Monmouth basketball falls to No. 14 St. John's in season opener | 5 takeaways

The Monmouth men's basketball team came away with a mixed bag of bright spots and concerns but ultimately lost the season opener 78-61 to St. John's, No. 14 in the USA Today Coaches' Poll, Monday night inside Carnesecca Arena in Queens, New York. The Red Storm, coming off back-to-back Big East regular season and tournament championship sweeps, got off to a fast start with Auburn transfer Keyshawn Hall scoring their first seven points. Hall scored 20 of his 26 points in the first half. Still, Monmouth battled it out with several spans of good possessions.More: Monmouth men's basketball season preview | ExclusiveMore: Monmouth basketball wins exhibition, next is opener vs. No. 14 St. John's | 3 takeawaysThe starting five for Monmouth was Jakai Sanders - who had a team-high 17 points - Lureon Walker, Ashton Walker, Stefanos Spartalis and Stephen Osei. Stefanos Marjanovic came off the bench. Torrey Brooks Jr. was inactive.St. John's was up 45-29 at halftime but Monmouth won the second half (34-33) and was able to bring the margin down to 12 with nine minutes left. "The first six minutes of the game we got blitzed," Monmouth coach King Rice said. "We knew that was going to be the plan for (St. John's coach Rick Pitino), that's what he does, he tries to blitz you at the beginning of the game. Then he blitz you at halftime. The blitz at the beginning puts us down so much, and then we settled in. And then I thought if we can get it to 12, 10, it might get coach to yelling at people and maybe their kids get a little messed up. Tonight was their night. Those kids are huge.""I know we didn't get the win, but they didn't get how they were supposed to do us either," Rice said.5 takeaways:1. Jakai Sanders and Ashton Walker were bright spotsDespite the blowout loss, the back court of Monmouth did show signs of promise and it started with transfer guards Sanders and Ashton Walker. Both were able to get paint touches at a decent rate, which led to good things for Monmouth. Sanders' 17 points included four shots from deep. Ashton Walker scored 11 points.Walker's ability to drive, stop on a dime, then hit a turnaround jumper was tough to stop for St. John's. Sanders hit 3's and made buckets driving to the rim. 2. Monmouth defense shows promise, forces 13 turnovers.It's easy to look at the final score and not notice the good things Monmouth did. The Hawks forced the Red Storm to commit 13 turnovers, had 6 steals, and 5 blocks on the Big East squad. The perimeter defense was impressive from the guards. St. John's did get backdoor cuts and transition baskets in the first half. When Brooks returns, his added lateral quickness will be a boost in defending guards."Thing that I thought would work for us was our numbers," Rice said. "I thought we could use our numbers against them, but what happens in these games, their guys are so much bigger than your kids. So you're trying to make them tired and then what happens is your kids get a little bit tired."3. Minutes can change for anyoneWith so much depth on Monmouth's bench, Rice has plenty of guys he can put on the floor. Jinup Doboul came off the bench and provided some really good minutes for Monmouth. Doboul also had some offensive production with 7 points. Jack Collins came off the bench and then started in the second half. Madison Durr also came off the bench and played significant minutes in the second half, scoring 15 points. Don't be surprised to see the starting five change a few times this season.4. Big men still need more repsRice expressed excitement for his front court just a couple days before the regular season began. He also mentioned that his bigs need more reps. That was shown in the exhibition game against Seton Hall in which the Pirates ultimately pulled out the win -- it was also shown in the season opener. As expected, a Pitino team wasn't allowing easy buckets in the paint. There were multiple possessions where a Monmouth big was under the basket with a potential dunk, only to be turned away. Spartalis did have success when he was one-on-one on the block offensively, other times he was doubled.St. John's bigs also got to the free throw line a lot. Seal-offs, second chance points, and drives to the basket resulted in Monmouth fouls. 5. Free throw woesMonmouth only had 14 free throws - to St. John's 26 - and the Hawks only made 7 of those 14 shots (50%)."We're in their building," Rice said. "They go 20-for-25 from the free throw line. I'm trying to coach my kids so I'm not complaining about officiating, but we were not the more physical team. And it looks like we were way more physical than them with fouls."This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monmouth basketball falls to No. 14 St. John's in season opener | 5 takeaways