5 Takeaways: St. John’s lets opportunity slip away in loss to Xavier

By Anthony E. Parelli (@reportedbytheAP)

When you let a good team having an off night hang around, bad things are bound to happen.

 

And happen, they did, as Xavier was able to shake off 30 minutes of largely inefficient offensive play to down St. John’s, 69-61, at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati Wednesday night. It was the Red Storm’s 12th consecutive loss to the Musketeers, the longest such streak against one team in St. John’s history. 

 

After a gruesome offensive start to the contest that saw Xavier leading, 6-4, at the first media timeout, St. John’s (6-5, 1-4) clawed its way to a 13-13 tie at the next stoppage. Rasheem Dunn hit a deep 3-pointer as the shot clock expired with 11 minutes left in the opening stanza to give St. John’s a slim lead it would hold until the Musketeers knotted the game at 27 headed into halftime.

 

Xavier’s uncharacteristic offensive struggles continued into the second half, but the Johnnies were unable to pull away. The Musketeers eventually figured out their struggles, leading by 12 late, but an and-one and deep three from Julian Champagnie in consecutive possessions brought St. John’s to within six points with two minutes to play. That six-point deficit held with just under a minute left, but a missed open three by Greg Williams, Jr. and bricked layup by Dunn led to three made Xavier free throws and the effective end of the Red Storm’s chances.

 

Here are my takeaways from the loss:

 

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

St. John’s coach Mike Anderson preached defensive improvement, and for most of Wednesday night, that’s exactly what he got. St. John’s held Xavier to 37.5 percent shooting and an 0-for-12 mark from 3-point land, the first time in almost 20 years that the Musketeers have failed to convert a 3-pointer in a game. In the first half, the Johnnies limited the electric duo of Zach Freemantle and Paul Scruggs to just three points on 0-for-8 shooting. Unfortunately for the Red Storm, it also experienced its worst offensive night of the season. St. John’s shot just 35.8 percent from the field and went more than six minutes without a bucket during a 17-1 Xavier run late in the contest. The Red Storm was absolutely lost when Xavier switched to a zone defense midway through the second half, and it ended up being the game. 

 

While St. John’s won the turnover battle, 19-16, the optics of the Red Storm’s mishaps were far worse. Vince Cole was – putting it gently – careless with the ball, Champagnie had several uncharacteristic blunders, and far too many times, the Johnnies were unable to even register a shot attempt against the Xavier zone.

 

Risk/Reward

For large parts of the contest, Anderson opted to go very small in his rotation, with the 6-foot-8 Champagnie and 6-7 Marcellus Earlington as the only forwards on the floor. It worked in the sense of forcing Xavier to play at St. John’s preferred pace, but the Red Storm was walloped on the boards, 57-40, including 16 offensive rebounds by the Musketeers. 

 

Rest vs. Rust

Score one for rust in the age-old debate. After a 17-day layoff prompted by an agreed rescheduling of the December 30 game against Villanova and a postponement of Saturday’s contest against DePaul due to a false positive COVID-19 test in the St. John’s program, the Red Storm couldn’t have imagined a worse offensive start.

 

The Johnnies first eight possessions looked like this:

 

- Posh Alexander missed layup

-Alexander turnover on a pass to Cole, who was inexplicably looking elsewhere

- Cole missed off-balance shot

- Arnaldo Toro unforced turnover

- Greg Williams missed free throw line jumper

- Cole unforced turnover

- Dunn missed 3-pointer

- Champagnie made jumper, his first shot of the game

 

Dunn Heating Up

If the long layoff helped anyone on St. John’s, it was Dunn, who came off the bench to score a season-high 17 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Dunn rounding into form is a good sign for the Red Storm, but unfortunately, he received little to no help from anyone else.

 

While Champagnie finished with 15 points, he shot just 4-of-14 from the floor, his first real struggle of the season. Alexander was ineffective, notching just two points on 1-of-5 shooting and Williams, who notched a career high 26 points last time out against Georgetown, was way off all night, finishing with just eight points on 3-of-12 from the floor.

 

Williams has averaged over 19 points in five of St. John’s six wins. As he goes, so do the Johnnies.

 

Caraher Gone, Roberts Next?

Junior David Caraher took an undisclosed personal leave of absence from the St. John’s program. Just speculation, but it’s probably a longshot he returns given his dwindling minutes in Anderson’s rotation. 

 

Wednesday was another game in which Josh Roberts didn’t see the floor. After starting almost every game for Anderson a season ago, the junior has, for some unknown reason, fallen way out of Anderson’s good graces. My guess is he takes advantage of the extra eligibility rule and looks for an opportunity elsewhere.

 

Next Up

The Red Storm will travel to face the buzzsaw that is No. 7 Creighton on Saturday, hoping for a miracle. The Bluejays routed the Johnnies 94-76 on December 17 and are coming off their fifth-straight win, an 89-53 beatdown of a very good Seton Hall team on Wednesday.