Marcus Hatten was for most of the season the only constant for hopelessly inconsistent St. John’s – until vital reserve Willie Shaw stepped up his game as well, and the Red Storm finally started to win.
Going into last night’s NIT semifinal with the University of Alabama-Birmingham, the Red Storm were winners of six out of their last seven, a hot streak that has coincided with Shaw’s improved play. It figures: The junior guard has long found himself at the center of drama on the Queens campus.
He’s shrugged off poor shooting nights to nail huge late 3-pointers. He’s overcome poor personal decisions to become one of the team’s most vital players. And since coming back from an injury, he’s played his best ball in the biggest games of his life.
“He’s doing great,” coach Mike Jarvis said of Shaw. “He’s doing super. He’s been overall our most consistent player in the last six or seven games – overall, defending, shooting. It’s a very nice accomplishment.”
St. John’s rode into last night’s tilt with UAB on the crest of a hot streak that actually started with a stunning 72-71 upset of powerhouse Duke at the Garden on March 2.
That win was spurred by Hatten’s individual brilliance and the Red Storm’s work on the boards, and Shaw heated up in the very next game with 14 points and some huge plays down the stretch in a victory over Rutgers.
And despite missing the following game – the regular-season finale at Miami – with an injured ankle, the 6-5, 190-pounder from The Bronx hasn’t yet cooled down.
As a matter of fact, he went into the Rutgers game averaging 7.8 ppg on just 35 percent shooting; since then, he’s averaged 12.6 ppg on 47.8 percent shooting. He even broke the school’s all-time 3-point record in an NIT second-round win over Virginia.
For his part, Shaw said he had no idea he’d broken the record until it was announced during the game – but the mark nonetheless symbolizes how far the former star from JFK High School has come.
“[That] made me feel good … feel great, to tell you the truth,” Shaw said. “I had a lot of injuries and things that slowed me up last year, but it feels good to be healthy and contributing.”
He was slowed in part by poor choices. After debuting with a 13.8 ppg freshman campaign, he didn’t work diligently enough after that season and developed tendinitis and a bone spur in his left knee as a sophomore.
Then he was barred from last year’s NCAA Tournament and the beginning of this season after he tested positive for marijuana use late last season. But even without a starting job, he worked feverishly to rediscover his game – and now he and the Red Storm are seeing that work pay off.
