St. John's University Athletics
No. 5 St. John's Squares Off with No. 4 Providence in BIG EAST Quarterfinal
3/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 11, 2015
QUEENS - Playing its best basketball of late, St. John's heads into the 2015 BIG EAST Tournament Presented by New York Life winning seven of its past nine contests and five straight conference games at Madison Square Garden. The fifth-seeded Red Storm (21-10, 10-8) will square off with No. 4 seed Providence (21-10, 11-7) in a quarterfinal matchup Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at The Garden.
A national telecast will air on FOX Sports 1, with announcers Justin Kutcher, Donny Marshall and Molly McGrath reporting from the sideline. St. John's radio broadcast with John Minko and Brandon Tierney can be heard on 970 AM (WNYM).
Coming off one of the most successful regular-seasons in the last 15 years, St. John's enters the BIG EAST Tournament with its sights set on the program's first conference crown since 2000. An 11-1 start elevated the Red Storm to a No. 15 national ranking in late December, and despite a series of setbacks with a short-handed roster for several games in January, St. John's has strung together eight wins in the last 11 contests.
St. John's path to capture the program's fourth BIG EAST title starts with defending champion Providence, a rematch of last year's quarterfinal. The Red Storm swept the Friars in the regular-season, winning handily in their last meeting on Jan. 31 at Madison Square Garden behind a 20-point, five-assist effort from Sir'Dominic Pointer. The Red Storm also defeated the Friars by 13-points at the Dunkin' Donuts Center on Jan. 14, Providence's biggest home loss of the year. Phil Greene IV had 20 points and sank 5-of-8 (62.5 pct) 3-point attempts.
The winner of St. John's-Providence will play in Friday's semifinal at 7 p.m. against the winner of the first quarterfinal matchup between top-seeded Villanova and No. 8 Seton Hall/No. 9 Marquette. All BIG EAST Tournament games will be streamed through the FOX Sports Go app. The BIG EAST Conference has launched a mobile app for the Tournament which is free to download on both iOS and Android devices from the App Store or Google Play. The unique second-screen experience delivers the latest tournament news, videos, scores, replays and bracket updates.
Things To Know
· One of six teams in the BIG EAST in the RPI Top 40, St. John's enters the postseason tied for third in the conference with 21 wins playing the 28th-toughest schedule in the nation. The Red Storm picked up five wins against teams in the RPI Top 50. Four of the St. John's 11 non-conference victories were against teams in the RPI Top 100 - Syracuse, Minnesota, Saint Mary's and Long Beach State.
· St. John's finished in the top-five of the BIG EAST for the third time in four full seasons under head coach Steve Lavin. The Red Storm played its best basketball in February/March going 7-2 in the final nine BIG EAST games for the second-straight year. Over the last two seasons, St. John's has the second-best record (14-4) on the back nine of the BIG EAST schedule, only behind two-time regular-season champion Villanova (17-1).
· For the first time since 1999-2000, St. John's had two players named to the All-BIG EAST First and Second Teams. D'Angelo Harrison was selected to the First Team after finishing second in the conference averaging 17.8 points per game. He became the fifth player in St. John's history to receive multiple All-BIG EAST First Team honors (2014 and 2015), and the first since Marcus Hatten (2002 and 2003). Sir'Dominic Pointer was named to the Second Team with season averages of 13.7 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 2.0 steals.
· St. John's is one of the top shot blocking teams in the nation for the third-straight year. The Red Storm averaged 6.6 rejections in the regular-season with Chris Obekpa and Sir'Dominic Pointer anchoring the swat efforts. Obekpa (93) and Pointer (77) are the top shot blocking duo in the country and have accounted for 83 percent of the Red Storm's blocks. Obekpa finished the regular-season fifth in NCAA Division I averaging 3.21 blocks and Pointer was 29th with 2.48. Their combined 5.69 average and 170 blocks are the most for any teammates in the country.
