November 1st, 2017: Stony Brook at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma’am: The Red Storm’s defense broke th egame open in the third quarter, allowing St. John’s to cruise to a 66-45 win over Stony Brook in a fundraising exhibition. Maya Singleton had a double-double with game-highs of 16 points and 13 rebounds. Jerell Matthews had 15 points, 13 in the first half, to lead Stony Brook.

For the halfcourt trap, getting used to the freshmen, dubious pronunciation skills, defensive intensity, red jerseys, and somewhat missing the point, join your intrepid and no-longer-unlimited blogger after the jump.

Good morning! Exhibition season is upon us, for a good cause, or so I’ve been told. St. John’s is hosting Stony Brook in a game that’s supposed to be a fundraiser. I’m not quite sure how you raise funds when you put a game at a time when people can’t show up and you don’t indicate where donations can be made, but what do I know? I’m just a random.

At halftime, it’s 24-20 St. John’s. Unsurprisingly, it’s been a bit sloppy, with players not getting to their spots and many a pass thrown awry. Akina Wellere has nine to lead St. John’s. Jerell Matthews has 13 to lead Stony Brook.

Substitute PA announcer should have been given a pronunciation guide. He was messing up names left and right, which means I still don’t know how to pronounce Qadashah.

Inactive for St. John’s: Andrayah Adams and Curteeona Brelove.

I don’t recognize any of these band people. I’m a little disturbed by this.

Looks like Shenneika Smith has joined the Red Storm bench in some capacity. The polo shirt doesn’t work for her; if she wants to get into this full time, she might want to ask Doug Bruno where he gets his shirts. Button-downs look really good on her.

Maya Singleton had a gorgeous steal, then drove the fast break like she’d maybe had a little hair of the dog for breakfast and blew the lay-up. Bless your heart, Maya. She made up for it by pulling the routine off two more times and hitting the layup both subsequent times.

It was a sloppy game, as one could expect from the earliness of it, but a team as defensive-minded as St. John’s will usually be more successful in that scenario, and we broke it open in the third quarter to take it. Stony Brook brought good intensity, but couldn’t keep it up as long as we could (which is saying something since we have no real depth, or at least no numbers).

(You can usually tell exhibitions because the coaches don’t dress up. Everyone was in basic athletics department gear for their respective schools, pretty much.)

Giolibeth Perez was intense on defense, and it was not always to Stony Brook’s advantage- she got reachy and handsy, even at the end when the game was well out of reach. Jonae Cox came in right at the end when Jerell Matthews fouled out. And then immediately committed a foul, because why not?

Cheyenne Clark got a lot of minutes, but I think they were more in the second half. I honestly don’t remember her having much of an impact, even with the amount of time she spent on the floor. She did drop a monster block on an ill-advised St. John’s drive. I was favorably impressed with Hailey Zeise- she’s got some good moves, a good sense of where she wants to be on the floor, and a nice quick free throw motion that’s very hard to disconcert. McKenzie Bushee was physical, setting screens and boxing out. I don’t’ know if I’d say I like her, but I think she has potential for Stony Brook.

India Pagan is still rough around the edges. She has the right instincts when it comes to going to the basket, but she’s got to work on her shooting. She can’t just throw whatever at the basket and expect it to go in. Oksana Gouchie-Provencher (whose name I was pretty sure our substitute PA announcer botched) set a lot of screens up top, but got her pocket picked very thoroughly by Maya Singleton when she tried to pass from the top of the arc. She was a good facilitator, but not much else.

Jerell Matthews lit us up in the first half. She was canning shots from deep, and it was a little embarrassing how easily we managed to lose her. She got in foul trouble in the second half, and I think that limited her somewhat- she ended up fouling out on a really ill-advised play on a double-team. I was expecting more out of Aaliyah Worley, but she never found her footing. It didn’t help her that she had Alisha Kebbe making her life miserable, though. Shania Johnson had some really nice passes and kept the offense moving, but there were a couple of sequences where it looked like she was instigating contact. (Tiana didn’t fall down by herself, ref.) I like her toughness, but if she’s tripping people, I am not okay with that. (I am also not sure how she pronounces Shania. PA guy did two different versions, one where she would be belting out “Honey, I’m Home” and one where she would not be.)

I like Stony Brook’s heart, but I think they need to make better decisions in the lane and they don’t have the depth to keep up with a high-intensity defensive team like St. John’s.

Look, St. John’s, this carrying the bare minimum number of players is not going to end well. We couldn’t even clear the bench fully today.

Shamachya Duncan is going by Machi on the PA. She seems like a nice kid, but she wasn’t very effective out there. She’s still got a ways to go. Qadashah Hoppie, whose name I am now certain I don’t know how to pronounce (seriously, it would have killed people to give the PA guy a pronunciation key?) shows potential, but I think she needs to get used to having to put in D-I effort instead of coasting on talent. She seemed to be a step slow, and not just because she was still figuring out where she needed to be. One does not make a good first impression when the first play of the game involves you standing and staring at a loose ball.

Tamesha Alexander remains my favorite even if she isn’t the best player on the floor. Fight me, I don’t care. I think the fact that she’s acting as a captain from the bench says a lot about her and why she’s my favorite. I love the potential of Kayla Charles. I’m going to need her to not commit stupid fouls at the end of the game, but she’s so springy that I think she can do great things in the paint. She did really nice work on the offensive glass, and I’m a sucker for offensive rebounds.

Speaking of rebounds, my goodness, Maya Singleton, you do your thing! I love when she rips the ball away from her opponents. She was fierce and she was tough. It seemed like she got stronger as the game went on. Imani Littleton had a quieter game, and had a lot of trouble holding on to the ball early on. I wondered if she was on a minutes count because of the knee injury from last year. She had a really good block in the fourth quarter, though.

Alisha Kebbe came on strong in the third quarter. Her shot wasn’t falling, even at the rim, but she did a good job getting to the line, and her on-ball defense was ferocious. I’m still getting used to the long hair, but that’s a small, stupid thing. (I’m not good at change.) I love watching her work on defense, and sitting near the sideline, I got a lot of good looks at her hassling Stony Brook’s guards. Tiana England looks like she’s still trying to find her footing, both in the literal not-falling-on-her-ass sense and in the sense of figuring out what her role is and where she’s supposed to be on the floor. I can see why the team might be excited about her, but I don’t think she’s as far along as they thought she was going to be. Akina Wellere got the scoring started early for the Red Storm, and it looks like she’s going to be the workhorse for this team. She seemed to be more willing to go to the basket than she was last year, which is good. We need her to have a really well-rounded offense.

It looks like another season of a defensive mindset and questions about who’s going to bring th eoffense. It's going to be a rough year, but I knew that already, and I’m ready for it. I’ll still be there for them.

Guys, seriously, if you’re going to do something as a fundraiser, you might want to have a spot where people can make donations. Official attendance was 110, and I suspect paid tickets were in the low double-digits... if not single digits, given that Coach Tartamella paid for 100 students (though 100 students didn’t show up) and I think those numbers also included family tickets. I was ready to give money or buy things as fundraisers, and that didn’t happen.

Cheer’s still figuring out the routine. Dance looks good.

I’m looking forward to the actual opener. I’m still pessimistic about our chances against Big East competition, but maybe we won’t be as hard to watch as I thought we would. I mean, they’re my team and I’m going to love them no matter what, but maybe this love won’t hurt as much.