St. John’s Basketball: 3 takeaways from loss to No. 9 Creighton Bluejays
3.) Rebounding troubles
Coming into the season, a huge question mark that Red Storm fans voiced prior to the start of the season was whether or not this squad had the physicality and the height to compete on the glass with the other BIG EAST teams.
After three games, those doubts still linger. Tonight’s performance on the glass against the Creighton big men shined a bright light on that weakness.
Tonight, the Red Storm lost the rebound margin 44-26. No one on the Red Storm secured more than five rebounds. Only four of the 11 players that stepped on the court for the Johnnies grabbed three or more boards.
Creighton’s Christian Bishop and Damien Jefferson each finished with a double-double, scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively, and each corralled 10 rebounds.
Freshman center Ryan Kalbrenner took advantage of St. John’s inability to secure rebounds in traffic, snagged three offensive rebounds, and finished with 14 of his 15 points from the paint.
St. John’s has now lost all three of its games in which the team has been outrebounded, and none worse than tonight’s performance.
Next. 5 biggest storylines for Iowa vs Gonzaga. dark
St. John’s looks to avoid falling in its fourth straight BIG EAST contest when they host Patrick Ewing’s Georgetown Hoyas on Sunday at Carnesecca Arena.