South Carolina vs. St. John's recap: Red Storm fall in final nonconference game to Gamecocks

St. John's closed out the non-conference portion of their schedule with a neutral site game in Uncasville, Connecticut against the undefeated, and newly ranked, South Carolina Gamecocks.  It has not been the best of times for St. John's recently as the aftermath from their victory over Syracuse saw the Johnnies drop their next two games to Incarnate Word and NJIT.  What was a two game losing streak is now three in a row, as the Johnnies fell to South Carolina by a score of 75 to 61.

While St. John's came close in the first half, it was not followed up in the second as the Gamecocks were able to stroll on thanks to the play of Duane Notice who posted 20 points on the night.

For St. John's, their leading scorer on the night was Durand Johnson with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting, among which included three of the five three-pointers that St. John's made over the course of the game.  Christian Jones and Federico Mussini were St. John's secondary scoring options on the night as Jones had 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting and Mussini finished the night with 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting.  Mussini though, had an off night from beyond the arc, going 0-of-7 shooting from three point range.  As a team, the Johnnies shot 44.9% from all areas of the floor, 25.0% from three point range, and 44.4% from the foul line.

Where the Red Storm struggled, South Carolina thrived. Duane Notice was not the only player for South Carolina who St. John's took notice off. Michael Carrera posted a double-double of 16 points and a game-leading 10 rebounds.  As a team, the Gamecocks shot 47.4% from all areas of the floor, 53.8% from three point range, and 73.7% from the foul line.

St. John's is now finished with the nonconference portion of their schedule for this season with a bittersweet record of 7-6. They now turn their attention to Big East play, which will be the gauntlet test for this team. With one chapter closed for Chris Mullin, the next session for his team is about to start.