Over Analysts of St. John’s Exhibition Victory
By Joe Nardone
Max Hooper Played Sparingly
Mandatory Credit: Eileen Blass-USA TODAY Sports
Everyone assumed Max Hooper would be helping the Red Storm spread the court on offense. Well, something like that is incredibly hard to do while only playing six minutes of action.
Hooper’s pretend debut was nothing special. 0-2 from the floor (both from behind the arc), one offensive rebound (hey, one more than JaKarr!) and an assist.
The only thing that stood out from his game in the little time he played was his inability to guard. We knew that going in, but Hooper only playing six minutes might be a direct correlation to his defensive ineptness. The question going forward will be if his offense is good enough to offset his iffy defense.
If it’s not, Lavin might be using him in a similar role all season long. Not sure if his six minutes in the exhibition game was a way to ease him in or if it is something we can use to tell the future.