NEW YORK – A look back at a couple wild nights in the Big East.
Rutgers’ improbable 77-76 victory over Villanova is widely discussed in how it transpired. The Wildcats had a three-point lead with seconds left. Rutgers’ Jonathan Mitchell hit a trey with .8 second reaming and was fouled by Corey Fisher, ironically his only personal of the game, Mitchell calmly converted from the charity stripe to give the Scarlet Knights the victory.
Almost lost among the jubilation and fans pouring onto the court was the “validation” of the win. Rutgers coach Mike Rice said in the post game press conference this “validates what we are trying to do.” Simply, you can come up close, be competitive and play a Pitt to a one-possession loss, but until the breakthrough win comes, people do not really notice or fully acknowledge your best efforts. Now the observers do. In the span of .8 second Rutgers is suddenly seen in a completely different light.
On Thursday, St. John’s dominated UConn in the second half en route to an 89-72 win at Madison Square Garden. A crowd of over 13,600 were on hand, with an overwhelming percentage being St. John’s fans. The crowd and electric atmosphere does not win games. But the energy supllied by players out on the floor does. Suffice to say St. John’s had a great deal more energy and played with a greater sense of purpose than the tenth-ranked Huskies. “(St. John’s) just beat us every way you can,” said UConn coach Jim Calhoun.
The half saw the Huskies right there with St. John’s ahead by a 35-31 count. The all-important forst four minutes of the second half were dominated by St. John’s. After the four minutes, and two UConn timeouts, St. John’s was enjoying a 48-34 lead and were never to look back.
Dwight Hardy was spectacular, as the St. John’s senior guard led all scorers with 33 points. Hardy got some open looks, especially in transition, and took advantage. Kdemba walker scored 15 points and handed out 7 assists. The UConn junior had only six after halftime, three coming the final minutes with the verdict already in. Hardy deferred talk of outplaying Walker. “It’s not me against him (Walker),” Hardy said. “He is a player of the year candidate and he is a great player. This was about St. John’s against UConn.”
Calhoun was upset over his team’s inability to handle a matchup zone. “We have seen about 160 minutes of matchup the last four games,” he said. “You think we could figure it out.”
St. John’s made the zone difficult to handle by pressuring the Huskies full court. The press was not designed to force turnovers (UConn had only 9 turnovers and a favorable 13 percent TO rate). It did the job by tiring out UConn as the game wore on. The press also ate up more possession time, giving less of a chance to work for a good or better shot against the matchup.
For St. John’s coach Steve Lavin the win was significant on a few fronts. “It helps our NCAA (Tournament) resume,” Lavin said. “It helps us move up which would benefit our Big East (tournament) resume and it was at home where we want to defend our turf.”
The Numbers:
Possessions, Offensive Efficiency
Villanova 60, 127
Rutgers 62, 124
Jay Wright got the pace he wanted, more on the deliberate side. But an off the charts 127 efficiency and a loss? Unbelievable, like the way this one played out.
Possessions, Offensive Efficiency
UConn 72, 100
St. John’s 71, 125
The faster tempo partially due to defensive pressure but more on the transition order. St. John’s had a number of fast break opportunities in this one. A 100 efficiency will win games. Never when you allow a 125.