· In his first four years, Steve Lavin recruited and developed two BIG EAST Rookies of the Year, a league Most Improved Player and Sixth Man of the Year. Sir'Dominic Pointer became the latest St. John's player to garner an individual conference award under Lavin after earning both the 2015 Co-BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved Player Award. Pointer increased his scoring average from 5.9 points last season to 13.7 points this year. His rebounding numbers jumped from 3.2 to 7.6 in a single season, while he also led the team with 95 assists, 34 more than his total as a junior. Defensively, the 6-foot-6 senior finished the regular-season third in the BIG EAST in blocks (2.5) and steals (2.0), while collecting 174 of his team-high 236 rebounds on the defensive glass. Pointer joined Mark Jackson (1987) as the only St. John's players to earn the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year Award. He is also the second Red Storm player to receive Most Improved Player honors (Dwight Hardy, 2011).
· The Red Storm picked up seven of its 10 BIG EAST wins when using eight players or less. St. John's played only six players on March 4 at Marquette with four starters logging all 40 minutes of action. D'Angelo Harrison (34.8 mpg), Phil Greene IV (34.6 mpg) and Sir'Dominic Pointer (34.5 mpg) finished the regular-season ranked in the top-five in the BIG EAST for minutes played.
· Four-year seniors D'Angelo Harrison, Phil Greene IV and Sir'Dominic Pointer were members of Steve Lavin's first recruiting class in Queens that was rated No. 3 in the nation in 2011. Harrison became one of three 2,000-point scorers in St. John's history, while Greene IV and Pointer each joined the 1,000-point club. The class also featured two BIG EAST Rookies of the Year in Maurice Harkless (2012) and JaKarr Sampson (2013) who went on to the NBA, while Amir Garrett pursued a professional baseball career. Garrett is a pitcher in the Cincinnati Reds organization. Harrison, Greene IV and Pointer are among the most tenured players in St. John's history entering the postseason with a combined 379 games played. The trio has elevated the program to back-to-back 20-win seasons and a national ranking earlier this year.
· St. John's went 11-2 (.846) against non-conference opponents, which is the program's best mark since going 10-1 (.909) in 1990-91. The BIG EAST has the second best RPI in the nation and compiled a 94-30 (.758) record against out-of-conference competition. St. John's contributed to the league's non-conference success with key victories over Minnesota, Saint Mary's, Long Beach State and Syracuse. The Red Storm's 69-57 win over the Orange on Dec. 6 was the program's first victory at the Carrier Dome in 15 years.
· St. John's is 15-0 this season when holding opponents below 70 points. Chris Obekpa anchored the defensive effort in these contests as the 6-foot-9 junior elevated his blocks average to 4.21 while grabbing 85 of his 124 rebounds on the defensive glass. In these games, the Red Storm kept opponents to a 34.7 field goal shooting percentage and 26.9 percent 3-point shooting mark.
About the Series
· Original members of the BIG EAST, St. John's holds a 60-45 advantage in its series with Providence and a 34-29 mark in BIG EAST competition.
· The Red Storm and Friars will meet for the 106th time in series history. Providence is St. John's second-most frequently played opponent.
· St. John's has won three of the last four meetings with Providence and swept the 2014-15 regular-season series. In the last meeting at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 31, St. John's rallied for a 75-66 victory behind a game-high 20 points from Sir'Dominic Pointer. Chris Obekpa anchored St. John's 37-34 rebounding advantage with a game-high 10 boards, including seven on the defensive glass.
St. John's in the BIG EAST Tournament
• The Red Storm makes its 32nd all-time appearance in the BIG EAST Tournament in 2015, and its eighth in nine seasons. A charter member of the BIG EAST Conference, St. John's appeared in the first 24 conference tournaments from 1980-2003, logged an appearance in 2007, and participated in the last six events from 2009-14.
• The Red Storm owns a 25-28 record all-time in 31 appearances in the event and will open in the quarterfinals in 2015 as the No. 5 seed. St. John's makes its third quarterfinal appearance in the last five years and 22nd all-time. In 2011, the Red Storm finished regular-season play tied for third in the BIG EAST and earned a 65-63 win over Rutgers to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2003. St. John's is 3-6 all time as the No. 5 seed.
• St. John's has reached the semifinals 11 times. The Red Storm's last semifinal appearance was en route to the tournament title in 2000.
