St. John’s opened its Big East schedule by dropping all eleven games so far this year—even losing to lowly DePaul—but today’s visit by Duke to Madison Square Garden turned things around for Chris Mullin’s squad as the Red Storm knocked off the fourth-ranked Blue Devils 81-77.
St. John’s, which still has a losing record on the season after the win, relied heavily on Shamorie Ponds—who played all 40 minutes, and scored 33 points. It was enough to knock off a Duke team that saw four of its players finish with double figures in scoring, with Wendell Carter Jr. adding 15 rebounds to his team’s pathetic, miserable effort. Grayson Allen went 1-7 from the field and the Blue Devils on a whole turned the ball over 18 times; here’s your game plan for beating them in the first round, future 15-seed.
Duke next faces North Carolina on the road; St. John’s plays its third top-ten team in a row at Villanova. When’s the last time a team broke a >10-game losing streak with a win over a top-five team? Ever?