Greene’s surge has Johnnies on Dance craze
D’ANGELO HARRISON, Chris Obekpa and Rysheed Jordan are the St. John’s players who get most of the attention, but Phil Greene may be the biggest reason for the Red Storm’s recent return to the national consciousness. The Johnnies’ rise coincides with perhaps the best stretch of play by the 6-2 senior guard.
Greene f inally stood front-and-center when he scored 13 points in the final 4:06 of St. John’s victory at Syracuse, the win that vaulted it to No. 24 in the national rankings. But the Chicago product has played well in the five games that put the Storm (7-1) back on the map, that win plus victories over Minnesota, Niagara, FDU and a near miss against then-No. 10 Gonzaga. In them he has s averaged 14 points and made 11 of 25 three-point ee-point shots (44%).
He is rollinglling as the Johnnies go into o Sunday’s meeting with Fordhamordham (3-4) at Madison Square quare Garden in the Holidayay Festival. The doubleheaderder begins with Manhattan n (2-5) facing Rutgers (5-4) at t noon.
Greene has become a second consistentonsistent outside threat reat to complement nt Harrison. Withh opposing defenses fenses forced to stretchtretch to guard Greene on the perimerimeter, things have opened up p for Harrison. The 6-4 senior shot 50 % or b betetter for the first time this seaeason in t he last two o games, and d coach Steveve Lavin sa id d “t hat ’s i mportant for or us, for him m to shoot a high percentntage, to be successful.””
Lavin points oints out that last t season Greene e was St. John’s best three-point shooter, making 40%. But he took only 2.3 per game. He wasn’t getting open as much as he is today because he wasn’t fully recovered from left hip labrum surgery before the 2013-14 campaign. “Me getting back to 100% has a lot to do with what’s happening,” Greene said Friday. “One, it’s helping my shot because I can get more of my legs into it. Two, I have my speed back and I have been able to get open a lot easier. . . . I have a lot more confidence now to (put) it up because I feel like I’m going to put it in.”
Coming along with his play has been an improved leadership role. His desire for St. John’s to make it back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011 always comes t h roug h, but publ icly Greene is a man of f ew words. That’s not the case during a game. “Phil is just coming out finallyfina now. . . . Phil has been here and playedplay in 100 games,” Harrison said of Greene,Gr who will be playing his 106th game and likely making his 97th st start for the Storm on Sunday. “You can see it in his eyes every day: Tim Timeouts; after coach speaks, he step steps right in and takes over the timeouts. Phil seems quiet,quie but he’s probably o one of the biggest ta talkers.”
But as the Johnn Johnnies know from last season, which starst a r ted w it h big proclam mations an and ended in the NIT, i it takes d deeds as w well as words. R igh t n ow , G Greene is giv ingi t hem both. RIGHT HEADED: JamalJama Branch needed st stitches after a hea head-to-head collision ini Wednesday ’s ho home wi n against F FDU, but will be ablea to play Sunday against Fordham.Fordha