St. John's Basketball: Roster changes are evident for Red Storm
St. John’s basketball beat Baruch by 50 in an exhibition match-up at Carnesecca Arena.
Around this time last year, the Chris Mullin head coaching era at St. John’s tipped off with an embarrassing 90-58 loss to Division II St. Thomas Aquinas in an exhibition battle on their home floor.
Year two, was the complete opposite as the Red Storm blew out Division III Baruch at Carnesecca Arena, 99-49.
While it’s only an exhibition match-up and this victory obviously can only be taken with a grain of salt, it’s evident that the Red Storm have an increase in talent. With five newcomers, the Johnnies have much more skill, depth and versatility on their roster.
Federico Mussini, who will now play off the ball more often in 2016-17, led the team in scoring with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting. However, it was the new faces, Bashir Ahmed, Marcus LoVett, Shamorie Ponds, Richard Freudenberg and Tariq Owens, that provided the most promise for the future.
Ahmed scored 19 points, but was even more impressive defensively as he challenged every shot and proved to be very difficult to blow by in one-on-one situations. At 6’7″, 210 pounds, Ahmed looks like a combination of a tight end and a fullback, using his power to beat defenders off the dribble.
Redshirt freshman guard LoVett and four-star freshman guard Ponds both started the game in ugly fashion (they were forcing shots and looked nervous at times), but they settled in and both finished with solid stat lines.
LoVett ran the offense with efficiency, showed his excellent quickness and most importantly, he only turned the ball over a single time. While Ponds’ shot was off on Monday night, he is very active on defense and has some really quick hands.
“Marcus and Shamorie are very unselfish,” Ahmed said following the game. “They have very good basketball IQs so that makes it easy for us.”
Even Freudenberg showed off his great potential. He can shoot from the perimeter, had a couple of sweet passes on back door cuts and has solid length.
Richard Freudenberg posts 10 first-half points, including these two to beat the buzzer. 3-3 shooting, three boards and three assists. pic.twitter.com/8lHqB3uGAb
— St. John's BBall (@StJohnsBBall) November 1, 2016
Then there’s Owens, who looked very shaky on offense and definitely needs to add more bulk to his frame. However, the Tennessee transfer grabbed 12 rebounds and altered multiple shots on the defensive end.
Again, we must keep things in perspective given that this was still a Division III opponent. This doesn’t mean that St. John’s is going to the NCAA Tournament or that they are headed for a top-five finish in the Big East standings.
But what it does mean is that Mullin and company have an opportunity to take another giant step in the right direction. Doubling their win total from last year (eight) is a realistic goal, with the possibility of making the NIT looming in the background. Regardless, it’s blatantly obvious how much better the Johnnies will be this year.
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