When the game appeared headed in the wrong direction, when St. John’s looked as if it might follow fellow Big East programs Seton Hall, Butler and Villanova in losing a buy game, Brady Dunlap rose to the occasion.
With starting forward Aaron Scott sidelined due to the flu and the Johnnies looking shaky at both ends, Dunlap hit a few big 3-pointers that kept the game close entering halftime, and his teammates woke up after that.
Overshadowed by so many major additions to the roster, the 6-foot-7 Dunlap remains an important piece to this team because of his shotmaking and ability to space the court, and he showed it on Saturday afternoon.
Dunlap poured in a career-high 20 points and sank five 3-pointers as St. John’s overcame a sluggish start to knock off MAAC preseason favorite Quinnipiac, 96-73, at Carnesecca Arena.
“I think Brady is the reason we blew them out,” coach Rick Pitino said. “I thought Deivon [Smith] did a great job of finding Brady. He knew to penetrate and find Brady. Brady did a super job of moving without the basketball.”
In a freshman year that saw him watch and learn more than play, Dunlap did have a few big games.
But he didn’t handle it well, believing he had arrived. He got “too high,” in his words, and didn’t handle adversity well when it hit.
“I was an immature freshman, had a couple of good games,” Dunlap recalled. “Everyone’s telling you you’re going to be the guy. That can’t happen to me again, I understand. I can go out there next game and get one shot, and I have to be OK with that.
“It’s going to be a bunch of highs and lows this season. I just got to stay levelheaded as best as I can throughout the season and not sink into the depths of a place that I was last year, which I don’t really think I got out of until the very end when we played UConn at the Garden.”
The Johnnies (2-0) did not play well in the opening half.
They were outrebounded, outscored in the paint and had zero second-chance points.
Pitino saw it as his team paying for two bad practices leading up to the game.
The script was flipped in the second half. St. John’s was plus-10 on the glass, plus-16 in points in the paint and had 10 second-chance points after halftime.
It scored 38 of the game’s first 53 points after the break and poured in 27 points in transition over the final 20 minutes.
RJ Luis led the Red Storm with 24 points, 13 rebounds and three assists, and Smith added 13 points, 10 assists, six rebounds and three steals.
Simeon Wilcher had 13 of his 14 points after the break and Kadary Richmond chipped in six rebounds and six assists in a quiet performance.
Trailing by four at halftime, St. John’s reeled off a 22-8 run to start the period.
After back-to-back baskets by Luis and Smith, the lead was in double figures for the first time and the rout was on.
Pitino was able to empty his bench for the last several minutes.
“[Pitino] said good teams, even when they come out bad, they’re going to finish great,” Dunlap said. “So we just tried to prove we’re a good team today.”
There were areas that have to get better, Pitino said afterward.
Defending the 3-pointer and getting back in transition are at the top of the list.
A performance like this next Sunday against New Mexico, coached by Pitino’s son, Richard, will lead to a lopsided defeat, Pitino said. But he was also happy with how his team responded to a shaky start.
“I was very impressed with the second half, that they responded the way they responded,” Pitino said. “They didn’t panic, did the right things from a defensive standpoint, did the right things from an offensive standpoint.”
“Last year at this time,” he added, “we would’ve lost this game.”
