St. John's turns tables on Seton Hall with blowout road win
St. John's head coach Mike Anderson reacts in the first half of an NCAA Big East men's basketball game against the Seton Hall Pirates at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
St. John’s may have finally found its identity.
Coming off Saturday’s poor performance and six-point loss to Seton Hall at the Garden, the Red Storm were thrust into a rematch in the Pirates’ historic Walsh Gymnasium, a bandbox cauldron of hostility, on Monday night. And that’s where they became something to behold.
St. John’s was something it has not been all season, handing Seton Hall an 84-63 Big East loss and sending a once-deafening crowd of 1,316 quietly from the campus arena. It was the Pirates’ first conference game on campus in 37 years; it was rescheduled from December when the Pirates had COVID-19 issues, and Prudential Center was not available.
Red Storm coach Mike Anderson veered from recent recipes and went back to his favorite dishes: a deep rotation that keeps fresh legs on the court, pressure defense for a full 94 feet, making the extra pass on offense and rebounding with enormous passion.
"That was the team I’ve been looking for," Anderson said. "I even told them, ‘I’m taking the handcuffs off. You’re not going to hear my voice. Just go play hard and play for each other.’ "
In their best game of the season, the Red Storm (11-7, 3-4) never trailed, built a 21-point lead in less than 16 minutes and, after making it through a Seton Hall blitz late in the first half, continued to pound the Pirates after the break.
"Their pressure was phenomenal and their tempo was much different," Pirates coach Kevin Willard said.
Posh Alexander didn’t start but came in after 2:16 and had 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Aaron Wheeler and Montez Mathis had superlative games on both ends of the court. When Wheeler wasn’t trapping an inbounds pass in the backcourt, he was getting 17 points — including three three-pointers — and 10 rebounds. Mathis had 10 points and three steals, including one he turned into a highlight-reel dunk on the other end.
Tareq Coburn, who hadn’t even gotten into three conference games and averaged seven minutes in the other three, scored nine points on three three-pointers in 16 minutes.
Myles Cale scored 16 for the Pirates (12-6, 3-5).
Asked about going to a 10-man rotation and 40 minutes of pressure, Anderson replied: "I’m just trusting my bench now. It’s just that time of the year. They change right before your eyes. You can see it. We had some guys playing a lot of minutes and it was affecting how they played . . . These guys are more ready. We’re 17 games into the season. It’s ‘go’ time."
Wheeler, who Willard called "the biggest difference in the game," was asked if the Red Storm are better with a longer rotation. "It helps when guys come off the bench and provide great minutes,'' he said. "I think it gives us a different element to our team."
St. John’s took its biggest lead of the first half at 42-21 when Julian Champagnie finished a break with a dunk with 4:37 left. Seton Hall closed with a 15-4 run to cut the Red Storm’s lead to 46-36 at the half but never got closer than nine. Wheeler’s three-pointer got the lead as high as 82-55 with 5:14 left.
"We want to own those last 10 minutes,’’ Anderson said, "and fatigue was a factor [for Seton Hall]."
He added, "Every year has some defining moments when your team starts stepping into its identity. Hopefully this continues for us."
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.
