Late Collapse Proves to Be Manageable As St Johns Beats Cincinnati in Sloppy Win

Road wins have not come easy for St. Johns this season, and their victory against Cincinnati was no exception. They began off and finished like a roller coaster ride, with their intensity going up and down as the game progressed. Within the very first few minutes they had been up 9-4 but allowed the Bearcats to take a 10-0 run to take the lead. St. Johns travelled on their very own run and never ever looked back until Cincinnati stormed back late in the second half when the Bearcats came back from a 12-point deficit.

In then end, St. Johns came out with the victory because of Cincinnati fouls since they could not make a single field objective within the last nine minutes of the game. St. Johns has become seventh within the Big East (behind West Virginia), and whilst they had been victorious, there is a great deal Steve Lavin must perform on. Lavin's press on inbound passes executed by the Red Storm defense was spectacular. With senior guard Malik Boothe leading the defensive attack, they were able to force turnovers top to simple points, a coaches dream. However, the initial half showed their full-court press nevertheless requirements some work. Once the ball crosses the half-court line, it seems as if their defense collapses.

The Bearcats would get the ball inside the 3 point line and also the Red Storm defense could crowd across the ball. Somehow the ball would make its way out and after a couple of swift passes, there's a Cincinnati player shooting an empty 3 point shot. Within the 1st half, Cincinnati's back up guard, Sean Kilpatrick went 4-7 from outside the arc. Though he missed three shots, the 3 attempts were uncontested. Had St. Johns been playing a team with greater shooters (i.e. Syracuse's Brandon Triche) who does make all of their open 3 point shots, they would've allowed a bench player to have 21 points.

Putting pressure with an offense is great, but when players cannot get back to the opponents they leave open, it must be acknowledged by the coaching staff and improved. Although they did not make a field goal in the last nine minutes of the game, there were vibrant spots in the St. Johns offense. One of these simple spots helped St. Johns through the game was ball movement. Just like their powerful press on inbound passes, their ability to move the ball around generates far better shots for one another.

An awesome instance of it was the ball movement among guards Dwight Hardy, Malik Boothe and forward Justin Brownlee. The three combined for 40 of St. Johns 59 points with Hardy top in points, Boothe in assists and Brownlee in rebounds. No matter which of the three had the ball, wise passes were followed by greater great shots which allowed St. Johns to construct the 12 point lead they had at 1 point. Against a team that's extremely considerably a mirror image of themselves, St. Johns was able to show their strengths but at the same time some important weaknesses that will be important to change when March rolls around.

If St. Johns continues to move the ball nicely during offense and stay away from turnovers, which will develop greater shot opportunities for his or her teammates, there's no limit to how many points they'll score later on. On defense, they should focus on their press and the way to return to open males or else they will have a difficult road ahead of them. All in most it was a good victory for the Red Storm as they moved up within the Massive East standings and appear to travel to Marquette on Tuesday for an additional tough Big East matchup.