Courtside Observations: St. John's at Rutgers
By: Ray Floriani, Columnist
PISCATAWAY, NJ - It's two in a row. Fresh off an upset of Notre Dame on Saturday, Rutgers raced out to an 11 point halftime lead en route to an 84-72 decision over St. John's at the Rutgers Athletic Center.
Courtside observations
1. The grease board. St. John's coach Norm Roberts was asked the three points of emphasis he gave to his team prior to the game. His response:
A. Defend, especially on close-outs
B. Rebound
C. Execute
Roberts felt his club did not defend well, and the numbers supported his feeling. Rutgers shot 56% from the game and sophomore Mike Rosario had a big night with 33 points. "We just did not take away from Rutgers' strengths, "Roberts said.
In the rebounding department, Rutgers enjoyed an advantage in offensive rebounding percentage 44 % to 34 %. In raw numbers, Rutgers won the battle of the boards by a 38-28 margin.
Execution-wise, the Red Storm had an impressive turnover rate of 16%. Again, a turnover rate under 20% is considered above average. Shooting, however, was another story. SJU shot 33% the first half and 43% for the game. Outside of DJ Kennedy with a team high 27 points, no one stepped up on a consistent basis.
2. The first four minutes. Not decisive of the game, but significant. Feeding off the win on Saturday, Rutgers came out with a great deal of energy. After St. John's Paris Horne opened the scoring with a trey, Rutgers scored seven straight points and held a 7-3 lead at the first media timeout four minutes into the contest. "If you don't get off to a good start your defense suffers," Rutgers coach Fred Hill noted. "It's very difficult to start the other way with a good defensive start and slow offensive start. Getting off good offensively just gives you a lot of energy and the confidence to defend."
3. Weathering the Red Storm. Rutgers held double digit leads most of the way and seemingly was in control. The three point shooting of Kennedy brought St. John's to within six with just over seven minutes to play. Over the next two minutes, Rutgers responded with a 7-1 run fueled by Jonathan Mitchell‘s three pointer and offensive rebound conversion. After answering the St. John's run, Rutgers was not again challenged.
4. Mike Rosario. The Rutgers sophomore was in a zone the first half. Rosario also scored 18 the before intermission in the win over Notre Dame. Last night, he had 21 at the break, courtesy of an 8 of 11 effort from the floor including 3 of 5 beyond the arc. Rosario led all scorers with 33 points. "We rebounded and ran and created better offensive opportunities for Mike (Rosario)," Hill said. "He is letting the game come to him and sees the game at a different level, the way the great ones do." A number of times Rosario passed up scoring opportunities and found open teammates with that one extra pass. He didn't force the issue at all.
Roberts felt that Kennedy, who was assigned to Rosario the last few minutes of the half and entire second half , did a good job staying with him and forcing him to work for everything. "Overall we just did not do a good job of crowding Rosario," Roberts said, ‘and force him to put it on the floor."
5. Jump shots. St. John's is mostly a ball-screening, jump-shooting team. They rarely run a classic low post set. They have Sean Evans and Justin Burrell as threats inside. Evans scored 11 points but mostly on baseline drives and offensive rebounds. Burrell added 10 points but only one basket was in the paint, the others from 12 to 15 foot range which he prefers in his shot selection. Interestingly, the first half St. John's connected on 10 field goals with eight coming from the paint. But numbers don't always tell the story as those field goals were mainly due to their outside shots misfiring. The second half, St. John's scored 17 field goals with only seven in the paint.
6. Almost. It was so close to a triple-double. Hamady Ndiaye, the Rutgers senior center, scored 19 points, collected nine rebounds, and added nine blocked shots. There is no stat to account for altered shots or shots not attempted due to his intimidating presence inside. "Four years ago he was labeled a project," Hill said of Ndiaye. "Back then who would have thought he could do this in a Big East game. He just brings unbelievable passion to our team."
7. Mix-and-match. Rutgers opened man-to-man and showed some 2-3 zone on occasions. The second half they utilized a lot of 2-3 zone. For one, it aided rebounding and the Scarlet Knights' efforts to get out in transition. It also helped a great deal defensively. There were stretches St. John's struggled to get inside the zone and settled for the aforementioned jump shots. Credit Hill for mixing the defenses at opportune times and keeping St. John's off balance.
8. Records and numbers. Both clubs entered the game with a 92 offensive efficiency (the goal is 100). On the night, in a 69 possession game, Rutgers showed a sterling offensive efficiency of 122 while St. John's, aided by a stronger second half, checked in 104.
St. John's moves to (12-9, 2-7). Rutgers, on a two game conference win streak, is at (11-11, 2-8).
9. Thanks for the compliment. I entered the RAC about 45 minutes before game time. Players were loosening up and shooting. Mike Rosario, whom I got to know officiating his high school games at Hamilton Park Summer League, spotted me and came over to say hello. I came from officiating an afternoon game and had the referee uniform, with a sweat top. Mike asked me if I was officiating his game. I told him no, I was coming from working a four o'clock game in his Jersey City hometown. And besides, coach Hill had enough to worry about.
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