St. John’s Topples NJIT By Not Impressive 19 Point Victory

St. John’s Topples NJIT might sound like a really impressive feat when you read it on some blog’s headline. However, if people were to actually watch the St. John’s Red Storm face the New Jersey Institute of Technology in the season opener, well, then there might be a different picture painted.

While the game was never really in doubt, with the Red Storm leading by as much as 22 at different points, the story of the game wasn’t the final 19 points that the Johnnies beat the perpetually horrible NJIT. Instead, it was about the continued lack of offensive structure and certain players not understanding their roles that has plagued this program since Dwight Hardy left the program (code for “Lavin only recruited players era).

D’Angelo Harrison looked solid, even better than that if you think about it since he played in spurts. Chris Obekpa looked far more comfortable with the ball in the post and his teammates looked for him far more than they ever did last year. Still, even with those obvious positives, it is hard to feel too positive after the game.

Why? Why you ask? Because — despite the box-score — Rysheed Jordan still looks very iffy offensively, Sir’Dominic Pointer continues to dribble with his head down, play the offensive side with a poor basketball IQ and has no idea of his role or completely ignores what it should be, and the rest of the team looks to be about the same as last year.

And that is, um, a problem.

It is very easy to see the outcome and look at the box-score to just talk yourself into this St. John’s team (again). I mean, St. John’s topples NJIT, right? Ugh…

Without Harrison on the floor St. John’s really struggled. That is, as per the rules of the Harrison era, the usual. It also shows how much more work this team has left to do to be a better team. Unfortunately, the core group of this team has played together for four years, with Obekpa and Jordan not necessarily being newcomers themselves. There shouldn’t be growing pains at this point. But it felt like there were on Friday night, which is a horrid sign for a veteran team.

Jordan scored 18 points on 6-13 shooting to lead St. John’s in scoring. That seems great, but he struggled mightily with his jumper, continued to force tough shots and didn’t seem to grow from the hyped freshman he was last year.

Pointer, on eight shots, had 13 points. So too did Obekpa, who also had 13 boards, both of which are career highs.

A positive note in all of this. Jamal Branch looked good coming off the bench and showed the poise most have expected out of him since coming to the program a couple years ago. He finished with 11 points on 3-6 from the floor.

More hot takes tomorrow, kids.