It took a group effort for the Providence Friars to successfully steal a victory from the St. John’s Red Storm at Madison Square Garden on Saturday afternoon. Only having a lead for a total of 3:18, the Friars never gave up and secured a come-from-behind 77-71 win.
Coming into this game, Providence hadn’t played for 15 days. Playing on the road, especially at The Garden, the 12 and a half point favorites didn’t have many expectations from “experts”.
The Johnnies were in total control for the first six minutes of the game. Starting on a 15-3 run, their aggressive full-court press and force of turnovers were key in their early lead.
Their lead didn’t last. St. John’s may have been hot to open the game, but they slowly cooled down. The Friars took advantage of the fouls and missed shots and crawled all the way back to reality. They’d take their first lead of the afternoon with 4:44 left in the first half on a Jamier Jones tip-in at the rim.
The score stayed close the rest of the way until the Red Storm pulled out in front with under two minutes left. Heading back to the locker rooms, they were back on top and had a healthy seven-point lead.
St. John’s remained on top throughout the second half. Despite trailing, Providence never went away as they’d only allow themselves to go down by 10. Both teams struggled to shoot, and the fouls were constant, giving the Friars a chance to stay in it.
St. John’s maintained a small, but bearable lead for over 15 minutes of the 20 remaining until chaos would ensue. Down by five, Providence scored back-to-back in between a missed Red Storm three. Jamier Jones’ driving layup, followed by an Oswin Erhunmwunse dunk, brought the Friars within one.
With 2:30 to go, Providence would take its third lead of the night on back-to-back free throws from Jones. The two points were a portion of his 15 points in the win.
Ian Jackson hit a pair of free throws to give St. John’s the lead back, but it was their last of the night as in the very next possession Stefan Vaaks sank a 25-foot three-pointer to put the Friars up by two. From then on, Providence protected its lead like a mother lion protecting her cubs, and gave the Red Storm no chances to get back in front, robbing them of a win at home.
Obviously, basketball is a team sport, but sometimes all it takes is a single player to get the job done. This wasn’t the case with this Friars team. Four out of five starters and a bench player tallied 10-16 points in the matchup. They worked together, and each did their part not only to stay in the game but to come out with a victory.
The same can’t be said with St. John’s. Shooting a combined 28.2 field goal percentage, if it wasn’t for Zuby Ejiofor, that number would be a lot smaller. He was the only guy who clearly showed up, scoring 33 points while no other player scored more than eight.
“I’ve said it all along, these guys are great, but they just had an awful night collectively except for Zuby [Ejuofior],” Sr John’s head coach Rick Pitino said. This was the fifth loss of the season for St John’s. A polar opposite from last year’s team, “Every single player had their worst night of the season and it mushroomed into overflow with the defense.”
Despite it being a home game for the Red Storm, the Providence faithful made their presence known, especially when it came to Bryce Hopkins. Playing in his first game against his former school after spending three seasons with the Friars, the senior was rattled with boos every time his name was mentioned and every mistake he made turned into a celebration. There were even some times when the boos from Providence fans were louder than the cheers from Red Storm fans.
“I took my matchup personal and I feel like I did great,” Jamier Jones said. As much as the fans felt a certain way regarding Hopkins, the energy was mutual with the team as well. “I feel like if he was here this year, I feel like I should still play over him.”
The Red Storm are now 9-5 on the season and 2-1 in Big East play. While it may be early January, a game like this suggests that soon could be the time to press the panic button. They’ll try and bounce back when they head to Indianapolis to play Butler on Tuesday.
