Getting start as part of shakeup by head coach Mike Anderson, Dylan Addae-Wusu posted double-double as St. John’s defeated Fordham Sunday. (Photo by Vincent Dusovic/St. John’s Athletics)
NEW YORK — Too many shadows in my room
Too many hours in this midnight
Too many corners in my mind
So much to do to set my heart right
— John Mayer, “In Repair”
Only 48 hours removed from a 20-point loss to Kansas that christened UBS Arena as a college basketball venue, St. John’s returned to more familiar confines Sunday evening, welcoming local rival Fordham over the Whitestone Bridge and into Carnesecca Arena in a game that both team and fans needed to treat as a confidence booster.
Oh, it’s taking so long, some of the Red Storm fans may be wondering when trying to answer the question of why their beloved Johnnies have not come together with urgency. Head coach Mike Anderson faced the issue head-on Sunday, making two changes to the starting lineup by substituting Esahia Nyiwe for Joel Soriano and Dylan Addae-Wusu for Stef Smith against the Rams.
They could be wrong, Anderson may have thought of the supporters’ impatience and skepticism.
They could be, and were, ready.
Addae-Wusu served as the primary ball handler Sunday and tallied 11 points and just as many assists while freeing Posh Alexander up to play off the ball on the way to a career-best 23 points, while Nyiwe amassed a respectable seven points and eight rebounds as St. John’s overcame early inconsistency to power past Fordham, 83-69, and run its record to 6-2 entering Thursday's tilt with a dangerous Monmouth team.
“I thought we had some continuity with our basketball team,” Anderson remarked as the Red Storm’s cosmetic improvements kept it ahead of the Rams for most of the night without having to lean heavily on Julian Champagnie. “We inserted some new blood in the lineup, and sure enough, those guys came out and did the things I thought they would do. They were doing this in practice, so it was an opportunity for them to go out and put it on display.”
Addae-Wusu, continuing to recover from a preseason injury that hampered his mobility, was impressively adept at preserving the basketball, as evidenced by just two turnovers against his 11 helpers, something that earned plaudits from a vindicated head coach whose pride in rewarding the sophomore was clearly visible after the game.
“You can see now he’s more ready to play,” Anderson gushed. “Coming off that hip injury, I thought it really affected him, but I’m seeing it in practice, I’m seeing it in everything he does now. He’s a glue guy, he’s one of those guys who makes it go. It’s funny, because a lot of times, he makes Posh go, too.”
“Coach gave me the opportunity to start today, and once he did, all I thought to myself was, ‘just go out there and do what I do best,’” added Nyiwe. “I didn’t want to take this opportunity for granted.”
St. John’s as a whole approached Sunday as an opportunity to right the ship after the Kansas loss and the two close calls that preceded it against St. Francis Brooklyn and NJIT, and did not disappoint. After the wind went down on Long Island, it took with it the Red Storm’s old ways, and brought some brand new luck upon it in the form of playing more connected and engaged on both ends of the floor.
“Today, our main focus was just defense,” Alexander reaffirmed. “We came out with a defensive mindset and I feel like as a unit, everybody played great. We played good today and it was just a team win.”
With three more chances to solidify its standing before Big East Conference play begins in two weeks with a critical battle in Newark against Seton Hall, St. John’s has renewed optimism again, which is never a quality one can have an overabundance of. And if these players have their way, maybe when things turn green again, it will be good to say you know them, and their capabilities.
“We’re coming together,” a hopeful Alexander stated. “It’s a new group of guys on this team, so we’re just trying to figure out things we could do. I feel like everybody’s bringing different things to the table and our chemistry’s getting better, so moving forward, I feel like we’re just gonna be a good team, stay focused and take the game day by day.”
“We’re still a work in progress,” Anderson reiterated. “I want to get it where we could put 40 minutes together. We’ve still got some things we’ve got to iron out, but if you look at the last game we played, we got annihilated. The emphasis was on defense. Defense will create offense, and I thought you saw that tonight.”
They’re not together, but they’re getting there.
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