It only gets tougher for St. John’s

That upset of Syracuse must feel like a lifetime ago for Chris Mullin and St. John’s.

The Red Storm hoped the stunning victory would serve as a jumpingoff point. Instead, nothing has gone right since, ugly home losses over the weekend to Incarnate Word and NJIT by a combined 31 points, putrid performances that bring a harsh reality: Rebuilding a program isn’t easy.

And it won’t get any easier anytime soon. Tuesday night, St. John’s (75) meets undefeated South Carolina at Mohegan Sun, and the Big East season follows. The easy part of the schedule is over, and the Johnnies have struggled against supposedly weaker opponents.

“I told the [team] we have to be more forceful and make an imprint on the game,” Mullin said after the loss to NJIT. “At any level when you play with aggression and you put your imprint on the game, you dictate what goes on.”

The good news is Mullin’s team has shown the ability to rise to the level of its opponent, playing Indiana tough in the Maui Invitational and knocking off Syracuse at the Garden. However, No. 25 South Carolina (100) might be the best team St. John’s has faced — a deep squad with scorers throughout its roster — better than Vanderbilt, which hammered the Johnnies by 37 points in Maui.

Meanwhile, St. John’s likely will be without senior guard Felix Balamou (foot tendinitis) for the third straight game, and the status of top freshman Marcus Lo Vett Jr. — the only pure point guard on the roster — remains in flux. Ruled a partial qualifier by the NCAA Eligibility Center, there was talk he would get cleared after the first semester ended, as long as his grades met the necessary requirements, but the expected decision Thursday never came.

While freshmen Federico Mussini, Yankuba Sima, Kassoum Yakwe and Malik Ellison (when healthy) have battled through the typical ups and downs all firstyear players go through, the play of the program’s upperclassmen, particularly lately, has to be troubling. Senior graduate transfers Ron Mvouika and Durand Johnson, who were expected to lead this team, shot a combined 5of24 against NJIT, and sophomore forward Amar Alibegovic had seven points and four rebounds in the two losses over the weekend after his breakout, 15point effort against Syracuse.

“We just have to play with force consistently,” Mvouika said Sunday. “We’ve been having ups and downs during the games.

“At some point we just have to get out of that dark cloud.”