The Johnnies showed their star and bench strength Saturday night at Carnesecca Arena and a sneak peek of probable future starter RJ Luis Jr. in his debut.
Luis, who had not played this season with a broken left hand suffered in an open practice Oct. 1, tallied 14 points along with four rebounds and three steals in what was an expected 91-45 St. John’s victory over Holy Cross (2-5) in front of Kevin Durant and a sold out crowd of 5,602.
It was an encouraging sign for the sophomore guard out of UMass heading into their four remaining games against West Virginia, Sacred Heart, Boston College and Fordham before Big East conference play.
When asked how close Luis is to being back full health and where he wants to be, he said “Humbly, I think that tonight was like 40 percent.”
“It’s been a long seven weeks. It had pros and cons,” Luis added after the victory. “It allowed me to sit out of practice, learn my teammates’ tendencies, learn the system, and just really gave me an outside view. … Got my feet wet tonight, just keep on improving.”
After a start that saw five lead changes, St. John’s (4-2) found its shots in the paint and connected as a unit, seeing a combined 45 points from the bench.
The Johnnies put away the game on a 20-3 run over 6:05 in the first half to help earn a 16-point lead at the half, which lasted for the remainder of the game, limiting Holy Cross to 17 points in the second half.
“When it was 20-20, the one thing I liked, we stayed with our game plan. We said we’re gonna have our run. Don’t panic,” coach Rick Pitino said. “Then, when you have the lead, play fundamental basketball, which we did do because we made a point of emphasis all week long not to turn the ball over. … That’s the way you have to play basketball.”
Joel Soriano controlled the paint with 16 points to lead the Johnnies, followed by Chris Ledlum with 10 points.
St. John’s players celebrate after a 3-point basket during their 91-45 blowout win over Holy Cross. @StJohnsBBall / XThe two heavily contributed to the St. John’s 58 points in the paint over the Crusaders’ 18. Jordan Dingle also hit double-digits with 11 points.
Getting Luis and others off the bench — including Sean Conway, Zuby Ejiofor, Nahiem Alleyne, Brady Dunlap, Simeon Wilcher, Cruz Davis and Drissa Traore — in the second half was something Pitino hadn’t been able to do a lot of in the young season.
Wilcher and Ejiofor led the bench in minutes played of the group with 18 and 17 respectively, followed closely by Dunlap with almost 15.
“I’m not afraid to play any of those guys. It’s a big lift for RJ. I even think Drissa played terrific tonight. They’re all just learning,” Pitino said. “RJ is gonna play multiple positions, but If we’re in a war with West Virginia, I’ve got no problem putting [Wilcher] in the game at any point in time and Brady in the game.
“Brady played really good defense tonight, which I was kind of surprised at. He played terrific defense. They all did tonight. They all played really good defense. They all rooted for each other, which is great.”
Pitino said he plans to play Luis at the four, three, and two spots, describing him as a “point forward” and as “one of the more gifted players I’ve coached.”
The win was another display of the Johnnies’ connected offense.
The team shot an impressive 51 percent from the field (39-for-77) and earned 26 points in transition.
They also successfully limited turnovers (eight), which has been a bad habit for St. John’s early this season. Prior to Saturday, they were averaging 15.2, which was tied for 313th in the country.
St. John’s showed persistence after trailing to Holy Cross’ strong 3-point shooting. They eventually regained the lead after keeping their strengths where they lie, in the paint.
Steals fueled baskets, including a spark when Ledlum stole the ball for a layup following a dunk by Soriano in the previous possession, electrifying the crowd.
The fresh legs of Wilcher also found Ejiofor for an alley-oop late in the first half.
For the remainder of the game, the Johnnies ran away with it, limiting the Crusaders to 36 percent from the field and 33 from deep, and left them in a scoring drought for 3:41 in the final moments.
