His number’s up
Mullin OKs frosh wearing his No. 20 after game of H-O-R-S-E
Chris Mullin took the coaching reins at St. John’s last year, which reunited the school with its most accomplished player for the first time since the 1985 Final Four.
In season two, another piece of his legacy will be back as his old No. 20 returns to the court.
For the first time since Mullin was in uniform, a St. John’s player — freshman Richard Freudenberg — will wear the school’s most famous number. When the young German asked his coach if it would be alright to wear the number, Mullin had no issue with it, but proposed a best-of-five series of H-OR-S-E for the honor.
“He told me if I beat him I could wear it,” Freudenberg said.
After four games, the 53year-old coach and 18-yearold student were tied, though Freudenberg wasn’t quite sure how he won two games against the Hall of Famer.
“He makes everything,” Freudenberg said of his coach. “Most of the time we shot 3’s, then we went close to half court and he was still making those. It was crazy. “I just caught fire.” Mullin won the deciding game with a bank shot from the free-throw line.
“He said I got him sweating and that was close enough,” Freudenberg said Thursday at the team’s media day. “I feel really honored to wear it.”
Because of an NCAA rule prohibiting players from wearing No. 6, 7, 8 or 9 — implemented to avoid complicating hand signals by referees — Freudenberg, who had always worn No. 9 in Germany, had to find a new number.
In the rafters, the 6-foot-9 forward saw Mullin’s number, thinking it would be fun to wear the number of the coach in his honor.
Mullin said it was the first time that any St. John’s player had ever asked for his permission to don the old number.
“All you gotta do is ask sometimes. It was that simple,” Mullin said. “He didn’t outshoot me for the number, but he did ask me for the number and I was like, ‘Yeah, sure, absolutely.’
“He’s a good shooter, he’s a great kid, he’s got a really high basketball IQ. … It’s been 35 years. It’s a number. It’s not that big of a deal.”
From behind, the sharpshooting forward may bring back the occasional flashback, but the four-star recruit understands how difficult it will be for the young team to start piling up wins as St. John’s did when No. 20 last ran the floor.
“I don’t want to put high expectations right now because I’m still trying to adjust to a different type of game here,” Freudenberg said. “The chemistry is great. We just have to be consistent.”