Every great basketball team has an identity. The Mike Krzyzewski-era Duke Blue Devils succeeded through their relentless defense and star talent. Villanova’s 2016-2018 run was built off “attitude,” according to two-time NCAA champion coach Jay Wright.
In last night’s 99-77 victory over Bryant, St. John’s found its identity.
In nearly every contest this season, outside of Nov. 22’s double-overtime loss to Baylor, Head Coach Rick Pitino’s Red Storm have started sluggish, but rallied in the second half en route to a blowout victory.
The classic “tale of two halves.”
Facing former Johnny Rafael Pinzon (9 pts., 3 reb.), it initially seemed St. John’s could’ve been headed for a disappointing stumble, eerily similar to last season’s loss to Boston College.
While Pinzon and Keyshawn Mitchell (21 pts., 12 reb.) took turns gashing the Red Storm’s compromised first-half defense, the team that ran Kansas State out of Carnesecca Arena was nowhere to be found.
After leaning on Zuby Ejiofor in Dec. 7’s victory, it took the emerging star nearly 12 minutes to record his first field goal.
Sadiku Ibine Ayo was the first man off the bench. Lefteris Liotopoulos, who’s played sparingly at best this season, entered the game at the 5:44 mark of the opening frame.
It was a strange first half, possibly the strangest through 10 games, leading to just a four-point advantage at the halftime buzzer. St. John’s was ahead, but very far from the 23.5 line it was favored by.
Thus, the worrying began.
But as goes the “tale of two halves,” the Red Storm prevailed.
“I can’t really tell you that,” Ejiofor said when asked why his squad follows the slow start-strong finish trend. “The second half has been totally different from the first, so that’s something we really got to work on.”
The co-captain was right. It was a “totally different” showing in the second half and proved just how lethal this year’s roster has the potential to be.
After trading buckets out of the break, St. John’s orchestrated a 12-3 run behind RJ Luis Jr. (17 pts., 4 reb.) to finally pull ahead.
While Deivon Smith (14 pts., 3 ast.) began pushing the pace, Ejiofor (22 pts., 10 rebs.) finally got into a rhythm.
If Smith wasn’t running in transition and showcasing his unbelievable vertical leap, he was assisting to Aaron Scott (17 pts., 10 reb.) in the mid-range. Had neither of those opportunities been converted, there was Ejiofor to clean up the miss.
Seven of the anchor’s 10 rebounds came on the offensive glass, creating countless second-chance opportunities and allowing St. John’s to pile it on.
Pitino has been so impressed with the junior big man’s effort that he’s now being used as a teaching point for backup centers Ruben Prey and Vince Iwuchukwu.
“I showed the team film of [Ejiofor], mainly for Vince and Ruben,” the Hall of Famer said. “He, follows the ball, gets away from the man, bumps him, clears out [and] gets to an open area.”
“It was about 18 different moves to get a rebound, and it was one of the most impressive edits I’ve seen,” Pitino continued. “Not everyone can work like Zuby.”
In an effort that moved the Johnnies to 8-2, three things were realized ahead of conference play.
The Red Storm can exit an in-game slump in a matter of minutes, Ejiofor is a nightmare to deal with once he’s in a groove and Pitino isn’t opposed to mixing up the rotations when things aren’t going well.
Next up for St. John’s is over-achieving DePaul, who travels to Queens next Tuesday for a 5:30 p.m. EST matchup at Carnesecca Arena.
To access the final box score from the St. John’s win over Bryant, click here.
