Sunday, January 10, 2016

January 9th, 2016: Seton Hall at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: St. John's and Seton Hall both had big runs, but in the end, it was the Red Storm who came up with the 71-69 win. Danaejah Grant notched a double-double for St. John's, with 29 points and 13 rebounds, while Aliyyah Handford added 17 before fouling out. Tabatha Richardson-Smith of Seton Hall led all scorers with 34; the Pirates also got double figures from Shakena Richardson (15) and Lubirdia Gordon (10).

For SO MUCH AWKWARD, phlegm, mucus, avoiding staredowns, cheap shots, sleep deprivation, and a lack of excuses presented, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.


Today is one of the days I look forward to and dread at the same time. Today is the Awkward Bowl, aka St. John's versus Seton Hall. This is the St. John's home game, so I'm making every attempt to be at full voice, while my other half is behind the Seton Hall bench in blue.

The advantage of the J train running late and us not getting in until 20 minutes before tip is that I've managed to avoid the Tabatha Richardson-Smith I Am Disappointed In Your Life Choices staredown. (Then again, given that Tab didn't start, I don't think I'm the only one whose life choices have disappointed people.)

I would love to know what Tony was talking about with first Joe, then Kathy Meehan. He seemed irked about something.

The first quarter was close. St. John's ended on a big run to go into halftime with a 14-point lead. I like this, and not just because I like when St. John's wins things- if this keeps up, he has to buy me dinner tomorrow after the Iona game.

This was pretty much the kind of game I expected it to be, although I didn't expect the closeness to be a result of runs- I never thought either team would put up a long bad stretch. We're talking about two teams, both alike in dignity, who know each other very well. This is a bragging rights game. This is the one a coach can take into a local recruit's living room. It's the kind of game where the fans travel and even some of the ancillary personnel travel (I think I saw a couple of Seton Hall dance people in the stands). Everyone involved knows everyone else; there are hellos in the stands between the red and the blue. We're not the only ones with divided loyalties, and this isn't even as bad as it used to be.

I'm not completely certain why Tony went to Martha Kuderer in the first half. Her defense is pretty good for a freshman, but her decision-making on the offensive end was not quick enough. She wasn't ready for this, and I think it affected the Pirates in the first half. LaTecia Smith got a few quick minutes in the first half, but was ineffective. There are only so many tiny guards you can play at one, and her inexperience on the defensive end didn't help her.

Claire Lundberg's scant seconds came at the end of the first quarter, when she was inserted as an emergency shooter and not utilized. Jordan Molyneaux played a few minutes and amazingly was not called for a foul (sorry, Jordan, but it's who you are, it's what you do). Taylor Byrne stood strong defensively.

We're going to have a segue between the starters and the reserves here, because we all know Tabatha Richardson-Smith is really the starter, even though she did something that caused her to be benched until the first stoppage. She took the game personally and had herself a day. She was at her strongest inside against the smaller Red Storm defenders, driving the lane and hitting pretty little finger rolls. She hit a couple of ridiculously deep threes, too, because she's Tab and that's what she does. But at the same time, whenever it seemed like Seton Hall just needed one more basket to break the game open and go on the big run that would surely give them the game... she missed it. That makes it sound like I'm blaming the player who shot better than 50% from the field and put up 34 points, and that would be stupid (and possibly suicidal, I have to go to Walsh next month). Jordan Mosley, who got the start, didn't go back into the game until the final minutes, to basically be a fresh body to soak up the fouls.

Shakena Richardson seems to have more of a chip on her shoulder when I'm not rooting for her. She's really stubborn. I wasn't happy with her after the shot she took at Danaejah early in the game. She's got a pretty pull-up, and uses her ability to change direction quickly to get enough space to put that jumper up. She was tough on defense, too. Seeing her next to Aleesha Powell highlighted the difference between P5-speed decision-making and MAAC-speed decision-making. Aleesha was quick as lightning on defense, dueling with Aaliyah Lewis (it's nice when Aaliyah has someone in her own size range to deal with), but on offense she hesitated a moment too long when the defense came at her. She didn't have the looks she was used to getting, and I think it got into her head a little bit.

Lubirdia Gordon slipped behind the St. John's defense and took advantage of her teammates' passes- there was one play where Tab found her with no one within a foot of her. She converted. She didn't always play the smartest defense, though. Tiffany Jones never got into her groove, which I think was critical. She's a mis-match for most teams, but she didn't get as much of a chance to set up outside as she usually does- Imani really drove her nuts. She got on the glass well, though. She won a lot of loose ball battles when Red Storm players couldn't keep their hands on the ball.

I think the Pirates might have let the importance of this game get into their heads a little bit. They thrive on emotion and passion, and when things aren't going as well for them, they tend to slip up.

Crystal Simmons brought a lot of defensive intensity. She spent a lot of time on Tab, and I think she rattled Tab a little bit. Her offense still needs work, though. Jade Walker should pick on people her own size- her first three fouls were all drawn on Seton Hall's tiny guards. She brought good offense, but bad decision-making. Akina Wellere gave some decent but non-memorable minutes in relief of Aliyyah.

Imani Littleton seemed to have found her feet in this game. She made some good defensive plays on the boards and out on the perimeter against Tiffany. I'd love to see her develop some confidence from this game, because she really looked like she had found her groove. We couldn't get a lot of minutes from Sandra Udobi, but they were solid minutes- she held her ground down low and pulled down her fair share of rebounds.

Aaliyah Lewis had her hands full between Aleesha and Shakena, but there was ice water in her veins down the stretch when she hit the free throws. I love her tenacity and her ability to stick to her defensive assignment. Danaejah Grant took over the game in the fourth quarter, getting down low and coming up with big shots. Aliyyah Handford was hot early, but then her new bad habit cropped up of getting into foul trouble. Either teams are adjusting to her speed and her bad habits, or she's not paying attention to the way games are being called. It doesn't help that there's always at least one really bad call against her per game, but she needs to learn to adjust or she's going to be spending too much time on the bench in crunch situations. We need her.

Plays of the game were the back-to-back behind the back feeds between Aliyyah and Danaejah; I think after the second one (Nae o-board, flip to Liyyah, behind the back to Nae) I might have yelled, "Oh, now y'all are just showing off!"

As usual, there were multiple highly questionable calls on both sides- I disagreed with the third foul on Aliyyah and the fourth foul on Shakena. It's way too easy for officials to make themselves the deciding factor in a game. Drives me nuts.

We knew this was going to be a dogfight. We know each other too well. And I'm not looking forward to the return trip. But hey! I get dinner after the Iona game!

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