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St. John’s Basketball: 3 takeaways from Red Storm’s narrow win over Rider

By Nicholas Diamantis

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 18: Head coach Mike Anderson of the St. John's Red Storm reacts against the Seton Hall Pirates at Madison Square Garden on January 18, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 18: Head coach Mike Anderson of the St. John's Red Storm reacts against the Seton Hall Pirates at Madison Square Garden on January 18, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images) /
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St. John's Basketball
Myles Powell Seton Hall Pirates Greg Williams Jr. St. John’s Basketball(Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

1.) Another slow start in the 1st half

St. John’s has dealt with a recurring trend of not starting games on the right foot this season.

Tonight against the Broncs, Red Storm fans witnessed the same ongoing problems that caused their team to be trailing for most of the game.

After the Johnnies took a quick 9-2 lead within the first three minutes of play, Rider answered back with a 14-4 run of its own and took its first lead of the contest at 16-15 after a Dwight Murray triple at the 10:14 mark.

Coach Anderson was frustrated with his team’s effort on defense early on, and Kevin Baggett’s squad seemed to make pivotal basket after pivotal basket to make things extremely difficult for St. John’s from the start.

Foul trouble also plagued the Red Storm early in the first half. Freshman guard John McGriff needed to play extra minutes in the first half due to Greg Williams Jr.‘s two early fouls. Williams Jr.’s energy and offensive prowess against Stony Brook on Sunday was needed in Tuesday’s contest against Rider, and the time he sat on the bench in the first half evidently hurt the Red Storm.

The Red Storm’s offense clearly took a tumble when it’s B unit – consisting of McGriff, Dylan Addae-Wusu, David Caraher, Marcellus Earlington, and Arnaldo Toro – took the floor mid-way in the first. In the three and a half minutes the unit was on the floor, the Red Storm only added three points – an Earlington layup and a Toro free throw.

After 20 minutes of play, the Red Storm found themselves trailing 35-33 at the break, closing the opening half shooting only 14-of-40 from the field and 1-of-9 from behind the arc.

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