00:08This is Eye of the Storm, a St. John's video series presented by the New York Post.
00:13What's up, everybody? Welcome back to Eye of the Storm, and we are back. We're back on the court
00:17here at Carnes at Arena, your boy Dexter Henry, alongside my guy, Zach Braziller, and we got to
00:22see the St. John's Red Storm get their first victory of the year, 78-63 at home over the
00:27mind with Hawks. This man, very happy that Kyle's basketball is back. You saw the Red Storm
00:33in this one. They got off to a good start in the first couple of minutes, and they really
00:38did it behind defense. How impressed were you with the start they had in this game?
00:41Yeah, the first 10 or 11 minutes were great. I mean, it was 24-6. The press really created
00:46problems. The ball moved, and then, you know, after that, it was, you know, they weren't
00:51great. It was kind of what we saw in the preseason, where they've had, you know, stretches where
00:57they were really impressive, and you're like, wow, this team is just really good, and then
01:00you're kind of like, well, there's a long way to go, as Rick Pitino has said. You know,
01:05today was kind of emblematic of the preseason, you know, where they've played well at times,
01:11but they've also been shaky at times. Yeah, you saw some of that, but it was defense that
01:15got them the early lead in this game, and Quinn Ellis, the new point guard, he talked about
01:19that after the contest. I think more than anything it gets is a lot of easy buckets. We get a
01:23lot
01:23of steals, and then there's at least easy transition points, and then most of all, it just gives us
01:29energy, you know, when we're pressing, when we're trapping, when everyone's active, it looks great,
01:33and the crowd's getting involved, and it's hard to play against, so we've got to be better and play
01:38like we did in the first four minutes with the pressing and aggressive and so on.
01:42Another bright spot in this game for the Red Storm, Keyshawn Hall. Looks really good
01:46offensively. He made his first six shots in this contest, finished with a game-high 26 points.
01:50What did you like about how he was able to score in this one?
01:54Yeah, he really got going in the flow of the offense, offensive rebounds, moving without the
01:59ball. Also, like Rick Pitino said, like him and Quinn Ellis are two guys who really understand what
02:03they're trying to do both offensively and defensively. You know, Hall, he can make threes,
02:09he can score inside, he's a terrific free-throw shooter. I mean, look, this is a guy who's top five
02:14in
02:15the SEC in scoring last year for a reason. He's an incredibly talented player, and yeah,
02:20he was a real bright spot, no doubt about it. Yeah, my first look at him, I could see that
02:23he
02:23could score from all over the floor, and he talked about his ability to score however the team needs
02:28him after this one. Growing up as a kid, I played point guard, and obviously I got taller and bigger,
02:33so I still establish my handle, and being able to do that, my father always told me, like,
02:38have an all-around game, so being versatile, so yeah, I would say scoring comes kind of easy for me.
02:43That's why I just try to worry about the other things nowadays. Like, yes, when I first got in
02:48college, I wanted to score a lot, but I have done it already in multiple ways, so it's not really
02:53about that, but yeah, I think I can do a little bit of everything, but that's not the main focus
02:57no more. I want to talk about Captain Jack, Ian Jackson. Interesting game for him, because he got
03:01in foul trouble in the first half, but in the second half, he had some bright spots, finished with 15
03:06points. What did you make of how he looked in year two under Rick Pitino here? Yeah, it's kind of
03:11a little
03:12like the preseason with Ian. He's really going to the basket well. He made some threes tonight.
03:17He's, you know, that second half was kind of how he's looked preseason. Attacking, confident,
03:23not hesitating. You know, the foul stuff is something he's got to worry about. So Rick Pitino says
03:29they're fouling too much as a team, and look, they don't have a ton of depth in that backcourt,
03:35so you would prefer if he kind of avoids getting in foul trouble. But yeah, I mean,
03:41he looked, that second half, he was pretty good. And he just looks like someone who's
03:46very confident in his abilities and kind of understands what Rick Pitino wants out of
03:49him. You know, definitely a, you know, a strong start. You'd like to avoid the foul trouble,
03:54but a strong debut for him. You know, confident is a word I saw with him tonight. Does he also
03:58look stronger to you? Because he went going, he looks stronger to you, right? Yeah, he's finishing,
04:01he's finishing at the rim a lot more than he was a year ago. Last year, he was, you know,
04:06last year early, he would start off shooting threes. This year, it feels like he's trying to
04:10get to the rim more early, and then the threes come. Yeah, you saw that. He definitely was
04:14finishing at the rim very well, taking contact, disorbing it, and finishing right through. So that
04:18was good. The other play I was impressed with, and I got to give you credit, because you talked
04:21about this play. You talked him up. You said he looks like one of the best pure point guards that
04:24this team has seen in quite some while, and that's Quinn Ellis. What an all-around game for him
04:29today. Eight points, seven dimes, five steals as well, too. How impressed are you with what
04:35he can do on the court, and is there another level to his game that we still have yet to
04:39see? Yeah, he just controls the game, and he, you know, without scoring. You saw it again
04:44today, though. There are times where he's, like, hesitant to shoot, and he's got to be
04:48more, like, especially when you get in league play, teams are not going to, teams are going
04:52to play off. He's going to have to be more aggressive with his shot. It's kind of something
04:56he's always done. He's going to realize soon that he can get to the rim any time, and that's
05:01just going to open everything up. I think as the year goes on, you'll see him be more
05:07aggressive, and that's, I think, something you would like to see. But yeah, I mean, he's
05:12terrific bullfens on the floor. I thought he was big in that first 10 or so minutes when
05:16they set the tone of his defense, coming up with steals. He blocked shots here and there.
05:20I mean, yeah, he's, like, he's terrific, and it's easy to see why they were so happy
05:25to get him. Yeah, very impressive start by him. See if he can score a little bit more.
05:29All right, next up for the Johnnies will be a matchup at the Garden on Sunday against
05:35Iona. Should be a good crowd for that one. Zach will be there, so will I. Here's the
05:39thing. Rick Pitino, he called the rest of his performance after the first couple of
05:42minutes. He called it mediocre. So what do you think the Red Storm needs to improve
05:46on on Sunday against Iona? Yeah, to me, it's twofold. The on-ball
05:53defense wasn't great after those first 10 minutes. I think they got a little
05:57comfortable 24-6. They, you know, low-major opponent. Think we're just going to win this
06:02game by 40, and they relaxed a little. And then the ball movement, like he said, you
06:06know, we were doing well when the ball was moving, and we weren't going one-on-one, and
06:10they kind of fell into those one-on-one habits. They have a lot of good one-on-one
06:13players. But yeah, I mean, look, it's a really new team. It's going to take time.
06:18We saw in the preseason they have these spurts where they look incredible, and they
06:23look kind of sluggish and stagnant, and that's kind of what we saw tonight. Yeah, it's
06:26going to be interesting to see if on Sunday they come out and put together a
06:29full 40 minutes. But they get the victory here tonight, 78-263 over the Monmouth Hawks
06:35here at Carnesac Arena. Oh, and they were able to put up the banners. We saw that we did get
06:39to see that for the back-to-back Big East Championship, what they did last year, winning
06:43the conference, winning the tournament. It was nice to see for the great Zach Brasile,
06:47who is so happy that basketball is back. I am, too. Definitely college basketball is
06:51back. Less Jets, the better. Well, I know that. That's better for your soul. We need
06:55that. We need you happy. Less Jets, the better. More Johnnies, less Jets. That's always
06:59good. That's going to do it for us here on Out of the Storm. We'll catch you next time.
