1958–59 St. John's Redmen basketball team

1958–59 St. John's Redmen men's basketball
1958–59 St. John's Redmen men's basketball
ECAC Holiday Festival Champions; NIT Champions
NIT Championship vs. Bradley, W, 76-71 2OT
Conference	Metropolitan New York Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 17
Record	20–6 (4–2 Metropolitan New York Conference)
Head coach	Joseph Lapchick;
Assistant coach	Lou Carnesecca
Captain	Al Seiden
Home arena	Martin Van Buren High School; Madison Square Garden
	Seasons ← 1957–58 1959–60 →

1958–59 Metropolitan New York Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Manhattan	4	–	0	1.000	15	–	6	.714
Brooklyn	3	–	1	.750	8	–	10	.444
St. John's	4	–	2	.667	20	–	6	.769
Fordham	2	–	2	.500	17	–	8	.680
NYU	2	–	2	.500	15	–	8	.652
CCNY	1	–	6	.143	6	–	12	.333
St. Francis (NY)	0	–	3	.000	5	–	18	.217


Rankings from AP Poll

The 1958–59 St. John's Redmen basketball team represented St. John's University during the 1958–59 NCAA Division I college basketball season. The team was coached by Joseph Lapchick in his fourteenth year at the school and also was the first season Lou Carnesecca joined the basketball program as an assistant coach. The team was a member of the Metropolitan New York Conference. During this time the university was transitioning from Brooklyn to Queens, so the basketball team played their home games at Martin Van Buren High School in Queens, NY and Madison Square Garden in Manhattan while their new on campus arena, Alumni Hall, was being built.

Roster

#	Name	Height	Position	Class	Hometown	Previous Team(s)
11	Gus Alfieri	6'2"	G	Sr.	Brooklyn, NY, U.S.	St. Francis Prep
14	Gary Marozas	6'6"	F/C	So.	Queens, NY, U.S.	Forest Hills HS
21	Mike Pedone	6'0"	G	Jr.	Jersey City, NJ, U.S.	St. Peter's Prep
24	Tony Jackson	6"4"	G/F	So.	Brooklyn, NY, U.S.	Thomas Jefferson HS
25	Bernie Pascal (DNP)	6'5"	F	Sr.	Brooklyn, NY, U.S.	St. Francis Prep
27	Dick Engert	6"5"	F	Sr.	Brooklyn, NY, U.S.	Xavier HS
33	Alan Seiden	5"10"	G	Sr.	Queens, NY, U.S.	Jamaica HS
34	Lou Roethel	6"6"	F/C	Sr.	Brooklyn, NY, U.S.	St. Francis Prep
	John Ryan	6'6"	F/C	Jr.	Long Beach, NY, U.S.	Long Beach HS
	Butch Dellacave	5'9"	G	So.	Brooklyn, NY, U.S.	St. John's Prep

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
12/04/58*		Providence	W 73-55	1-0	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
12/08/58*		Bridgeport	W 98-56	2-0	Martin Van Buren High School Queens, NY
12/10/58	No. 20	at Brooklyn	W 93-68	3-0 (1-0)	Brooklyn College Brooklyn, NY
12/13/58*	No. 20	Bradley	L 66-71	3-1	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
12/15/58*	No. 20	Hunter	W 91-52	4-1	Martin Van Buren High School Queens, NY
12/20/58*		Virginia	W 90-71	5-1	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
12/26/58*		vs. Holy Cross ECAC Holiday Festival Quarterfinal	W 77-63	6-1	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
12/27/58*		vs. No. 20 Dayton ECAC Holiday Festival Semifinal	W 76-63	7-1	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
12/29/58*		vs. St. Joseph's ECAC Holiday Festival Championship	W 90-79	8-1	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
01/03/59*	No. 13	Temple	W 81-76	9-1	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
01/10/59*	No. 10	at George Washington	W 86-85	10-1	Uline Arena Washington, D.C.
01/17/59*	No. 9	at St. Joseph's	W 97-72	11-1	The Palestra Philadelphia, PA
01/24/59	No. 7	vs. St. Francis (NY)	W 91-44	12-1 (2-0)	69th Regiment Armory New York, NY
01/29/59*	No. 7	at No. 15 St. Louis	L 68-72	12-2	Kiel Auditorium St. Louis, MO
01/31/59*	No. 7	at Loyola (IL)	L 85-95 ^2OT	12-3	Chicago Stadium Chicago, IL
02/02/59*	No. 7	at Notre Dame	L 70-72	12-4	Notre Dame Fieldhouse Notre Dame, IN
02/05/59*	No. 15	Richmond	W 85-76	13-4	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
02/14/59	No. 19	at Fordham	L 77-79 ^OT	13-5 (2-1)	Rose Hill Gymnasium Bronx, NY
02/19/59*		Niagara	W 87-78	14-5	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
02/26/59	No. 17	Manhattan	L 65-70	14-6 (2-2)	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
02/28/59	No. 17	CCNY	W 82-64	15-6 (3-2)	Martin Van Buren High School Queens, NY
03/05/59	No. 18	NYU	W 57-55	16-6 (4-2)	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
NIT
03/12/59*		vs. Villanova NIT First Round	W 75-67	17-6	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
03/14/59*		vs. No. 19 St. Bonaventure NIT Quarterfinal	W 82-74	18-6	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
03/19/59*		vs. Providence NIT Semifinal	W 76-55	19-6	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
03/21/59*		vs. No. 4 Bradley NIT Championship	W 76-71 ^2OT	20-6	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Team players drafted into the NBA

Year	Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1959	2	12	Al Seiden	St. Louis Hawks
1961	2	24	Tony Jackson	New York Knicks

References

v t e St. John's Red Storm men's basketball
Venues	Old Madison Square Garden (193?–1969) Madison Square Garden (1969–present) Carnesecca Arena (alternate; 1961–present)
Rivalries	Fordham Georgetown
Culture & lore	Gambling scandal Johnny Thunderbird
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms national championship in bold; NCAA Final Four appearance in italics