DePaul is improved after winning three games last season, and among the biggest indicators might be its performance behind the 3-point line.
St. John’s has struggled defending the 3-point line at times, but its offense is doing enough to get wins.
Two teams with eight wins through the first 10 games meet Tuesday night in New York when DePaul visits St. John’s.
Under first-year coach Chris Holtmann, the Blue Demons (8-2, 0-1 Big East) are shooting 40.4 percent from behind the arc, 13th in Division I entering Monday. The roster contains seven rotation players shooting at least 35 percent.
DePaul has made least nine 3s in each game to boast the Big East’s third-best scoring offense (83.2 points) thanks to the trio of Jacob Meyer, Isaiah Rivera and David Skogman, who are each shooting at least 46 percent from deep.
Rivera hit five 3s and Meyer added four Saturday when the Blue Demons set a school record for a regulation game by making 17 3s in a 91-72 win over Wichita State. CJ Gunn hit four triples and scored 22 points as DePaul rallied from a five-point halftime deficit. Skogman did not score Saturday but sank six 3s and scored 22 points in last week’s loss against Providence.
“I’ve learned that it doesn’t really matter who’s playing,” DePaul’s N.J. Benson said. “Coach always says that anybody can play.”
St. John’s (8-2) enters its conference opener on a three-game winning streak since its 66-63 loss to Georgia in the Bahamas on Nov. 24. While the Red Storm are allowing opponents to shoot 34 percent from behind the line, they held Harvard, Kansas State and Bryant to a combined 31 percent (22-of-71) in games where they struggled at times.
“I think we’re more than ready,” Red Storm coach Rick Pitino said. “I think we’re playing really good offensive basketball.”
In Wednesday’s 99-77 win over Bryant, the Red Storm held a four-point lead by halftime before pulling away. That followed an 88-71 win over Kansas State when they trailed by four at intermission.
Zuby Ejiofor has helped St. John’s overcome some of its sluggishness by producing a pair of stellar showings. He posted 28 and 13 rebounds against Kansas State and followed it up by collecting 22 and 10 to raise his scoring average to 14.4.
“That’s something that we really got to work on,” Ejiofor said about the slow starts. “We’re going to be watching film and figure out what we need to work on. The little details, the little things that are going to get us a big lead in the first half.”
–Field Level Media
