BUBBLE’S ABOUT TO BURST
St. John’s NCAA hopes in jeopardy after ‘L’ to Xavier
NIT? It very well may be. All hope of St. John’s securing an atlarge NCAA Tournament berth isn’t lost, but most of it is after the Red Storm put on their worst performance in nearly two months, losing to fellow bubblemate Xavier, 6553, at a sparsely filled Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
It marked the Red Storm’s (1811, 88) first backtoback losses since opening conference play 05 and dropped them to sixthplace in the Big East. With only a halfgame lead in the win column over Georgetown, a bye in the Big East Tournament — only given to the top six teams — can no longer be considered a given, and their position on the bubble has grown more precarious.
“We’re disappointed with the game we played,” said coach Steve Lavin, who thought it was the team’s worst showing since a Jan. 4 blowout loss at Georgetown. “[Since then], this is really the first time where in both halves we were out of sync offensively and that we didn’t have the effort defensively.
“I thought tonight was subpar for us in terms of the run we’ve had over the past six weeks.”
At the front of the descent from star to subpar was leadingscorer D’Angelo Harrison, who shot 1of11 from the field and was held to a seasonlow four points. Harrison banged his right knee while diving to try and make a steal in the final minute, but he’s not expected to miss any games.
With Xavier (199, 96) packing the paint, the Red Storm struggled shooting from outside, hitting less than 37 percent from the floor and only 2of16 3pointers, while scoring a seasonlow in total points.
The Red Storm also were held without a fast break point, despite the return of Rysheed Jordan, who missed Monday’s practice after the tragic loss of a family member in a shooting on Saturday.
Jordan kept St. John’s close with nine secondhalf points — aided by JaKarr Sampson’s 14 points — but a Xavier 101 run gave the Musketeers a 4939 lead that would never slip below two possessions, following a Jalen Reynolds 3point play with 7:19 left.
Reynolds, a freshman who entered the game averaging three points and 2.9 rebounds, led the Musketeers with 17 points and 16 rebounds, taking advantage of a St. John’s defense providing the resistancelevel of the 1940 French Army. Xavier scored 36 points in the paint and shot 56 percent from the field in the first half.
“They did what they wanted inside,” junior Phil Greene IV said. “We should’ve been ready. It’s the biggest game of the year. It’s just back to defense, all defense.
“We just came out flat. We weren’t prepared. It wasn’t the same team as we’ve been on this streak we were on.”
After nine wins in 10 games, St. John’s has dropped two straight heading into Sunday’s game against DePaul. A win over the Blue Demons, who are near the bottom of the Big East standings, and at Marquette to finish the regular season are now just prerequisites, with a run to the finals of the Big East Tournament likely necessary, after falling to 39 against teams ranked in the top 70 of the RPI.
“We have a lot of basketball left,” Greene said. “We’re going to be prepared and ready so we can make the NCAA Tournament.”
That’s one possibility. The other is this season will be a massive disappointment.