So, he's a veteran. Now he knows how to play the game. The one message I had for Brady and [Simeon Wilcher], I said last week, is ‘You guys don't have fun playing the game. You're worried about your stats too much. You're worried about whether you're doing well. Just have fun playing the game.’ And Brady did a great job tonight of having fun playing the game, and I was happy to see that.”

 

On Vince Iwuchukwu: “I think Vince is going to be a great player. There's not a doubt in my mind he's going to be great. He runs well, he jumps well, but he hasn't grown up playing a lot of basketball, so he doesn't have a great feel for the game. Once he develops the feel for the game, how to catch and pass, how to move without the basketball, how to set a screen and pop out, he's going to be great, but it's going to take him a year to learn all that. I mean, think about it, the young man had cardiac arrest, and he's come back from that. So he's going to be terrific someday. We're hoping it's by the middle of the season, because he's seven foot, runs well, jumps well, has a great attitude, and we'll get Zuby [Ejiofor] to play a little bit more power forward and I think he'll even look better.”