5 Takeaways: St. John’s can’t overcome shooting woes in OT loss to Seton Hall

By Anthony E. Parelli (@reportedbytheAP)

Call it a rock fight or a war of attrition.

Either metaphor fits just fine for Thursday’s Big East quarterfinal matchup between Seton Hall and St. John’s.

 

In the end, it was the veteran-laden Pirates that were able to seal the deal in overtime, defeating the Red Storm, 77-69, behind Sandro Mamukelashvili (20 points, 11 rebounds) and Jared Rhoden (19 points, 16 rebounds).

 

An up-and-down first half ended with Seton Hall taking just a 33-32 lead into the break despite St. John’s shooting 3-of-11 from 3-point range and being outrebounded, 21-14, over the first 20 minutes.

 

The Red Storm was able to get open looks often in the second half, but was unable to connect, starting the half 2-of-15 from the field. Similarly, Seton Hall didn’t convert a field goal over the first four minutes, but forced St. John’s into seven team fouls over that span.

 

“Some teams just have that type of night and tonight was that type of night for us,” senior guard Rasheem Dunn said. “The shots we’ve made all year, we had good looks, open threes, pullups and they weren’t falling. You can’t do anything about that.”

 

Greg Williams, Jr. put together a sequence that included a 3-pointer, a steal and bucket and two free throws to give St. John’s a 52-50 lead with eight minutes left. Marcellus Earlington’s three tied the game at 60 with two minutes left and Dunn hit two free throws to go up two with a minute left.

 

From there, Myles Cale’s layup tied the game and Julian Champagnie and Mamukelashvili traded misses to send the game to overtime. 

 

St. John’s was only able to muster seven points in the extra period, continuing to miss open looks and failing to make up for it on the defensive end.

 

“We got to overtime with a stop at the end and we went 2-of-9 and 0-of-5 from three,” St. John’s head coach Mike Anderson said. “We had some really good looks that didn’t go down and they were able to go down and hit from the free throw line.”

 

My takeaways from the loss:

 

A bad day to have a bad day

Champagnie has been one of the best players in the country all season, but suffered through his worst shooting performance of the year on Thursday. The sophomore finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, but shot just 7-of-21 from the field and 2-of-8 from deep.

 

“It’s one of those nights where it just didn’t happen for him,” Anderson said. “You’ll have some of those nights, but he’s had an unbelievable year, he’s a great player.”

 

Crucial loss

Isaih Moore missed Thursday’s game due to contact tracing related to COVID-19, and despite playing just three minutes in St. John’s win over Seton Hall last Saturday, the center’s absence was evident in the loss. 

 

“They ended up with 10 blocked shots,” Anderson said. “So, his versatility and grit and basketball IQ opens up the floor and he’s one of our best rebounders as well.”

 

Moore is at his best coming off the bench and providing a spark. He’s a great scorer down low and one of the Red Storm’s best players on the glass. That affinity was missed in a big way, as Seton Hall outrebounded the Johnnies, 49-40, in the contest, and 7-foot-2 center Ike Obiagu changed the complexity of the game with seven blocks.

 

Experience matters

As it often does come March, Seton Hall’s experience in the postseason made all the difference. Mamukelashvili, Cale and Shavar Reynolds are all seniors that have been there and done that, Rhoden and Obiagu are both juniors. 

 

St. John’s best players are a sophomore in Champagnie and freshman in Posh Alexander. Everything else being equal in a survive-and-advance situation, it’s usually the more experienced team that comes out on top.

 

Key discrepancies 

Aside from the stark contrasts in rebounding and shooting – St. John’s took 13 more shots from the field but shot just 32.9 percent from the floor and 6-of-25 from 3-point range – Seton Hall won the battles that mattered. 

 

The Pirates attempted 11 more free throws than the Johnnies and blocked 10 shots to St. John’s one.

 

What now?

St. John’s is well set up for 2021-22, with the potential to return all players from this squad aside from Dunn and grad transfer Arnaldo Toro. Next season should be tournament or bust, especially if the Red Storm could add a big man on the transfer market. 

 

For the time being though, Anderson made it clear that should the NIT come calling – and it should – he’ll pick up the phone.

 

“It would be beneficial for this team,” Anderson said of garnering a little more postseason experience. “It’s a new basketball team and we got a lot of guys coming back.”