St. John's Makes a huge Statement With 39-Point Win Over Iona | Eye Of The Storm

This is Eye of the Storm, a St. John's video series presented by the New York Post. Another edition of Eye of the Storm. Dexter Henry with my guy, Zach Braziller. Fantastic. Beat reporter covering St. John's for us here at the New York Post. St. John's, two games, two wins. A beat down here at the Garden today, 104-65 against Iona. This was a game, Zach, where we saw St. John's really press the Iona team early, and it worked really well. They overwhelmed the Gales today. How impressed were you with what they did, particularly with the press? Yeah, the press has been a real bright spot early on, you include the pre-season, you know, it gave Texas problems, it was big early in Monmouth than today. You know, I think they're better suited to press in terms of their personnel when you have a guy like Quinn Ellis, you know, he's 6'5", Ian Jackson, 6'4", 6'5". Keyshawn Hall and Tunde Yessuf, they have these guys where they have the athleticism and the length to be a good pressing team. Last year, especially the guards kind of struggled staying in front of guys, so that makes it harder to press. And he said it, that's one area they're actually ahead of last year's team, and well ahead of last year's team, is their ability to press. And they're so good in the open court, the press allows them to speed it up. Yeah, I mean, that's... That was a big part of today, and I think that's going to be a big thing all year is their ability to press. They looked really strong today, and after this game, we heard from Ian Jackson and head coach Rick Pitino about how the press was so effective. I think the thing we do better this year than last year is press. I think that's the one thing that's way ahead of all the other things we do. We shared the basketball tonight, but we've worked on our press really, really hard. Because it creates scoring opportunity, gets us on the break. I think Ian and Tunde and Quinn are great up close, great denying the basketball and these two guys have gotten better defensively. And they're both potentially great defensive basketball players. It puts us in fast break opportunities. Fast break shots is always high percentage shots, so it gives us possession. That's what we're always looking for, a way to get possession for the team. He just does all the right things for us. Second game was a strong one for Tunde Yessuf. Very impressive. 23 points in 21 minutes. Very efficient from the field. What did you like about what you saw from him against Iona? Yeah, I thought he made quick decisions. He was less hesitant. Look, they have a ton of guys who can score with him, with Hall, with Jackson. Right. You know, so... It's kind of been up and down with him. First two preseason games wasn't great, then he was terrific in the Texas game. Monmouth, he wasn't great, and he was terrific today. He talked a lot about being efficient. He wasn't necessarily efficient as a freshman at Baylor. You know, He made four threes, and it wasn't just scoring. He had seven rebounds, he had three steals, he had two blocks. He has the potential, I think, to be an awesome defender in terms of when you look at his athleticism, his length, his physicality. Thank you. Thank you. You know, Rick Pitino talked a little bit about that postgame. But, yeah, it was a very encouraging performance. When he is aggressive and he attacks, he's a really, really tough player to stop. And, you know, I think it's going to take time because this is new. They do have a lot of scores, so not every game you're going to see this kind of performance. But I think gradually you'll see more consistently, and that's the important thing is consistency. Yeah, consistency is going to be the key. And Tunde talked about how he's been waiting to have a game like this with the Johnnies. I was looking for pretty much the whole season when I came here. My main goal was just put out here and then play hard as much as I can and just win for the team. Whatever I can do to help the team win, that was my goal. When we started before this season, the preseason, I asked you about Quinn Ellis. You waxed poetic about him, and he's looked really good through the first couple of games. 