The St. John’s basketball program is hoping its point guard can step in and fill large shoes.
There is a hole at point guard for the St. John’s basketball program after Tiana England decided to play her graduate year at Florida State and the Johnnies are now looking to fill that void.
Luckily for head coach Joe Tartamella and his staff, the Red Storm have sophomore point guard Unique Drake to lean on, who has the valuable experience of being in the program and the system for one season.
Drake came into Queens as a four-star prospect and ranked as the No. 75 overall player in the Class of 2019, according to ESPNW Hoopgurlz.
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The 5-foot-7 guard averaged 17.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 3.5 steals per game at Westwood High School (S.C) and was named as a 2019 USA Today First-Team Selection and nominated for the McDonalds All-American Girls Game during her senior season.
In her junior season, Drake was a named as a USA Today First-Team Selection and Gatorade Player of the Year runner up.
Unique Drake played in 27 games for the St. John’s during her season and averaging 2.1 points per game, with a majority of the playing time going to England, who was in her redshirt junior year.
How Unique Drake will fill the role needed with the St. John’s basketball program.
Given her scouting report, Unique Drake will fit in perfectly with a larger playing role for the Red Storm as ESPN gave a scouting report from the Boo Williams Invitational in April 2018 saying, “Athletic floor-leader flourishes in uptempo game; attack mode in transition, pushes tempo, pressures the opposition coast-to-coast; catch and shoot range at the arc; explosive off the dribble, penetrates and delivers in traffic.”
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A similar scouting report is also available from the same outlet regarding the Ohio Midwest Challenge in May 2018, “Speed merchant in the back court; rebounds and runs in uptempo game; tough to contain in open court, finds the rim in transition regularly; a penetrator, gets to rim in traffic.”
As perhaps the new starting point guard of the Johnnies, Unique Drake and St. John’s will have to wait to tipoff their season until Saturday, November 28 against Fairleigh Dickinson.