• The Red Storm has made the championship game five times: 2000 (champions), 1999, 1986 (champions), 1985 and 1983 (champions).
BIG EAST Tournament Champions
• 1983 - The 1982-83 season was filled with superlative accomplishments. Led by head coach Lou Carnesecca, the Redmen marched to a record-breaking season, including the first-ever BIG EAST Tournament Championship for St. John's in the first BIG EAST title event played at Madison Square Garden. In the BIG EAST Tournament, St. John's beat Pittsburgh in the first round, and then topped Villanova in the semifinals. The championship game saw Chris Mullin score 24 points in an 85-77 win over Boston College.
• 1986 - A year after a trip to the program's second-ever appearance in the NCAA Final Four, if anyone was searching for "The Truth," they found it. In just his second season at St. John's, Walter "The Truth" Berry earned national player of the year honors - the second straight year a St. John's player had done so, as Mullin took the award during the 1984-85 campaign - and led the team to a 31-5 record and the 1986 BIG EAST Tournament Championship. And while Berry was the leader of the team, it was Ron Rowan who came through in the Redmen's biggest moment, sinking a 14-foot baseline jumper with eight seconds left to give St. John's its first lead of the game at 70-69 in a win over Syracuse in the BIG EAST Championship. Berry blocked Dwayne "Pearl" Washington's shot at the buzzer as St. John's won the second of its three BIG EAST Tournament titles.
• 2000 - The night of March 11, 2000 was not just any night for St. John's. The Red Storm's 80-70 win over Connecticut at The Garden gave the team its first BIG EAST Tournament Championship since 1986, but it was also the fitting end to a hectic season. St. John's used a late run to beat Villanova in the opener and then came a heated rivalry-game with Miami. In a tight contest, Anthony Glover - who had missed his previous five attempts - hit two free throws with 2.2 seconds left to give St. John's a 58-57 win over the Hurricanes. In a rematch of the previous year's championship game, Marvis "Bootsy" Thornton - who earned tournament MVP honors - scored 22 points to lead four players in double figures in an 80-70 win over UConn.
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QUEENS - Playing its best basketball of late, St. John's heads into the 2015 BIG EAST Tournament Presented by New York Life winning seven of its past nine contests and five straight conference games at Madison Square Garden. The fifth-seeded Red Storm (21-10, 10-8) will square off with No. 4 seed Providence (21-10, 11-7) in a quarterfinal matchup Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at The Garden.
A national telecast will air on FOX Sports 1, with announcers Justin Kutcher, Donny Marshall and Molly McGrath reporting from the sideline. St. John's radio broadcast with John Minko and Brandon Tierney can be heard on 970 AM (WNYM).
Coming off one of the most successful regular-seasons in the last 15 years, St. John's enters the BIG EAST Tournament with its sights set on the program's first conference crown since 2000. An 11-1 start elevated the Red Storm to a No. 15 national ranking in late December, and despite a series of setbacks with a short-handed roster for several games in January, St. John's has strung together eight wins in the last 11 contests.
St. John's path to capture the program's fourth BIG EAST title starts with defending champion Providence, a rematch of last year's quarterfinal. The Red Storm swept the Friars in the regular-season, winning handily in their last meeting on Jan. 31 at Madison Square Garden behind a 20-point, five-assist effort from Sir'Dominic Pointer. The Red Storm also defeated the Friars by 13-points at the Dunkin' Donuts Center on Jan. 14, Providence's biggest home loss of the year. Phil Greene IV had 20 points and sank 5-of-8 (62.5 pct) 3-point attempts.
The winner of St. John's-Providence will play in Friday's semifinal at 7 p.m. against the winner of the first quarterfinal matchup between top-seeded Villanova and No. 8 Seton Hall/No. 9 Marquette. All BIG EAST Tournament games will be streamed through the FOX Sports Go app. The BIG EAST Conference has launched a mobile app for the Tournament which is free to download on both iOS and Android devices from the App Store or Google Play. The unique second-screen experience delivers the latest tournament news, videos, scores, replays and bracket updates.
