Gray's Take: End of the line
The Big East Tournament kicked off with the Georgetown Hoyas squaring off against the St. John’s Red Storm. The Hoyas swept the season series against the Red Storm, including a 17 point comeback victory during their last meeting in this same, Madison Square Garden building.
Unlike most of their recent games. Georgetown got off to a fast start. For a team that has had to pull themselves out of deficits for the better part of this season, getting off to this fast start early has helped them.
The Hoyas shot 54 percent from the field in the first half and the two leading catalyst were guard Terrell Allen with 18 points, and forward Jamorko Pickett with 11 in that stanza.
Allen was assertive early on. Taking his man off the dribble, he got to the basket at will and put interior pressure on the Red Storms defense. His veteran leadership in a big game like this has freed up his teammates.
In particular, Pickett had that look in his eyes of a confident basketball player that couldn’t be stopped, a 20 point performance against the Villanova Wildcats carrying over into the first half. The combination of his jump shooting and defensive intensity is helping this ball club get off to a great start.
The Hoyas led 42-33 at halftime and played one of their most efficient periods of the entire season. In the second half, Georgetown used a 6-0 run to give them a 15 point lead. The Red Storm were struggling to put the ball in the hole and the Hoyas had sound execution.
St. John’s began to turn up their defense by going full court press. This resulted in Hoyas turnovers and terrible shot selection.
Center Omer Yurtseven returned to the lineup and saw crucial minutes in the second half. Although he was a force early on, the rust began to kick in, as he missed the better part of multiple games beforehand.
Freshman center Qudus Wahab played solid during his minutes in the first half. Outside of a few turnovers, the big man made his presence felt.
Guard L.J. Figueroa put the Johnnies on his back and led the charge for the comeback. The junior finished with 22 points on 8-17 shooting from the field. In the first half, Figueroa was the lone player in double figures.
Forward Marcellus Earlington gave the team a huge spark off the bench, the sophomore scored 19 points on 50 percent shooting, and 10 rebounds. The former football player was key in the Red Storm comeback. He went on a personal 10-0 run and joined Figueroa as the only two double digit scorers for SJU. Down the stretch,
Georgetown couldn’t buy a basket as St. John’s finished the game on a 23-0 run and captured the win 75-62. For Georgetown, this is a disappointing loss because they controlled the game throughout and couldn’t find a way to close it out.
Allen was the high point scorer for the Hoyas with 21 points for G'Town, whose ?15-17 overall, 5-13 in the BIG EAST record at the time precluded any postseason play chances.
St. John’s (17-15, 5-13) was scheduled to move on, where Creighton's Blue Jays the awaited in a second round tilt, but due to health concerns centered around the global Covid-19 pandemic, that and all other BIG EAST Tournament contests were cancelled.
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