St. John’s officially entered the NCAA Tournament discussion Sunday night after notching its first win over a ranked opponent by outlasting No. 12 Creighton, 70-65, at the Garden. The Red Storm have caught fire over the last month, winning six of their past seven games and three in a row in the Big East.
They have a few days off before meeting rival Seton Hall on Thursday at the Prudential Center in Newark. But let’s first rehash some of the finer points of this memorable victory.
Obekpa’s offensive outbursts: In 53 career games prior to Jan. 28, Chris Obekpa had yet to reach double figures in scoring in a single game. In the past four, he’s done so three times, including his 11-point effort Sunday.
Obekpa is clearly playing with a ton of confidence, and has become a factor at the offensive team. The sophomore big man from Nigeria, who led the nation in rejections last season and ranks seventh this season with 3.48 blocks per game, is making opposing teams respect his ability on the low block while finishing at the rim at a higher rate. He’s hit the occasional jump shot, and has displayed a nifty hook shot in the lane.
St. John’s coach Steve Lavin said one big difference is Obekpa is looking for his shot when he gets the ball in the post. His first instinct is no longer to pass. The 6-foot-9 sophomore credited the time he put in with the staff for his new-found aggressiveness.
His sudden prowess at the offensive end has come after a season-long drought. In the Johnnies’ first 20 games, Obekpa’s numbers were down across the board. He failed to score five times and managed two points or fewer on six other occasions. He’s been a different player in the past four games, four of the best games St. John’s has played this year.
Where was everybody?: Shame on St. John’s fans. Shame on local college basketball fans. You had the possible National Player of the Year, Creighton’s Doug McDermott, making his Madison Square Garden debut and red-hot St. John’s playing its best basketball of the season, and only 6,739 people decided to show up.
Those who did get to the Garden were loud, energetic and into the thrilling nail-bitter. Still, when did we get so soft around here? The game tipped off at 7 p.m., and the weather is no excuse. It barely snowed.
Here’s hoping next Sunday’s showdown with Georgetown at the Garden, again set to start at 7 p.m., draws a far better crowd. St. John’s deserves it, the way it is playing these days.
Sampson the stopper: JaKarr Sampson is considered an NBA prospect because of his athleticism, size and offensive ability. His defense, however, was the reason the Johnnies got their first win over a ranked opponent Sunday night.
He blanked McDermott over the final 8:41, holding the All-American without a shot attempt. Early on, McDermott got the better of Sampson, using his aggressiveness against him with back cuts. But Sampson got better as the game went on, and was at his absolute best late, showing us a side we haven’t seen much of him out of him: defensive stopper.