November 29th, 2015: South Florida at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: South Florida scored the first basket, but St. John's had the last laugh, leading for 37 minutes in their 74-70 win over the 18th-ranked Bulls. Danaejah Grant led the Red Storm with 27 points, while Aliyyah Handford scored 11 of her 23 in the fourth quarter. USF's Courtney Williams led all scorers with 28, 25 of those in the second half.

For clutch seniors, athletic drives, sick passes, cheddar and sour cream Ruffles, rounding up the usual suspects, the ghost of Bonita Spence, weak free throws, Jersey drivers, and making big plays, join your intrepid and decorative blogger after the jump.



And now for something completely different, we're coming to you live in Smell-O-Vision from Carnesecca Arena on the campus of St. John's University, as the Red Storm host nationally ranked and erstwhile conference foe South Florida.

I don't know if I like the striping on USF's shorts, but I do like the numbers on their warm-up shirts.

Hot take: I looked at Maria Jespersen and almost blurted out, "Oh my God, they cloned Inga Orekhova."

Do your thing, Ninja Turtle girl at center court. Do your thing.

Shoutout to the trumpet tooting along with "Uptown Funk".

At halftime, St. John's is up 4, 31-27. The ghost of Bonita Spence has haunted this game, with five travels called in the first five minutes and other procedural calls scattered throughout. There may have been a shriek of "DAMN YOU BONITA" at one point in the first quarter. Lots of fouls, too. I don't agree with all of them, but there have been as many missed calls on St. John's as there have been bad calls, so I'll take the balance.

Shenneika Smith, she whose name is cursed in Storrs, is in the house, sitting in the VIP seats. She signed our flag. :D (And today is team autograph day, so we can add Akina and Jordan, too! Get ALL the Johnnies!)

This was old-school Big East basketball- punch and counter-punch, never able to escape the breath on the back of the neck but never quite being caught either, the stars shining and the support players coming up with big plays. Damn you, football greed and conference realignment!

Kitija Laksa hit a couple of threes early, which gave me the impression that she was a very dangerous shooter, but her looks were more contested later in the game. She's got good height for a shooter, and is more willing to rebound than the average outside player. Maria Jespersen mostly set screens and camped in the paint, so she's not a clone of Inga Orekhova. Shalethia Stringfield was fearless on both ends of the floor, which would eventually lead to her downfall and disqualification on personal fouls. I don't think Nancy Warioba actually saw playing time, but was instead just part of a complex substitution shuffle.

With big hair and seemingly endless enthusiasm, Laura Ferreira reminded me of Amanda Zahui B, but not in play style. She used her size on defense and hit a couple of buckets down low late. Alisia Jenkins looked ready to find her groove offensively in the third quarter, but couldn't hit the broad side of a a barn, and she had some very close looks at the basket. She's a damn good rebounder, using her height well to go after balls that other people can't reach. Katelyn Weber reminded us of what would happen if you put Katie Smith on a torture rack and stretched her head to toe. She was a bit gawky and awkward, which allowed St. John's to use less mobile defenders on her, but she did a little work down low.

Laia Flores might have gotten the start, but she barely played. She seemed to be more of a distributor and facilitator than active playmaker, and I think Fernandez was looking for someone to strike a spark, since Jenkins wasn't hitting. Courtney Williams got game. She reminds me a lot of Shenneika Smith, in terms of her body type and play style. She's a little more of a jump shooter than Shenneika was, but she's equally dangerous slithering into the lane or taking threes. She knows how to block shots, too- she went full Mutombo on one by Crystal Simmons. She was clutch for the Bulls, and had their run started a minute earlier, they might have been able to come all the way back behind her.

USF took a long time making subs- there were a couple of times when it was almost time to inbound the ball and a sub came jogging to the table. I was surprised how long it took them to adjust to the Red Storm's penetration.

Crystal Simmons came in for length on defense. She made a fantastic defensive play on Jenkins (granted, USF had a player there for the offensive rebound, but it was a break that Crystal made harder than it would have been). Akina Wellere came in to provide a little shooting. I think she's got a lot of potential to fit in this system- she just needs a little more polishing. Jade Walker played the bulk of the minutes at forward- she started the second half in place of Imani Littleton. Today she was feeling her outside shot more than her interior play, with mixed results. I like that she can change things up on the outside, but we need an interior presence, and the Marist game showed she can score inside.

Imani Littleton really looks like she hasn't found her place on the floor yet. I don't know whether it's just a lack of confidence or a lack of knowing what her role is, but I'm worried about her. She doesn't seem to be taking it well. Sandra Udobi still has trouble moving around, but she made some big plays down low, pulling down boards and getting to the basket.

Aaliyah Lewis got busted for a lot of procedural turnovers today- mostly travels, though one was a bad pass. She started off shooting well, but cooled off late in the game until it was time to hit free throws. Danaejah Grant was solid, putting up jumpers and driving the lane with equal facility. When she's on, she's on, and it's beautiful and terrifying to behold. Aliyyah Handford was driving the lane early and often, but driving more for the contact than the shot for three quarters. But when it came down to the crunch, she took over and made those shots count. She had three straight drives in the fourth quarter to counter the big plays Courtney Williams was making for USF.

For all the points Nae scored, her biggest play of the game was a rebound. Liyyah had finally missed on one of her twisting drives to the basket- but on a day when USF was dominating the boards, Danaejah came up with the offensive rebound. For all the points Liyyah scored, her biggest play of the game was a pass. You can see it yourself here, and you really want to: https://twitter.com/StJohnsWBB/status/671122558536826880

Lots of missed calls, lots of bad calls. I really expected better from this crew. The fact that many of the missed calls went in the Red Storm's favor is irrelevant to the discussion.

I approve of dancers with blue hair.

The turnout was disappointing, but given that a lot of places were still giving start time as 3:30, and given that the ticket office opened at least five minutes late, and given that facility staff was still sweeping up in the arena when the game was about to tip, I think the memo did not get out. Shame. We had a ranked team in the building, something that probably won't happen again until either DePaul or Seton Hall.

Big East basketball, man. It's a beautiful thing.