Greg Williams couldn’t hide his smile as he jogged down court grinning, his pearly white teeth showing, after his crowd-pleasing follow-slam.
The reaction by the previously seldom-used freshman to one of many highlights Wednesday night summed up the festive evening for St. John’s.
Everyone at Carnesecca Arena was in the holiday spirit, and for good reason.
With the start of the Big East season just 10 days away, the undefeated Johnnies performed like they were ready for the looming step up in competition, crushing St. Francis Brooklyn, 86-52, for their largest margin of victory this season.
Eleven of 13 St. John’s players scored, led by LJ Figueroa’s 13 points and nine rebounds, as the 11-0 Red Storm continued its best start in 36 years. The bench delivered a season-high 35 points, 13 from Mikey Dixon. St. John’s held St. Francis (7-5) to 28 percent shooting from the field and 16 percent from 3-point land, both season-lows defensively and limited the Terriers to 22 points below their season scoring average.
“I wouldn’t even call it a step forward, it’s a step in the right direction,” senior forward Marvin Clark II said after notching 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists. “We’ve been capable of playing at this level for a while. Today, we finally locked in mentally, and that was a result.”
This was as complete a performance as St. John’s, the lone unranked undefeated team in the country, has delivered so far, on par with the blowout at Rutgers. The Johnnies’ defense was stellar, they shared the ball, and, most importantly, they mostly avoided lapses. They followed strong stretches with more of them, piling onto the lead rather than getting complacent. There was very little slippage.
“Defensively we were really solid, and that really fueled everything,” coach Chris Mullin said. “We’ve played pretty good defense in spurts, but I just thought our principles were much more solid. When the guy was guarding the ball, we had guys helping, we had guys in the right stance. Little things like that is what we’re looking for.”
Justin Simon delivered an energy jolt early, going coast-to-coast for a soaring right-handed slam. There were a few Terriers under the basket at the time, but they made a business decision, opting to avoid a poster. Clark was the engine early, blocking three shots on his way to a career-high-equaling four, and swatted Jalen Jordan’s dunk attempt early in the second half, as the Johnnies ran away from the Terriers.
“His defense was incredible,” Mullin said. “When you do that, it just adds positive energy and it builds confidence and trust.”
Unlike recent games, St. John’s maintained its focus. The ball kept moving. The Johnnies kept attacking. The lead kept growing, the crowd on its feet, watching the dominant performance it had been waiting for.
“Collectively, as a unit, the way offensively our points were spread out, I would say this was our best performance,” Clark said.
Again, St. John’s downplayed the lack of respect it has received nationally, as the only undefeated team not ranked. Clark admitted the Johnnies “hear the noise,” but said they don’t let it bother them.
“We’re just going,” Clark said, “to keep on winning.”