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| RJ Luis Jr. taking one up the court. Provided by St. John's. |
The St. John's Red Storm overcame a slow start, and delivered another late finish at a late hour to roll past Omaha, 83-53, in the opening game of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night in Providence.
This is the first NCAA Tournament win for St. John's since 2000, and like most St. John's games this season, including their three wins in the Big East Tournament, the first half was a battle.
Omaha opened the game on a 7-0 run, which St. John's matched, but they dominated the boards, with numerous offensive rebounds and forcing Kadary Richmond and Aaron Scott into foul trouble.
St. John's found themselves trailing 20-14 with 8:47 left in the first half before they went on a torrid 16-2 run, capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Ruben Prey and Simeon Wilcher, and a pair of free throws from Zuby Ejiofor, to make it 30-22 SJU at the 3:32 mark.
In the closing seconds, St. John's led 30-28 when Vince Iwuchukwu got a layup on a nifty feed from Deivon Smith, and he got to the line to make it a three-point play and send St. John's to halftime with a five-point lead, 33-28.
That would give them a boost to a second half that mirrored what they did to Creighton in the Big East Tournament Championship Game, when put up 57 points in the final 20 minutes on the way to an 82-66 win.
St. John's opened the second half on a 12-2 run over the first three minutes, and eventually found themselves up 20, at 56-36, on an RJ Luis Jr. three-pointer at the 13:14 mark.
That was the fuel the Red Storm needed to outpace Omaha, to put it mildly, 50-25, in the second half.
St. John's shot 51.4 percent, or 19-37, including 42.1%, or 8-19, on three-pointers, while holding Omaha to just 20.6%, or a putrid 7-34, from the field, and 2-17 on threes.
RJ Luis Jr. led the way for St. John's with 22 points, on 8-14 shooting, including a superb 5-8 on three-pointers, with eight rebounds and two assists.
Simeon Wilcher had 13 points (5-9 FT, 3-6 threes), with two assists, while Zuby Ejiofor and Kadary Richmond had 10 points apiece. Ejiofor, who shot 2-4 and a perfect 6-6 on free throws, also had seven rebounds and four assists. Richmond shot 5-10 and had eight rebounds and six assists. Deivon Smith had eight points (2-7 FG, 2-6 threes), six rebounds, and three assists off the bench.
St. John's, the No. 2 seed in the West region, will be taking on No. 10 Arkansas in the Second Round on Saturday at 2:45 p.m. It will be a matchup of two of the most successful coaches in college hoops, Rick Pitino of St. John's, and John Calipari, who is in his first season at the helm in Arkansas after a long run at Kentucky.
PITINO POSTGAME: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino addressed the media after the game, and he opened with this statement: "First ten minutes, we didn't play particularly well. Both of these guys (RJ Luis Jr. and Zuby Ejiofor) had very mediocre performances for great players, both guys. They did not play well tonight, neither one of them, but they were the best on the lot so we were appreciative of that. So they were both much better than they played and they still did a lot of good things.
"We didn't play particularly well. They're a tough team to guard. Because we played great defense and kept giving up, got them to take a lot of bad shots and we didn't chase the loose ball rebounds. What I told them basically, they're going to see a team the likes we haven't seen all year from a size and athleticism standpoint. You can't give up 24 second shots and play great defense like we did.
Q: Rick, seems like you're not thrilled with how you guys played tonight. Do you think your nerves were a big part of that? I'm not thrilled with the rebounding. I'm thrilled with everything else. We got them to take a lot of bad shots, defense was excellent. We changed our defense in the second half which helped us a lot but wasn't happy giving up 24 second shots.
But very happy with the win. Very happy we're advancing. Even when I had the number one seeds with I thought the very best team ever assembled at Kentucky, if I remember correctly, against San Jose State, I think we were the largest favorite in the NCAA and I think we were down one at halftime. They had a 6'7" player, Olivier Saint-Jean, I think was his name. We were down one at halftime and I think we won by 40. So it happens, coming out a little tight, the low seed so we adjusted and did a lot of good things in the second half. We had a lot of confidence making threes right off the bat coming out the second half.
Q: What are the biggest keys to surviving games like this as a high speed and making sure that you obviously build in the second half, in your experience? I think it's keep on playing, make adjustments and be relentless in the pursuit of excellence defensively and I think we did that, we accomplished that.
Q: Rick, you get John Calipari again, you guys play together again, a whole bunch of different scenarios, different teams, different leagues. You said yesterday that Jim Calhoun was the only person you consider a rival.. I'm talking about disliking each other rival. John was at Kentucky, at Louisville. It's normal. I have always had great respect for John. We have not seen this size and athleticism all year. Creighton has a 7'2" center but athleticism wise, we have not seen this this year. We know what we're up against, obviously. They had a lot of injuries, that's why they opened 0-5. I don't know where they finished in the SEC...eighth or ninth. I'm glad we're not in the SEC. That talent level in that conference is amazing to me.
Q: Is that a chess match you enjoy? The planning to go against each other? I don't go against coaches, we go against teams. He doesn't have to worry about me. My jump shot is long gone. We're preparing for his players. He's preparing for our players. John and I don't play one on one anymore.
Q: You have been saying this is a better three-point shooting team than what they have shown on the court. Was tonight a full display of that? I don't think we're a great shooting team. I think we're a decent shooting team. I think we shot well from the foul line tonight. We have improved as the season has gone along. Ruben's gotten a lot better. Lefty's (Lefteris Liotopoulos) gotten a lot better. Vince has gotten a lot better in certain areas.
We're going to have to play the best game of the season to beat a team like this. We know that. They're very, very big, athletic. Their bench is athletic, they're fast. This is a whole different ball game for us but they know we're a good team as well.
Q: What was your mindset going into halftime with the slim lead, and was there a message that led to that dominant second half? No, the one thing about our team all season long, we have never panicked about either being down or being up by a few. I think that the players were correct. I think they were a little tight. This is all new to them. Zuby played at Kansas but didn't play and the last time Kadary played, he wasn't shaving, he was at Syracuse. It's first-time experience for them. They will learn from this night, get a lot better but it's been a great season for us. We haven't panicked at all. We came out and changed our defense in the second half and what we tried to do against them. They're a really, really good offensive basketball team. They may not show it with their percentages tonight but they're a very good offensive basketball team. They scored 91 points in ten straight games and we did a very good job on that point guard who dominated just about everybody this season.
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