5 Takeaways: St. John’s downs Butler at home

By Anthony E. Parelli (@reportedbytheAP)

Games in which St. John’s is favored are going to be few and far between in Big East play, so the Red Storm needs to take care of business when those opportunities exist.

 

That’s exactly what the Johnnies accomplished Tuesday night, getting a much-needed win, 69-57, over Butler in a game it never trailed at Carnesseca Arena.

 

From the tip, St. John’s (7-6, 2-5 Big East) connected a couple of uncharacteristic 3-point shots from Posh Alexander, paired with stingy defense to gain control. If not for Butler’s Jair Bolden scoring 14 first-half points off four made 3-pointers, the Red Storm could have run away with the game early. As it stood, a deep two, followed by a buzzer-beating trifecta from just over halfcourt from Vince Cole gave St. John’s a 41-31 lead at the half. With the win, the Red Storm moved to 6-0 on the year when leading at halftime.

 

Despite committing three fouls on Butler’s opening possession of the second half, St. John’s grew its lead to 13 on an and-one play from Dylan Addae-Wusu halfway through the period. Butler followed with a 7-0 run however, and shrank the hosts’ lead to just four with nine minutes remaining. After a timeout from St. John’s coach Mike Anderson, the Red Storm defense locked in, fueling a 10-1 run that put the game out of reach.

 

Here are my takeaways from the win:

 

No Moore

Junior college transfer Isaih Moore didn’t play in Tuesday’s contest due to what the school defined as “not meeting team standards.” Instead, Josh Roberts, who has seen his minutes dwindle to virtually none as of late, got the starting nod. Roberts had a fine night, scoring eight points and grabbing three rebounds in his usual high-energy effort. Whether that garners him minutes when Moore returns remains to be seen.

 

Posh gunning

Really the only critique of freshman standout Posh Alexander’s effort this season has been his lack of a consistent jump shot. The thought is that his shot will develop over time, but Tuesday it looked as if the point guard wasn’t ready to wait. Alexander took far more jumpers than normal, even drilling two 3-pointers early in the contest. 

 

While he ended up just 3-of-9 from the field, Alexander had his typical stat-stuffing night; finishing second on the team with 10 points and adding four rebounds, two assists and three steals while playing his typical suffocating defense. 

 

Scoring Champ

Julian Champagnie’s star continues to rise, as the sophomore took over the scoring lead in the conference after his 33-point effort in Saturday’s loss to Creighton. Champagnie followed that effort with 18 points Tuesday, adding five rebounds, two assists and two steals. It’s still January, but there’s no doubt he has been one of the best all-around players in the Big East this season.

 

Gotta get Greg going

Tuesday was another slow night for Greg Williams Jr., who has hit a three-game slump following his career-high 26 against Georgetown. Williams scored just six points and took only four shots, missing both of his 3-point attempts. Fortunately for St. John’s, ancillary players like Marcellus Earlington and Rasheem Dunn each scored seven to help make up the difference while Cole had his most complete game in recent memory, scoring eight to go with six boards and three assists.

 

While it’s great to see Cole contribute and play with an edge even when he’s not scoring in bunches, the fact of the matter remains that if St. John’s wants to compete with teams in the upper half of the conference, Williams has to produce more than he has the last month. 

 

Ball security

St. John’s has been near the top of the country in forcing turnovers in Anderson’s year-plus tenure, so the fact that the Red Storm defense pressured Butler into a season-high 16 isn’t all that surprising. What is unusual, is that the Johnnies only committed seven of their own, a season low and huge step in the right direction.

 

Next up

St. John’s will welcome Marquette and 6-foot-11 freshman phenom Dawson Garcia to Carnesseca Arena on Saturday at 2 p.m. in another game the Red Storm will likely be favored to win. St. John’s is 6-1 at home on the season.