Ryan Williams probably wasn’t aware coming into St. John’s game against Charleston Southern, an eventual 64-50 win, that the Red Storm was holding opponents to a Big East-best 30.8 percent shooting.

It didn’t come as much surprise when the senior forward was asked how long St. John’s coach Norm Roberts spends working on defense at practice, he replied, about 2 1/2 hours out of the three-hour time span.

Added sophomore Eugene Lawrence jokingly: “Make that 2:59.”

The strong play on that end of the floor continued against the Buccaneers. St. John’s held them to 30.4 percent shooting from the floor – 23.3 percent in the first half.

Charleston Southern’s lone bright spot, Terrell Brown, had 16 points and shot 4-of-5 from three. But the guard was saddled with foul trouble throughout, playing only 16 minutes.

Williams, Lawrence, Roberts, and junior Daryll Hill all agreed that no one had actually ever been thrown out of practice for not working hard on defense though.

“We’d pick each other up if it ever got that far,” Lawrence said.

NOTES

Hill scored his 1,000th point at St. John’s in the team’s win on Nov. 26 against Niagara.

He was presented with the game ball at center court by Roberts and St. John’s Athletic Director Chris Monasch before the team faced Charleston Southern.