Coach Rick Pitino is still experimenting to find the right lineup combinations for No. 14 St. John’s, especially before the schedule intensifies.
The evidence of the experimentation was seen in an underwhelming opening 20 minutes against William & Mary on Saturday.
One pairing that Pitino liked was the combination of Dylan Darling and Oziyah Sellers in the backcourt, and he hopes both players will be productive again Thursday when St. John’s welcomes Bucknell in Queens, N.Y.
“I loved it, I thought they did a great job,” Pitino said after the Red Storm pulled away for a 93-60 victory on Saturday.
Sellers, Zuby Ejiofor and Bryce Hopkins appeared in each of the first three starting lineups for the Red Storm (3-1), who are averaging 99 points and shooting 51.2%. Darling started at point guard after Ian Jackson and Joson Sanon started the previous games against Quinnipiac and Alabama, respectively.
Darling returned from a calf injury and finished with 13 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists in 31 minutes. Sellers also finished with 13, hit three of St. John’s’ six 3-point attempts and has 27 points in his past two games.
“Dylan’s a great point guard,” Sellers said. “He has great vision, so I feel like whenever I’m playing with him, he definitely finds ways to get me open. And I’m also used to playing off ball, so I feel natural playing that as well.”
“I love his toughness,” Pitino said about Darling, who transferred from Idaho State. “I love his ability. He’s got great moxie. He’s afraid of nothing. He has no fear at all of who he’s playing against. He thinks he’s the best player on the court.”
The Red Storm had five players reach double figures Saturday. Along with Darling and Sellers, Hopkins and Sanon each scored 15 points, while Ejiofor finished with 11. St. John’s scored 27 of the first 29 points in the paint in the final 20 minutes and totaled 54 points in the lane.
The Red Storm host Bucknell before facing No. 16 Iowa State, Baylor and another power conference opponent next week at the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas.
Bucknell (2-3) enters on a three-game losing streak. After losing to Princeton and Hofstra by a combined 16 points, the Bison struggled mightily in their 84-50 loss at Pitt on Monday.
The Bison shot at least 40% in their first four games but made 27.7% at Pittsburgh. Bucknell also shot 6 of 21 from 3-point range after hitting at least 30% from behind the arc in the opening four games.
Bucknell is led by Amon Dorries, who is averaging 14.2 points, and Ruot Bijek, who averages 12.8. Against Pittsburgh, the duo combined for 20 points and shot 4 of 16 from the field as the Bison took 14 fewer shots than the Panthers, committed 16 turnovers and got outrebounded 42-29.
“We played hard, we continued to compete, which I’m proud of, but we just have to clean some things up,” Bucknell coach John Griffin III said. “We had 16 turnovers, 11 assists, didn’t shoot the ball very well and lost the shot margin pretty substantially. So, these are things that we have an ability to control.”
–Field Level Media
