PHILADELPHIA — Rick Pitino had been ready for this model of Oziyah Sellers. Had been asking — heck, pleading — for him to shoot extra. The Stanford switch served as essentially the most dynamic shooter on the St. John’s roster this season.
He may take over video games, like he helped do in opposition to Iowa State and Baylor in November, and pour in factors in bunches.
The issue, although, stemmed from when these instincts disappeared, when aggressiveness pale, when Sellers’ numbers dipped to the purpose the place he didn’t contribute a lot.
However within the Johnnies’ commanding win over Marquette on Tuesday, Sellers offered a glimpse at why Pitino has been working to unlock his shot — and the frequency of it.
He poured in a game-high and season-best 24 factors on 9-for-16 capturing, together with 4-for-9 on makes an attempt from past the arc. It marked the third time this season, and the primary since that sport in Vegas in opposition to Baylor, that Sellers topped 20 factors.
If there’s a recipe for St. John’s to maintain reviving its season and make sure that its latest three-game profitable streak coming into Saturday’s sport at Villanova turns into sustainable, Sellers’ presence as a focus of the offense stays important.
“Clearly I would like each shot to go in, so after I see them moving into early, it’s positively a very good feeling, a very good signal for me,” Sellers stated following Tuesday’s win. “However even once they’re not, I attempt to simply keep aggressive. Regardless, I do know it will definitely will return in.”
Sellers didn’t hesitate to take the open photographs in opposition to the Golden Eagles.
He listened to Pitino’s message — after which some. He waited on the suitable wing in transition and related on a 3-pointer for his second of the evening lower than two minutes into the sport, and he added one other make from past the arc earlier than the halfway level of the primary half.
Sellers discovered methods to supply contained in the paint, too, and lower round his Marquette defender from the highest of the important thing, collected a cross and transformed a layup with slightly below 5 minutes earlier than halftime.
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The 16 makes an attempt marked Sellers’ a lot of the season, and Tuesday served as his fourth consecutive sport with no less than 10 photographs — coinciding with the Johnnies’ five-game stretch after Sellers admitted that he wanted to be extra aggressive following their win over Harvard, when he was restricted to only 4 factors. There have been the ten makes an attempt in opposition to Windfall.
The 11 in opposition to each Butler and Creighton. It took time, however his function and shot quantity have began to settle into place, with the Johnnies bettering to 7-2 this season when Sellers reaches double digits.
“I assumed Oziyah, from starting to finish, was nice,” Pitino stated Tuesday.
Pitino, although, additionally pointed to Sellers’ assists and lack of turnovers.
He added a pair of assists in opposition to the Golden Eagles and has now dished out 16 whereas committing only one turnover throughout the Johnnies’ six convention video games, persevering with a pattern from final season with Stanford — when Sellers dedicated simply 1.1 turnover per sport throughout his common of 30.4 minutes.
There are many different elements — the three-forward lineup thriving, the emergence of Lefteris Liotopoulos — which have contributed to the revival of the Purple Storm’s season.
It’ll take multiple sport, one return to what Pitino desires to turn out to be the traditional, for Sellers to formally flip the nook in his fourth collegiate season, too.
He’ll must proceed that as Massive East play stretches into February, because the stakes turn out to be elevated in March, as, St. John’s hopes, the common season provides option to a spot within the NCAA Event.
However that is what Pitino introduced in Sellers for.
The Johnnies had scoring to exchange from final season, the Aaron Scott and the RJ Luis Jr. manufacturing that St. John’s grew to rely upon.
And because the season crosses its halfway level, they’ve began to get a glimpse on the aggressiveness required to get there. Pitino’s imaginative and prescient for Sellers has lastly began to materialize.
