Michigan went into Madison Square Garden and came away with an impressive 89-73 against St. John’s.
The Wolverines were led by Dug McDaniel’s 26 points and seven assists. Nimari Burnett poured in 21 points.
St. John’s Joel Soriano’s 15 points and nine rebounds.
Takeaways:
Neither team was defensively engaged in the first half
The Red Storm were dedicated to making the game a track meet because that’s who they are, but some defensive principles still need to be invoked. They didn’t trap in the logical trap points, nor did they trap hard. They could’ve lived with that if Michigan wasn’t shooting the ball so well.
Michigan’s defense didn’t give you ’84 Georgetown Hoyas vibes, either. St John’s got two feet in the paint throughout the half. They were undone by shot selection. After starting hot in the half, St. John’s stopped making shots. When you combine that with seven first-half turnovers, it’s easy to see why it was a 10-point Michigan lead at the half.
Breakout for McDaniel?
In 38 minutes, Dug McDaniel the stat that most spoke about was his 26 points, but the most important number was two. That was the number of turnovers McDaniel had, along with seven assists.
These are great numbers on a great night at Madison Square Garden, but is it sustainable?
The pace and lack of detail by the Red Storm on the defensive end allowed McDaniel to play comfortably throughout the game. St. John’s pressure defense wasn’t effective. It was a bunch of guys running around without a purpose.
Give McDaniel credit. He took advantage of it. Instead of getting out of control because of the game’s pace, he looked like an orchestrator of a high-intensity game that sometimes looked AAU-ish.
With that being said, there will be teams who aren’t give him the space to maneuver, and the pace isn’t be hectic. In those games, can McDaniel be the right orchestrator on those nights?
Time will tell.
Crashing the Boards
The final score isn’t what St. John’s wanted, but what could get lost is the 27 offensive rebounds they had.
Pitino has a squad that isn’t equipped with great shooters, which means the pace needs to open lanes for their athleticism to show itself on the offensive boards.
It’s more than just points and easy baskets. The Red Storm needs multiple possessions in a single possession. It will make up for their offensive inefficiencies and allow them to get into their press while the opposing team scrambles to get into their press break spots.
That last isn’t spoken about enough. If you’re defending St. John’s in a scramble situation and they score, your personnel could be all over the place, and you still only get five seconds to inbound the ball.
This can cause confusion and help St. John’s force quick turnaround turnovers.
