St. John's Has A Perfect Game To Demolish DePaul

 

RJ Luis Jr. burying a fadeaway jumper that put St. John's up 38-27 with 1:35 left in the first half. Photo by Jason Schott.

The St. John's Red Storm opened Big East Conference play with a massive statement, as they dominated the DePaul Blue Demons, 69-81, at Carnesecca Arena on Tuesday night.

This result might seem normal, as DePaul is mostly the doormat of the conference, but they entered this one with a record of 8-2, and gained instant credibility entering the season when they hired Chris Holtmann as their head coach.

St. John's met this new challenge, and had as close to a "perfect game" as you can have in basketball, which is open to more interpretation than baseball, where it is known that's 27 up, 27 down.

The numbers for this game were simply astonishing, and tell the story. St. John's shot 55.2 percent, or 37-67, for the game, compared to DePaul's 39.2 %, or 20-51.

St. John's outrebounded DePaul 41-29, forced 20 turnovers while committing just nine, and scored 27 points off turnovers to DePaul's 8. St. John's put up 56 points in the point, to just 24 for DePaul, and 18 points off fast breaks to just 2. St. John's notched 14 steals to their 5, while also blocking 8 shots to 1 for them.

The first half was dominated by St. John's, who held an 11-point lead, 40-29, at the break. 

Simeon Wilcher taking a baseline jumper in the opening minutes of the first half. Photo by Jason Schott.

The Red Storm had a 13-point edge, 46-33, a few minutes into the second half, and they went on an 11-0 run, and an expanded 17-2 clip that put the Red Storm up 28, at 63-35, on an RJ Luis Jr. layup with 12:56 remaining.

St. John's built that lead up to 35 points, 84-49, on a Deivon Smith fast break layup, after he snatched a defensive rebound, with 6:33 left.

St. John's outscored DePaul 49-32 in the second half, one in which they shot an astonishing 60.0 percent, or 21-35, from the field, while holding DePaul to just 37.5 percent, or 9-24, shooting.

St. John's was led by RJ Luis Jr., who had 19 points on 7-11 from the field, with five rebounds, and two assists. Kadary Richmond had 18 points (7-15 FG), with seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and a steal. Simeon Wilcher had 16 points on 7-9 from the field, including 2-3 on three-pointers, with four rebounds, three steals, one assist, and one block. Zuby Ejiofor had 12 points (5-7 FG), seven rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Deivon Smith, in his return to the starting lineup, had a balanced night that reflected the team's dominance, with nine points (4-10 FG), eight assists, six rebounds, five steals, and a block.

It also must be noted what their +/- was on the night, which reflects how many more points St. John's scored while they were on the floor. Richmond and Wilcher each were +32, Ejiofor was +25, Smith was +24, and Luis was +22.

PITINO POSTGAME: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino addressed the media after the game, and he opened with this statement: "I was shocked tonight. Shocked is the only word we used as a staff. We were sick over this game. We were preparing as if it was the last game of the season and we had to win it because of the way they shoot the ball. Our defense tonight was absolutely brilliant. ... Their [three-point] attempts were way down. That's when you know you're playing great defense, when the attempts are way down. We watch film and [DePaul] is really a good basketball team, as you're going to see in BIG EAST play. They can really play. But we were brilliant tonight on defense. It was by far our best game of the season at all phases of the game, rebounding, 41 to 29, we were 15 for 20 in transition, which you have to play great defense to get that. Real proud of our guys, totally locked in, we have great respect for DePaul, and they showed it tonight with that type of defense.”

On tonight's performance: “When we're locked in like that defensively, it shows great respect for your opponent. They watched so much film, hours upon hours of film with DePaul. They have three guys that shoot 47% from three. You don't see that college basketball and we only made three threes in the game and won by that margin. So, you're playing great defense, 15 for 20 on the break. We didn't turn it over. They had 20 [tunovers]. We had nine. We had 14 steals. Deivon [Smith] was great. [Simeon Wilcher] was great. All the guys were terrific. So, I'm really proud of them."

On Deivon Smith’s contributions: “Deivon, the interesting thing about him, he's not only very fast, but a very smart young man. He ignites you because he rebounds the ball well. He's unselfish. I decided to go with him because we weren't getting out of the blocks with our break and he makes the break go. It also takes a lot of heat off of Kadary [Richmond], he plays better.”

On Kadary Richmond: “I think Kadary is just getting used to a new style of play. He played for a very well-drilled, well-coached basketball team at Seton Hall. Now he goes to a polar opposite style of play, a very fast, up-and-down team, and he just has to get adjusted to that. And he's adjusting. He's getting better and better in practice, but I was impressed with all of them. Their focus was absolutely great.” 

On DePaul: “To be perfectly honest, we thought this game was going to be won within five points, because we watched them on film play Wichita State and score 17 of 33 threes and beat them by 19. Wichita State is a good team. And then they played Texas Tech at Texas Tech and played very well. So our team had total respect for them today, and they were totally locked in. We were really good.”

On if his team took a massive step: “I think we played great tonight. I think we have the potential to be an outstanding team. I haven't seen it, except the Virginia game, and tonight. I've seen them put together two halves totally focused on every little thing. We did a lot of good things on offense. When they knew they could get Zuby [Ejiofor] the ball, they got Zuby the ball. The break was great. The defense was great. Yes, we played great tonight. So you have to give them credit.”