Inside Mohegan Sun Arena, as the skies open up and dump November rain on the east coast outside, St. John’s gets set to take on the UMass Minutemen in the Consolation Game at the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic.
The Johnnies struggled in the loss to Arizona State yesterday, with about ten minutes of dominant basketball, 10 minutes of “good enough” basketball, and 20 minutes of struggle, where few players could unlock the Arizona State defense.
The Johnnies had wanted to wall up ASU’s guards, but they found themselves the recipient of that treatment. (Turns out that ASU might be very good defensively, having come within a possession of Virginia’s point total in most of the second half of the Championship game, including the end.