January 3rd, 2016: DePaul at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: A spirited fourth-quarter comeback wasn't enough to dig the Red Storm out of a 26-point hole against DePaul, as St. John's lost 71-61. Aliyyah Handford had 14 to lead St. John's, with Danaejah Grant adding 13 points and 10 rebounds. Megan Podkowa had a game-high 29 points, including six treys, for the Blue Demons.

For three-pointers, bad passes, simplistic dance routines, bad child decisions, t-shirts, and a lack of consistent effort, join your intrepid and plotty blogger after the jump.


There's nothing quite like starting the home conference slate with a bang- the first home game of the Big East season for St. John's is none other than conference tournament champion DePaul, still the team to beat in the BEast if you want to climb the mountain. (Sorry, Tony. Regular season titles are nice, but they don't guarantee you a trip to the tournament.)

There's a woman, maybe a little older than I am, sucking her thumb in the corner of the subway car. Whatever makes you happy, hon. Whatever makes you happy.

I'm nervous about this game. We didn't defend the three well against Creighton, and DePaul also digs the long ball. Hopefully we've learned our lesson.

Everyone's stretching now. Either Crystal has long legs, short shorts, or her legs look longer because she's the only one not wearing leggings. Our trainer is a very scary man.

Jordan, pretty sure you're supposed to actually stretch when it's time for stretching.

Liyyah, why do you have to be a senior? Can't you and your endless joy stay here forever?

Da'Shena Stevens rocking the red dress like a boss. (That is, of course, because she *is* a boss.)

Whose choice was this song with the explosions? Because the explosions are kind of a little much.

This whole game is making me wish I'd gone to Seton Hall and watched them beat Marquette by 30. We're not playing well. We seem to have forgotten that Doug Bruno's DePaul teams like to play fast and hit threes. Today was the dance clinic to get cheap butts in seats, except that having dance parents plant themselves in front of you and their children stare at you every time you make a sound is really not conducive to a fun gameday experience. (They all eventually fled. I am not sympathetic to people who look at the section next to the marching band and decide this is a lovely place to settle a group that includes four small children and a baby carrier.)

(Just for the record: no, I don't really like kids. Kids I know are okay. Kids in the singular are okay. Kids who are willing to cheer along are all right by me. But large numbers of children? No. Go away. Go be somewhere else.)

Why are we wearing gray? Whatever happened to home white? Yes, I'm petty and salty today.

That fourth quarter was nice- I wish we'd brought that kind of intensity for the rest of the game. Losing Aliyyah Handford on fouls pretty much shot our chances to heck, but we gave it a good try.

Ashton Millender is a fantastic defensive player- every big play I saw from her was on defense, whether it was a steal, a board, or standing her ground to force a turnover (she had one nice strong stand that led to a Danaejah Grant travel). I would love to see the defensive stats on her and the +/- (though then again, her offense is sorely lacking so far, so...). Tanita Allen played very briefly in the first half. I think the confusing Lauren Prochaska may have gotten some minutes in the second half, but I'm not sure. I remember seeing the back of her jersey, but that's about it. Doug Bruno really didn't go deep into his bench in the second half, save for Millender. Mart'e Grays got time in the first half, and was solid on the inside, but she got tangled up with Jade Walker on a rebound and went down hard. She got up and stayed in the game, but I'm not completely certain she was all right.

Megan Podkowa is a match-up nightmare. She's a big, and a tall one at that, with a broad frame she's not afraid to use- and then she sets up outside with range. It's not fair. DePaul does a good job of creating shots for each other, but she can move to get her own. Not. Fair. Jacqui Grant has moves on the inside, but also knows how to move around to set screens for her teammates. She's still finding her feet in that regard, though- she was called for two offensive fouls, and I think they were both on moving screens. Disadvantage of that kind of fast-paced motion, I suppose.

Brooke Schulte gets the dirty work done. She made defensive plays. She intercepted passes. She got crucial rebounds. She's definitely a guard, but she plays with the physicality and tenacity of a post. She shoots pretty well, too. I admit to getting Chanise Jenkins and Jessica January confused fairly often, not helped by their tendency to be on the floor at the same time, wear similar numbers, double-team the ballhandler together, and get called for each other's fouls. I like Jenkins's speed and court vision, but she got flustered a lot on defense, and was careless with her handle and passing. Aliyyah was all up in her business and catching her passes. January I don't think I have any clear memory of, because I'm not sure how much of what I saw was her and how much was Jenkins.

DePaul is dangerously smart sometimes. They're a fast team, but one that knows how to use the clock. They're willing to spend a lot of time passing to get the right shot, and willing to sacrifice when they see a better opportunity. And boy, can they shoot.

Really nice to see Jordan Agustus get some playing time. She showed a little something on offense and came up with a massive block in the fourth quarter. That's got to be a boost to her confidence- she hadn't been getting much playing time, but that might change in the conference season. Jade Walker brought the offense, but was woefully out of position on defense, and was often convinced that she was in a position to receive the ball when Podkowa and Grant had her sealed off.

Akina Wellere needs to be more willing to shoot. You're probably looking at the box score and thinking I'm crazy, but I think she might have had better looks, or at least been more in her rhythm, late in the game if she'd been taking more shots earlier. She's showing me good stuff on the fast break, though. Tamesha Alexander saw time in the first half when Aaliyah Lewis got into foul trouble. She threw a dumb pass or two, but hit a pretty jumper. Crystal Simmons had a strong defensive game, and needs to loan out her invisibility-to-officials cloak to her teammates. There were three plays in rapid succession where she was the party in the wrong and didn't get called. She's really raw, and her shot is really funky, but she gets things done.

Sandra Udobi was having trouble moving around all day, which made this an even worse match-up for her than usual. She got the start, but barely played. Imani Littleton really didn't seem to have her head in the game; by the second half, she was being switched out on offense for Jordan, and brought back on defense for her length. We need to get something out of her, and soon.

Danaejah Grant woke up in the fourth quarter, going to the lane and getting the rolls off the glass she wasn't getting earlier in the game. I'd like to see her going stronger to the basket on a regular basis, but at the same time, I recognize that her offense is more perimeter-oriented, providing a change of pace from Aliyyah Handford's slashing to the hoop. Aliyyah had a slow start, since DePaul was sending two and three defenders at her at a time, but she was able to get going a bit in the fourth quarter. Then fouls happened. She was also dynamic on the defensive end, clogging the Blue Demons' passing lanes. Aaliyah Lewis got into foul trouble fairly early on, and it threw her off for much of the game. There was more miscommunication than usual between the ballhandler and the pass recipients- much zigging instead of sagging.

We looked, for three quarters, like we'd never seen a three-point shooter before, and like we'd never seen pressure on the ballhandler before. Something flipped in the fourth quarter, and I think it had to do with the defense. We pressured DePaul more, and they started to make mistakes.

The fourth foul on Aliyyah was a bad call- it should have been Crystal's foul. The fifth foul was legit, and really, if you have four fouls, you don't attempt to re-enact the chariot race from Ben-Hur with your opponent, that's just common sense.

If we couldn't be up for the biggest home game of the year until the fourth quarter, then who are we going to be up for? I mean, really. We've got to be consistent if we want to compete in this conference.