Roger Rubin: St. John's Joson Sanon lets his play do the talking
St. John's Joson Sanon looks on against Creighton in the second half of a Big East men’s basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 21. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
It might be reading too much into one outstanding performance, but we may have witnessed a turning point for St. John’s sophomore Joson Sanon on Tuesday night at the Garden.
Red Storm coach Rick Pitino has long touted the 6-5 wing as the most physically gifted player on the roster. We’ve glimpsed it from time to time, but with no consistency.
Then came Tuesday’s 72-69 victory over visiting Georgetown, which set the table for 18th-ranked St. John’s (24-6, 17-2) to clinch at least a share of the conference regular-season title and the top seeding for the conference tournament when it faces Seton Hall (20-10, 10-9) at Prudential Center on Friday night.
The Red Storm trailed the Hoyas by 10 with 12:21 to play when Sanon began to erupt. He made the first of his three three-pointers with 12:06 remaining, sparking a game-closing 32-19 run. Sanon scored all 15 of his points in that run, played tough on defense and crashed the glass in a six-rebound effort.
Sanon is an almost painfully shy person. Even teammates say he is a man of few words who volunteers little. But after the Georgetown game, when he was requested for the postgame news conference, he seemed to come out of his shell a bit.
Asked about taking big shots with the game on the line, he replied, “I’m never hesitant. My shot’s cold-blooded . . . When the big moments come, it [doesn’t] bother me as much.”
That Sanon is showing more comfort on and off the court may be no coincidence. Pitino told Newsday in a phone interview that the two of them had a 30-minute conversation on Monday in which the Hall of Fame coach sought to bring Sanon to the surface.
“I actually could see this coming,” Pitino said. “The day before the game, we had a meeting and I just talked to him. I said, ‘Jo, even though I am 73, I can really understand a 20-year-old, and if there are any problems in your life, I can listen like I’m 25 because I’ve heard it all. You’ve got to have a confidant.’ ”
Pitino explained that most of the Red Storm players come to him and ask about how they’re doing at developing or whether he sees potential or simply to check in about their play. Sanon hadn’t been that kind of guy, and so the coach took it upon himself to lay things out for him.
“I said, ‘I believe you are the most talented guy on our basketball team from a physical standpoint — running, jumping, shooting, passing, all of it — but you have to do more than score and be one-dimensional. One-dimensional means your college career is over and you’ve got Europe [to play professionally],” Pitino said.
“He’s not a talker — he’s shy — so I had to reconfirm to him just how much I think for his potential and his progress.”
Then he used Zuby Ejiofor’s multidimensional game to illustrate his point. Pitino said Sanon listened, said “I’ve got you, Coach’’ and then turned in that performance.
Pitino said he could envision Sanon becoming another Ejiofor with more time in the program. He has all of the fundamentals to do it: a high motor, a serious competitive streak and a passion for winning. And of course an NBA-level ceiling because of his talent.
Pitino was offered the opportunity to speculate off the record about whether Sanon will return for next season and replied, “I don’t have to go off the record — I envision him 100% being back with us next season.”
Ejiofor was asked after Tuesday’s win about the kind of player Sanon can be with more time at St. John’s and being coached by Pitino. He replied, “He could be a really special player. Tonight you saw a more aggressive Joson, and we need him if it’s a big moment or we need a three. He’s not hesitant, and when he is engaged on both sides, his defense sparks his offense . . .
“The sky’s the limit for him. He has all the intangibles to be a great player in this league and in the next league as well.”
If Tuesday taught us anything, it’s that Sanon has the ability to be great. The great ones, however, deliver with consistency. That might be the start of something for a quiet assassin coming out of his shell.
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.