Things To Know
· One of six teams in the BIG EAST in the RPI Top 40, St. John's enters the postseason tied for third in the conference with 21 wins playing the 28th-toughest schedule in the nation. The Red Storm picked up five wins against teams in the RPI Top 50. Four of the St. John's 11 non-conference victories were against teams in the RPI Top 100 - Syracuse, Minnesota, Saint Mary's and Long Beach State.
· St. John's finished in the top-five of the BIG EAST for the third time in four full seasons under head coach Steve Lavin. The Red Storm played its best basketball in February/March going 7-2 in the final nine BIG EAST games for the second-straight year. Over the last two seasons, St. John's has the second-best record (14-4) on the back nine of the BIG EAST schedule, only behind two-time regular-season champion Villanova (17-1).
· For the first time since 1999-2000, St. John's had two players named to the All-BIG EAST First and Second Teams. D'Angelo Harrison was selected to the First Team after finishing second in the conference averaging 17.8 points per game. He became the fifth player in St. John's history to receive multiple All-BIG EAST First Team honors (2014 and 2015), and the first since Marcus Hatten (2002 and 2003). Sir'Dominic Pointer was named to the Second Team with season averages of 13.7 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 2.0 steals.
· St. John's is one of the top shot blocking teams in the nation for the third-straight year. The Red Storm averaged 6.6 rejections in the regular-season with Chris Obekpa and Sir'Dominic Pointer anchoring the swat efforts. Obekpa (93) and Pointer (77) are the top shot blocking duo in the country and have accounted for 83 percent of the Red Storm's blocks. Obekpa finished the regular-season fifth in NCAA Division I averaging 3.21 blocks and Pointer was 29th with 2.48. Their combined 5.69 average and 170 blocks are the most for any teammates in the country.
· In his first four years, Steve Lavin recruited and developed two BIG EAST Rookies of the Year, a league Most Improved Player and Sixth Man of the Year. Sir'Dominic Pointer became the latest St. John's player to garner an individual conference award under Lavin after earning both the 2015 Co-BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved Player Award. Pointer increased his scoring average from 5.9 points last season to 13.7 points this year. His rebounding numbers jumped from 3.2 to 7.6 in a single season, while he also led the team with 95 assists, 34 more than his total as a junior. Defensively, the 6-foot-6 senior finished the regular-season third in the BIG EAST in blocks (2.5) and steals (2.0), while collecting 174 of his team-high 236 rebounds on the defensive glass. Pointer joined Mark Jackson (1987) as the only St. John's players to earn the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year Award. He is also the second Red Storm player to receive Most Improved Player honors (Dwight Hardy, 2011).
· The Red Storm picked up seven of its 10 BIG EAST wins when using eight players or less. St. John's played only six players on March 4 at Marquette with four starters logging all 40 minutes of action. D'Angelo Harrison (34.8 mpg), Phil Greene IV (34.6 mpg) and Sir'Dominic Pointer (34.5 mpg) finished the regular-season ranked in the top-five in the BIG EAST for minutes played.
· Four-year seniors D'Angelo Harrison, Phil Greene IV and Sir'Dominic Pointer were members of Steve Lavin's first recruiting class in Queens that was rated No. 3 in the nation in 2011. Harrison became one of three 2,000-point scorers in St. John's history, while Greene IV and Pointer each joined the 1,000-point club. The class also featured two BIG EAST Rookies of the Year in Maurice Harkless (2012) and JaKarr Sampson (2013) who went on to the NBA, while Amir Garrett pursued a professional baseball career. Garrett is a pitcher in the Cincinnati Reds organization. Harrison, Greene IV and Pointer are among the most tenured players in St. John's history entering the postseason with a combined 379 games played. The trio has elevated the program to back-to-back 20-win seasons and a national ranking earlier this year.
· St. John's went 11-2 (.846) against non-conference opponents, which is the program's best mark since going 10-1 (.909) in 1990-91. The BIG EAST has the second best RPI in the nation and compiled a 94-30 (.758) record against out-of-conference competition. St. John's contributed to the league's non-conference success with key victories over Minnesota, Saint Mary's, Long Beach State and Syracuse. The Red Storm's 69-57 win over the Orange on Dec. 6 was the program's first victory at the Carrier Dome in 15 years.
