St. John’s is playing the style of defense new head coach Mike Anderson likes. But there’s still growing pains to endure.
St. John’s was picked to finish ninth in the Big East preseason poll. A tumultuous offseason ultimately led to the low expectations for the Johnnies.
New head coach Mike Anderson has his hands full helping St. John’s turn the page from the Chris Mullin era. The roster is mostly full of new faces and players who didn’t get on the court much last season.
Anderson is all about defense and playing an up-tempo style of basketball. In order to play that style, the players better be in condition and ready to embrace it.
The return of Mustapha Heron and L.J. Figueroa to St. John’s this season was huge for Anderson. Both players each averaged around 14 points per game last season. But perhaps more importantly, they trusted in Anderson’s vision enough to stay aboard.
Heron and Figueroa, leaders of this team, should be counted on to set the tone for the new faces.
In a Big East that no longer indisputably runs through Villanova, there’s room for a surprise team or two.
St. John’s went into conference play this season with an impressive 11-2 record. The non-conference portion of their scheduled featured a quality neutral-site win over Arizona, in San Francisco. However, since then, it’s been an uphill battle for Anderson’s young squad.
One of the early lessons a team must learn is how to close out opponents.
The Johnnies have lost five of their first six Big East games this season. Three of their five losses each have been by five points or less. Winning teams must know how to close.
Their last two losses, at Providence and home for Seton Hall, were winnable games which slipped away due to their inability to close out.
Mike Anderson has his players buying in
The flip side of the coin for St. John’s is they’re clearly buying in to Anderson’s style of defense.
Providence and Seton Hall are well-coached teams that take care of the basketball, and St. John’s had them out of sync with their relentless pressure on the ball.
New faces Rasheem Dunn and Nick Rutherford, along with returning sophomores Josh Roberts and Greg Williams Jr., are also showing growth under Anderson. Roberts dropped 16 points and pulled down eight rebounds in the loss to Seton Hall.
Looking ahead for St. John’s
The road doesn’t get easier in the conference for St. John’s. They’ll close out the month of January looking to contain big-time scorer Markus Howard, at Marquette. Then the Johnnies will head to Chicago and face a DePaul team which just stunned the fifth-ranked team in the country, Butler. The stretch will wrap up with a showdown at Madison Square Garden against Villanova.
The unpredictability of the Big East this season favors St. John’s if they’re going to make a surprise push for an NCAA Tournament bid. But they’ll need to figure out how to close out ballgames.
In the big picture, this season and beyond, fans should feel good about the effort Mike Anderson is getting out of his team this early in his tenure as head coach.
