Daniss Jenkins leads St. John's with 17 points and seven assists in a wire-to-wire win vs. Butler in Posh Alexander's return to campus
Daniss Jenkins of St. John's goes against DJ Davis of Butler at Carnesecca Arena on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024. Credit: Errol Anderson
On a night with a ‘welcome back’ and a ‘bon voyage,’ St. John’s deserved all the salutations as it won for the eighth time in its last 10 games and continued to trend upwards.
Posh Alexander, who was the 2021 Big East Freshman of the Year in the first of his three seasons as a Red Storm fan favorite, was back in Carnesecca Arena as the starting point guard for Butler and was greeted at introductions with a nice round of applause. However that was as good as it got for him and Bulldogs.
St. John’s had six players score in double figures — including a breakout 13-point performance by freshman Brady Dunlap — and the Storm pulled away late to post a wire-to-wire 86-70 Big East win before a sellout crowd of 5,602 in their final game on campus this season.
The Red Storm (10-4, 2-1) play their final eight home games — all Big East contests — at the Garden and UBS Arena.
“We did some really, really good things and we did some things we must get better at,” Rick Pitino said. “Overall we were very intelligent on offense, we didn’t turn the ball over and our [defensive] pressure was really good as well. . . . We’ve got a big game coming up with Villanova and every game we get a little bit better.”
Daniss Jenkins had 17 points and seven assists while committing only one turnover, Joel Soriano had 14 points and 12 rebounds and RJ Luis had 14 points and three steals for the Storm. Chris Ledlum returned from the ankle sprain that kept him out of Saturday’s win over Hofstra and had 13 points and 11 rebounds and Nahiem Alleyne added 10 points for St. John’s.
Dunlap, who hadn’t played in the previous three games, was 5-for-7 shooting including three three-pointers and St. John’s outscored Butler by 13 points during his 28 minutes on the court. Jenkins has 40 assists and just eight turnovers in his past six games.
DJ Davis had 25 points and Alexander had 11 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Bulldogs (10-4, 1-2).
“It felt good, just knowing that I still have love around here and just playing in Carnesecca one last time,” Alexander said.
Alexander was one of the handful of members of the 2022-23 team that Pitino invited back but instead chose to enter the NCAA transfer portal and made the move to Butler.
“I didn’t leave with bad intentions or bad blood — I just left because I wanted [a change of] scenery,” Alexander said. “Rick Pitino is a great guy and a great coach. . . . it was nothing personal.”
Butler coach Thad Matta received two technical fouls and was ejected from the game with 2:27 left. “I don’t condone my behavior,” an apologetic Matta said afterward. “but I will fight for [my players] and felt like we were at a disadvantage.”
St. John’s saw a 12-point lead whittled to 59-53 when Landon Moore turned a Soriano turnover into a fast break layup with 12:50 to play. The Storm answered with a 15-4 run that began with six points from Luis — including taking a steal for a circus-like layup — and ended with four points from Jenkins including two free throws with 6:19 left for a 74-57 lead.
Dunlap had appeared in just eight games and scored a paltry 18 points before Tuesday night. But Pitino said he’d been excellent in practice and was the choice to enter the game 2:42 into it when it appeared Ledlum might have aggravated the ankle injury. The 6-7 blue-chip recruit scored immediately on an inbounds play and had 10 points in 13 first-half minutes as the Storm led 45-38 at the break.
“It’s been a dream of mine since I was shooting on the mini hoop in my house to come out and play college basketball at the highest level,” Dunlap said. “[Being] out there and I hit a couple of shots and it’s just a dream come true for me.”
Added Pitino: “I’m not going to tell you he’s going to be Chris Mullin, but he’s going to be a great scorer at St. John’s.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
