St. John’s basketball: Three keys to victory against Seton Hall

St. John’s basketball Key to Victory No. 3: Win the turnover battle

The biggest departure for Seton Hall last season was clearly Myles Powell, but the Pirates perhaps lost its most important piece in point guard Quincy McKnight.

McKnight was a strong, confident leader with the ball in his hands for Kevin Willard last season and the head coach has yet to find a solid replacement for him this year.

Seton Hall has turned to Shavar Reynolds to run its offense for a majority of the time this season, while also working freshman Jahari Long into its point guard rotation and sliding Reynolds to shooting guard occasionally.

Reynolds is a solid player, but by no means is he a true point guard and the freshman Long has never seen a defensive style like Mike Anderson is going to throw at him.

St. John’s has to be active on the defensive end from the start, generating a lot of steals and getting easy looks at the basket off Pirate turnovers.

The Johnnies average 12.3 steals per game, which is seventh best in the country.

Seton Hall struggled tremendously with Anderson’s pressing defense during its first matchup with St. John’s last season before Willard was able to adjust in the second half and the Pirates came away with a comeback victory.

However, McKnight isn’t there to settle things down for Seton Hall, so expect the Johnnies to try and speed up the guards for the Pirates have things get chaotic early.