For a few rare moments inside a Phoenix hotel last week, Justin Simon could almost feel like an Arizona Wildcat again.
It was fun, too.
“I was with Parker (Jackson-Cartwright), Allonzo (Trier), some of the managers, Rawle (Alkins). I’m really cool with those guys,” said Simon, the sophomore guard who transferred from the UA to St. John’s in 2016. “We’ve played basketball against each other since we were younger, so that friendship will really never go away. That brotherhood we had meant a lot.”
After they finished hanging out, Simon and the Wildcats went their separate ways again. Arizona beat Texas A&M the next day at Talking Stick Resort Arena, while Simon led St. John’s to a 68-60 win over Grand Canyon in the nightcap.
The Wildcats survived despite allowing the Aggies to shoot 54.2 percent in the second half, and UA coach Sean Miller noted in the days afterward that his team didn’t have a defensive stopper.
St. John’s survived GCU — and its crazed student section — in part because it held the Lopes to just 30.3 percent shooting, including 25 percent from 3-point range.
The Red Storm does have a defensive stopper. He also happens to be ranked No. 1 in defensive win shares, a complex formula involving the estimated amount of points a player allows, according to Basketball Reference.
His name: Justin Simon.
“He’s so versatile,” St. John’s coach Chris Mullin said. “He’s really, really gifted. A gifted athlete and he’s got a good feel for the game.”
So maybe the Wildcats could use Simon now after a year or two of development. But that’s not the way college basketball always works these days, with transfers and early pro departures so common.
Everyone is looking for more playing time, or a quicker route to the pros, and Simon said as much upon his departure.
Simon played in only 24 of Arizona’s 35 games as a freshman in 2015-16, averaging just 7.5 minutes in the games he did play in. He showed flashes of his defensive potential while playing nine minutes in the UA’s otherwise uninspired 87-84 loss at UCLA on Jan. 7, 2016, drawing praise from Miller.
“He did a good job at times when he was in the game and hopefully he can give us more,” Miller said after that game. By subbing more “we were trying to make a run and keep energy. I thought it worked, and you know what? That’s how it’s going to be from this point forward if you screw up on defense.”
Simon began to pick up regular minutes after Trier broke his wrist in the Wildcats’ next game and missed seven ensuing games, but never stuck in the rotation.
Simon didn’t play at all in four of the UA’s final seven games that season, including the Wildcats’ 65-55 first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Wichita State.
Eleven days later, Arizona announced that he had decided to leave.
Simon needed only a month to settle on St. John’s, after Mullin successfully brought him in to visit.
“There’s so many different factors that go into the transfer dynamic,” Mullin said. “I think style of play had a lot to do with it. He visited and liked the way we played, watched us a little bit in practice.”
Simon said he also liked the idea of being in New York, and even as a native Southern Californian, Simon said he didn’t mind the weather. He spent his final year of high school at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire.
“It was the university itself and New York,” Simon said. “My major is television and film so that’s a big area. And the program sold itself. You have two Hall of Famers on your bench (Mullin and assistant Mitch Richmond) giving you nothing but confidence. You’re able to play hard without thinking.
“Then the players were amazing when I went on my visit and I loved them. I felt like I could come there and make noise and lead this team back to the tournament.”
Maybe he will. The Red Storm is 8-2 entering a game Saturday with Iona, with a No. 18 RPI, a Sagarin rating of 52 and a Kenpom rating of 50, probably sitting not too far outside the bubble at this early point.
St. John’s has gotten that far thanks in part to Simon’s production on and off the ball in their backcourt. Simon averages a team-high 8.0 rebounds, along with 10.1 points on 50.7 percent shooting.
Then there’s that defense. While Simon said he’s taken pride in defense since high school, using his length and trying to anticipate what’s coming, he indicated his year at Arizona further built that mentality.
“When I went to Arizona, that’s a defensive program,” Simon said. “Sean Miller loves defense and he really wanted me to come in and be a defensive stopper. Unfortunately things didn’t work out, but now I’m here and loving where I’m at. I’m loving this team and the journey.”
