The Big East season tipped off New Year’s Eve, and St. John’s didn’t like how it began.
After a fast start, Steve Lavin’s team fell to Xavier, 70-60, at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati. The schedule doesn’t lighten up for the Johnnies, who visit Georgetown Saturday afternoon looking to even its conference record.
Below are some thoughts on the conference opener against the impressive Musketeers:
Rysheed Jordan’s continued rise: Slowly but steadily and without fail, we’ve seen growth out of this dynamic point guard. The Philadelphia product’s freshman season has been littered with growing pains, from his slow start to a one-game suspension for breaking undisclosed team rules to missing a game to be by his ill mother Amina’s side. But Jordan is now trending upward, having scored in double figures three of his last four games.
The latest example was his 17-point, six-rebound performance against Xavier. Jordan stroked a few perimeter jump shots — an underrated aspect of his game — slashed to the basket and got to the free throw line eight times, making six of those attempts. Lavin lauded his ability to draw fouls, and said Jordan is the most advanced player at this age he’s coached.
Jordan made a few mistakes in the second half also. With St. John’s in the midst of a comeback attempt, trailing 48-44, Jordan took a 3-pointer early in the shot clock, was stripped on a drive and didn’t attack aggressively enough on a pick-and-roll with teammate Orlando Sanchez. Lavin discussed the miscues, while also pointing out this is just Jordan’s 11th game. The point guard’s upside is limitless.
Shot selection: St. John’s shot an anemic 31 percent from the field against Xavier, despite making 7-of-14 3-pointers. They were just 14-of-54 from two-point range, many of those either long, contested jump shots or off balanced attempts in traffic.
Lavin felt the Red Storm didn’t move the ball enough, and instead were playing “in a crowd,” either attempting to dribble through multiple defenders or shoot over them.
Xavier packs its defense in and swarms the ball, the coach said, and St. John’s didn’t adjust well to that style.
The Johnnies were also held to nine points in transition, their bread and butter, which was Xavier’s plan, coach Chris Mack said.
Georgetown plays defense in a similar vein, according to Lavin, so an adjustment will need to be made in a hurry with a visit to the nation’s capital on tap for Saturday.
Xavier is better than seventh in the Big East: When Xavier started the game 0-for-11, it wasn’t necessarily surprising. This team, after all, was picked seventh in the Big East. The second half, however, floored me. There aren’t six teams better in this conference.
The Musketeers have one of the league’s top playmakers in sophomore guard Semaj Christon, an underclassman who doesn’t need to score to dominate, a skilled junior big man in Matt Stainbrook, and a series of other versatile and skilled parts to go with an excellent coach in Chris Mack. The Musketeers are 11-3, and have defeated Cincinnati, Alabama and Tennessee. So while St. John’s was certainly disappointed by its performance, this wasn’t a game the Red Storm lost, but one that Xavier won.