NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The biggest surprise through two-thirds of St. John's trip to the Bahamas was Johnny's 3-point shooting.
What appeared to be a weakness entering the season turned into a strength after a double-overtime loss to No. 13 Baylor and Virginia's rout.
St. John's, ranked 22nd, has made 24 of 48 from long range and is shooting 39.3 percent from deep through six games this year.
The 24 attempts in the two games of the Baha Mar Hoop Championship exceeded the Red Storm's average of 21.7 over the first four contests.
“We worked behind closed doors. We hit threes every day. As you can see right now, after practice, we have multiple people working on threes,” he said, with a long-range shooting percentage of 40 percent this season. said senior winger Aaron Scott. “Really, I don't think anyone can protect us one-on-one. We've got Cadderly. [Richmond]Dayvon [Smith]R.J. [Luis]Simeon [Wilcher]. They all beat defenders one-on-one and find open guys like me and Brady. [Dunlap]spot-up, knockdown shooter. We're just waiting for the ball. We know they're going to find us, we know they're going to beat us one-on-one, and the other teams are going to have to help us. ”
In St. John's (5-1)'s first four games at Carnesecca Arena and the Garden, he averaged 7.2 3-pointers.
In this tournament, the Red Storm is allowing 12 hits per game.
Maybe the Johnnys should play more games in ballrooms like this.
After consecutive nights of games, you might think coach Rick Pitino would give his players a breather.
Well, let's think again.
Prior to Sunday's matchup with an SEC school, Pitino had his players practice for two hours after watching the Georgia-Marquette game together on Saturday.
“I was a little surprised,” Richmond said. “But we went after it. It feels good. There's really no walkthrough. [here]”
Dunlap (hip) practiced Saturday.
I hope he can come on Sunday.
He missed Friday's win over Virginia.