· St. John's is 15-0 this season when holding opponents below 70 points. Chris Obekpa anchored the defensive effort in these contests as the 6-foot-9 junior elevated his blocks average to 4.21 while grabbing 85 of his 124 rebounds on the defensive glass. In these games, the Red Storm kept opponents to a 34.7 field goal shooting percentage and 26.9 percent 3-point shooting mark.
About the Series
· Original members of the BIG EAST, St. John's holds a 60-45 advantage in its series with Providence and a 34-29 mark in BIG EAST competition.
· The Red Storm and Friars will meet for the 106th time in series history. Providence is St. John's second-most frequently played opponent.
· St. John's has won three of the last four meetings with Providence and swept the 2014-15 regular-season series. In the last meeting at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 31, St. John's rallied for a 75-66 victory behind a game-high 20 points from Sir'Dominic Pointer. Chris Obekpa anchored St. John's 37-34 rebounding advantage with a game-high 10 boards, including seven on the defensive glass.
St. John's in the BIG EAST Tournament
• The Red Storm makes its 32nd all-time appearance in the BIG EAST Tournament in 2015, and its eighth in nine seasons. A charter member of the BIG EAST Conference, St. John's appeared in the first 24 conference tournaments from 1980-2003, logged an appearance in 2007, and participated in the last six events from 2009-14.
• The Red Storm owns a 25-28 record all-time in 31 appearances in the event and will open in the quarterfinals in 2015 as the No. 5 seed. St. John's makes its third quarterfinal appearance in the last five years and 22nd all-time. In 2011, the Red Storm finished regular-season play tied for third in the BIG EAST and earned a 65-63 win over Rutgers to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2003. St. John's is 3-6 all time as the No. 5 seed.
• St. John's has reached the semifinals 11 times. The Red Storm's last semifinal appearance was en route to the tournament title in 2000.
• The Red Storm has made the championship game five times: 2000 (champions), 1999, 1986 (champions), 1985 and 1983 (champions).
BIG EAST Tournament Champions
• 1983 - The 1982-83 season was filled with superlative accomplishments. Led by head coach Lou Carnesecca, the Redmen marched to a record-breaking season, including the first-ever BIG EAST Tournament Championship for St. John's in the first BIG EAST title event played at Madison Square Garden. In the BIG EAST Tournament, St. John's beat Pittsburgh in the first round, and then topped Villanova in the semifinals. The championship game saw Chris Mullin score 24 points in an 85-77 win over Boston College.
• 1986 - A year after a trip to the program's second-ever appearance in the NCAA Final Four, if anyone was searching for "The Truth," they found it. In just his second season at St. John's, Walter "The Truth" Berry earned national player of the year honors - the second straight year a St. John's player had done so, as Mullin took the award during the 1984-85 campaign - and led the team to a 31-5 record and the 1986 BIG EAST Tournament Championship. And while Berry was the leader of the team, it was Ron Rowan who came through in the Redmen's biggest moment, sinking a 14-foot baseline jumper with eight seconds left to give St. John's its first lead of the game at 70-69 in a win over Syracuse in the BIG EAST Championship. Berry blocked Dwayne "Pearl" Washington's shot at the buzzer as St. John's won the second of its three BIG EAST Tournament titles.
• 2000 - The night of March 11, 2000 was not just any night for St. John's. The Red Storm's 80-70 win over Connecticut at The Garden gave the team its first BIG EAST Tournament Championship since 1986, but it was also the fitting end to a hectic season. St. John's used a late run to beat Villanova in the opener and then came a heated rivalry-game with Miami. In a tight contest, Anthony Glover - who had missed his previous five attempts - hit two free throws with 2.2 seconds left to give St. John's a 58-57 win over the Hurricanes. In a rematch of the previous year's championship game, Marvis "Bootsy" Thornton - who earned tournament MVP honors - scored 22 points to lead four players in double figures in an 80-70 win over UConn.
Players Mentioned
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