18 assists, two turnovers through the first two games, 11-1 today. Is this the kind of point guard that can lead the Big East in assists? It's been great. It's been great. Obviously, Clint is a great point guard. You know, um, he's, he's... He's helped me tremendously. Getting easy looks, getting some easy shots without having to dominate the ball or have the ball in my hand and try to create off the bounce. So it's been great. He finds shooters, he makes everything easy on everybody else, and he helps us out to finish it. Yeah, he definitely can. I still maintain he's got to shoot more. Yeah, you've been saying that, yeah. There were a few times today where he had open shot. Like, when you get in, when you're facing the better teams and you get into conference play, like... Teams are going to play off if he's not going to shoot. And it's going to make it easier to defend him and to defend St. John's. He has to be more of a threat shooting the ball. Well, um... And he's not a great shooter, but he's not a bad shooter. He can make shots. And I just feel like he's got to be, you know, right now it's fine. But when the competition kind of improves, he has to be a threat to score or teams are going to play off him. But, yeah, look, he's... He's a terrific two-way player. He's a great passer. He doesn't turn it over. Yeah, I mean, I think he's looked every bit up to, you know, the hype. And, yeah, absolutely. I mean, when you look at some of the guys they have who can score the ball, there's no question he can lead the conference in assists. Yeah, you can see how he can rack up the assists. And the only seven points today did have the 11 dimes, but guys are liking the ability to play off of him right now. All right, obviously in a blowout, guys are going to get opportunities off the bench. Rick Pitino able to rotate a lot of guys in. What did you like you saw from the bench production of St. John's here today against Iona? Yeah, obviously the six-man Babacar Sane didn't play as a mild ankle injury. But, yeah, I mean, they're going to need guys like Lefteris Liatopoulos, like Zamber Maranka, to make shots and to give them minutes. It was good to see Theo Adema, the freshman, get some minutes. They're going to... Look, they're obviously going to count heavily on the starting five and Babacar Sane to a lesser extent. But, yeah, look, they're going to need these other guys to make shots. Thank you, Watson. So I think it was good that you saw Lefteris make some shots. You saw the ball go in for Maranca. Coaching Steph likes him. He hasn't really made shots yet, Maranca, up until today. But the coaching staff says he's better than you guys have seen, and they like him. So I think, yeah, I think it was good confidence-wise for some of these guys to see the ball go in the hoop. Yeah, 10 points for Maranka today, so good showing for him off the bench. And then looking ahead for St. John's, a couple of games this week, got Colgate on Wednesday at Carnesecca Arena. Then they have Syracuse here at the Garden next Sunday. Interesting week for St. John's. What are you going to be keeping your eye on in these next two games? Yeah, I think it's the consistency. I didn't see. Look, they played really well against Texas in that exhibition. Then the Monmouth, 10 good minutes and then kind of cruised and it wasn't a great performance. And then today was much, much better. So I think you're looking, like every game is not going to be perfect. They are work in progress. We all know that. But I think you're just looking for that sustained effort and consistency. So, you know, coming off a 40-point win, did they kind of fall back into bad habits and kind of go through the motions against Colgate? You know, a team that can make threes. Right. So, we'll see. I mean, you know, Drexel beat Colgate the other day. Drexel St. John's beat by 30 in an exhibition. So, it's kind of, I guess, what you're looking at on that kind of level of a team. But, yeah, look, it's all about getting ready for Vegas. There's no question about that. Syracuse will be their toughest test before Vegas. Syracuse team that, you know, didn't look great in the preseason. We'll see what they are. As we move forward, I think they play Indiana this week. So that'll kind of be a good barometer of what kind of team St. John's will see next Sunday. So that'll be fun to see a lot of Syracuse. I would assume you have some Syracuse fans here next Sunday. But yeah, it's all about getting ready for Vegas and then Arizona and Alabama after that. I just want to let the people know, you heard it from Zach. He is ready for Vegas. It's all about him getting ready for Vegas. He's been talking about this since the preseason. Zach, still haven't got me a ticket, have you? No, see, that's it, see, see, what a friend Zach is. Hey, no, I'll get you one. You'll get me one? Yeah, yeah. Okay, all right, all right, we're good. I got to get ready for Vegas with Zach, but St. John's looking better than they did against Monmouth, a blowout victory today over Iona here at Madison Square Garden. For the great Zach Brazile, I'm Dexter Henry. We'll catch you next time on Eye of the Storm. This is Eye of the Storm, a St. John's video series presented by the New York Post.