By David Okula (@david16okula)
NEW YORK — St. John’s made its return to the floor at Carnesecca Arena Wednesday, showcasing its new high-level talent in an 81-52 over Drexel in its preseason opener.
After the two teams found themselves tied at 11 with just over 12 minutes left in the opening half, the Red Storm pulled away from Drexel with a 24-3 run and never looked back. The story of the night for St. John’s was defense, as Drexel was held without a field goal for over 11 minutes in the first half and shot just 16-for-62 from the field in the contest.
“We have a lot of improvements to make,” head coach Rick Pitino said. “But I was impressed with how hard they played defensively, and (they) did a lot of good things.”
The convincing victory didn’t come without things to work on for St. John’s, which is to be expected during any October exhibition game. The Red Storm committed 19 turnovers on the night and shot just 7-for-29 from beyond the arc. The Johnnies also allowed 14 offensive rebounds, resulting in 10 second-chance points for the Dragons.
“We are just so far behind on the fundamentals,” Pitino said. “But the upside is you’d rather have outstanding talent that needs to learn how to play than little talent that’s fundamentally sound.”
After the strong defense, the other major takeaway of the night was the play of the newcomers for the Red Storm, particularly Tounde Yessoufou, Babacar Sane and Quinn Ellis. Sane and Yessoufou showcased their uber-athleticism on both sides of the ball from the opening tip, combining to score the first 10 St. John’s points of the game. Sane ended up with 12 first-half points on 4-of-6 shooting, while Yessoufou collected nine points and three rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.
Sane showed throughout the night the immense impact that he can have for the Red Storm if he is declared eligible for the entirety of the season, finishing with a team-high 17 points, eight rebounds and two assists. As the Senegalese forward remains in a waiting period for his next court date on November 9, he expressed some frustration with having to deal with these question marks, but also made it clear he’s focusing on what he can control.
“It’s a little bit frustrating, especially because I’ve loved it here since the day I got here,” Sane said. “I’m not really focusing on what’s going on off the court. I’m focusing on getting better every day.”
Ellis, who was just declared eligible for the season by the NCAA on Tuesday, looked very comfortable running the St. John’s offense. Despite only scoring three points, he made contributions in just about every other facet of the game, racking up six assists, six rebounds and four steals.
“It’s obviously a new system here compared to Europe,” Ellis said. “I feel like if everything goes well, I can really push my ability to the next level. To play here at St. John’s, such a great program with such a great coach and amazing guys, it’s the reason why I came here.”
One of the main storylines from the exhibition came before the tip, when it was announced Sane was going to be in the starting five and standout transfer Keyshawn Hall would be coming off the bench. Pitino emphasized after the game, however, that this isn’t something to look into too much, and what’s happening on the floor will dictate who’s getting the most minutes.
“This is a very deep team,” Pitino said. “I told Babacar, Keyshawn and (Tounde), ‘you’re going to alternate starting. But in the final five minutes of the game, you’ll know who I think the best is.’”
Aside from Hall, who finished with nine points and five rebounds, the Red Storm had some other key contributors off the bench on Wednesday. Reed Bailey, who spent last season at Indiana after three years at Davidson, was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field and scored eight points, while freshman Theo Edema made his case to be the backup center with six points on 2-for-2 shooting.
St. John’s ultimately had 12 different players find the scoring column in the contest. On the defensive end, the Red Storm caused chaos all night with 25 turnovers and nine different players collecting a steal. All in all, it was a night that gave fans a peak at what the potential could be for this Red Storm team, but also illustrated plenty of areas for improvement, which is exactly what these exhibition games are for.
Next up for St. John’s is its return to Madison Square Garden for another exhibition against Rutgers on Sunday afternoon.
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