St. John's handles business in season-opening romp over Loyola Maryland

Shamorie Ponds' 20 points led St. John's in emphatic win over Loyola Maryland, offering glimpse of potentially special season for Red Storm. (Photo by Vincent Dusovic/St. John's University Athletics)

NEW YORK -- There's something good waitin' down this road

I'm pickin' up whatever's mine

- Tom Petty, "Runnin' Down A Dream"

If you spent five minutes watching St. John's go through pregame warmups Tuesday night, or even if you spent five minutes listening to the players and coaches talk about the mounds of potential within the walls of the locker room on the corner of Union and Utopia, you could tell that something special was in the works.

There's a different feel to this year's incarnation of the Red Storm. The talent is at an all-time high in the three-plus years of Chris Mullin's time as head coach. The depth is there, in abundance, particularly within the backcourt. The centerpiece is a 20-year-old wunderkind who -- by all accounts -- should be the player of the year in his conference with more nights like the four he posted in a two-week stretch last January and February to turn a city on its collective head, and his new sidekick is a veteran of the NCAA Tournament with the potential to become as dynamic and impactful as his backcourt running mate.

Welcome to 2018-19 St. John's University basketball, my friends, and if Tuesday's opening episode is any indication, you'd best get in line now so you can reserve your seat at the table when the stakes are raised, when the lights shine brightest.

On paper, there really isn't anything excessively glamorous about the Red Storm and its 76-55 season-opening victory over Loyola Maryland, but on the court, the aura was more conspicuous. From Shamorie Ponds and Mustapha Heron scoring 12 of the first 15 points en route to a combined 35 markers, to the aggressive ball-hawking and gang mentality on the defensive end, to the emergence of the bench when Justin Simon and Sedee Keita landed in early foul trouble, there is much to unpack. And the most promising part of that is that the head coach still believes his group is nowhere near its best.

"I hadn't really seen our guys play together well yet," Mullin assessed as St. John's led from the start, scoring the first nine points of the game and reaching a crescendo in the form of a 58-25 lead at the 16-minute media timeout of the second half. "I haven't seen it in practice, to tell you the truth, so the first half was the first time I've seen them play well and energetic, with effort. I've seen spurts of it, and it was pretty encouraging to me that, with Sedee and Justin in foul trouble, all the guys came in and looked like they belonged and looked like they fit."

"Everyone has expectations of themselves and a vision of what we want to be, but we always break that down to 'What do we need to do today to make that happen?' Today was a good step forward from last Thursday, and we had a few good practices, so we got better. But we have a long way to go."

Up next is a Friday evening soiree against Bowling Green before the Red Storm heads into its first pivotal showdown of the season, a potentially deceptive road game against local rival and former Big East foe Rutgers in the Gavitt Tipoff Games. Until then, the afterglow of a lasting first impression gets enhanced in the form of the following takeaways:

1) The dynamic duo did not disappoint.

Batman and Robin, Starsky and Hutch, Martin and Lewis (sorry for dating myself with that one), call Ponds and Heron whatever you wish. One thing remains certain regardless of hyperbole, that being the ability of the pair to feed off one another and, by extension, get their teammates involved.

"It's definitely a blessing," said Ponds of Heron's assimilation into the lineup. "He can score inside-out, defend, rebound, so it's definitely a great added piece that we really needed."

"I think that's gonna keep getting better as they play together," Mullin echoed. "We threw out a lot of different lineups tonight, and that's what we intend to do all year, so from that standpoint, those combinations are going to take a little time, but Shamorie and Mustapha both have a good feel for the game. They've played with each other in the past and they're two very skilled, smart players. They've had two great seasons, everyone knows that. Now it's about winning and doing it with the other players around you."

2) An improvement from Thursday night's exhibition.

St. John's, by all accounts, looked like a team whose outcome was predestined for most of its exhibition affair against Division II Maryville University, and the first half of Tuesday night's contest was a 180-degree contrast. From LJ Figueroa's game-opening three-point play to the back-to-back triples by Heron and Ponds shortly thereafter, and culminating with Ponds' 35-foot buzzer-beating three to end the opening stanza, the Red Storm had its foot squarely on the accelerator for each of the opening 20 minutes, and did not let up, much to the delight of the school's all-time leading scorer turned architect of a burgeoning renaissance.

"I thought we played a really good half," Mullin said. "Great defense, great activity, for the most part, we ran our offense well. For the game, they got 15 field goals, so we did a good job. I'd rather be more aggressive than tone it down a little bit and be a little smarter than the other way around. The energy and effort, I thought, was much better, especially in the first half."

3) Two new arrivals showed their value for long stretches.

Figueroa flirted with a double-double in his St. John's debut, posting nine points and eight rebounds, and with Simon being hampered by foul trouble, Mikey Dixon showed the form that won him Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year honors at Quinnipiac, scoring 13 points off the bench in a performance that reflects his impact as an X-factor despite being the fourth guard in the Red Storm arsenal.

"I thought he played well coming off sitting out where he hasn't played a game in 15 months or so," Mullin said of Dixon. "He did a good job, and we're gonna need those guys. You never know what's going to happen -- foul trouble, someone gets injured, so we practice and train all our guys to be ready to go, and Mikey did a good job tonight."