Playing in the Big East tournament for the first time didn't faze the all-freshman lineup for St. John's. The Red Storm just ran into a buzzsaw. After leading briefly during the opening half; the experience lacking in the 12th-seeded Red Storm (13-19) proved crucial, as Pittsburgh (17-15) ran away to a 73-59 victory in the first round of the Big East tournament. With the win, the Panthers advance to tomorrow's second round; where they will meet Georgetown, while the long season endured by the Red Storm comes to a halt on their home court of Madison Square Garden. "We had a lot of easy baskets that didn't go in," said assistant coach Mike Dunlap, who has filled in admirably for a recovering Steve Lavin. "The story was, we had plenty of … [Read more...]

Twelve months later, the Scarlet Knights got their revenge. Playing for the first time since the controversial finish in their Big East tournament matchup last season at Madison Square Garden; Rutgers (14-17, 6-12) got a tip-in emphatically slammed home by Dane Miller with 9.3 seconds left, (10 points, 10 rebounds) and drained two free throws on their ensuing possession to escape with a 61-58 victory over St. John's (13-18, 6-12) in the regular season finale for both teams. The Red Storm had two chances to win after Rutgers took the lead; but D'Angelo Harrison (17 points) missed a three-pointer with two seconds left that would have given St. John's the lead, and narrowly missed a half-court heave that rimmed out as the buzzer sounded. … [Read more...]

The most superstitious of fans sensed the worst when the Red Storm took to the court. Wearing their alternate black uniforms; the same third jerseys that St. John's has won a grand total of one game in over the program's 104-year history, St. John's (13-17, 6-11) was competitive in the first half before being done in over the final stanza in an 89-69 loss to Pittsburgh (16-14, 5-12) at the Petersen Center, where the Panthers are now 6-0 all time against New York City's college team. "We really wanted to play well for our seniors tonight," said Pitt coach Jamie Dixon after four-year players Ashton Gibbs, (19 points to lead the Panthers) Travon Woodall and Nasir Robinson were honored prior to the opening tip. "We felt it was our last … [Read more...]

Something had to give, whether it was Notre Dame's nine-game winning streak or St. John's two-game roll. It took the full forty minutes to figure out which it would be. After Amir Garrett (11 points) put St. John's ahead by three with nine seconds left; Notre Dame had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer, but a three-point attempt from Alex Dragicevich bounced off the left rim to give the Red Storm (13-16, 6-10) a hard-earned 61-58 victory over the 18th-ranked Fighting Irish. (20-9, 12-4) "Give a lot of credit to St. John's," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said after the game. "We had a lot of good looks, but didn't make enough of them." In addition to Garrett, St. John's was led by Moe Harkless (22 points) and D'Angelo Harrison … [Read more...]

The final contest at Carnesecca Arena this season proved to be a mirror image of the first encounter between the two teams nineteen days before, with one team establishing control midway through the first half before the other battled back and stole the game down the stretch. Led by 23 points from D'Angelo Harrison and a career-high 18 from fellow freshman Amir Garrett, St. John's (12-16, 5-10) shook off DePaul's late rally and sent the Blue Demons (11-16, 2-13) to their seventh straight defeat in a 79-72 decision on the Queens campus. "It was a quick turnaround in 48 hours," assistant coach Mike Dunlap stated after the game, the second for the Red Storm in three days after defeating UCLA this past Saturday. "We took care of the ball … [Read more...]

Playing for the first time since a demoralizing 22-point defeat at the hands of Cincinnati, St. John's found themselves in a game they could have won. Unfortunately for them, they once again ran into a better team. Another afternoon of 20-point performances from D'Angelo Harrison (24 points) and Moe Harkless (20 points) was not enough for the Red Storm (10-15, 4-9) as they fell to 11th-ranked Georgetown (19-5, 9-4) by the final of 71-61. "We really took a step forward after our last two games," assistant coach Mike Dunlap said after the game. "When we got it down to one possession, we just couldn't level the score. We needed to make a shot and we couldn't do it." St. John's faces a short turnaround after this game with a Tuesday … [Read more...]

The debate over which school truly is New York's college team is settled, if only for one more year. Fueled by an impressive performance on both ends of the floor, No. 2 Syracuse (23-1, 10-1) took control midway through the first half and never looked back in a 95-70 rout of St. John's (10-13, 4-7) at Madison Square Garden. Five players scored in double figures for the Orange, led by 14 points each from Fab Melo, Dion Waiters and C.J. Fair. Kris Joseph and freshman Michael Carter-Williams chipped in with thirteen each on a day where Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim moved into a third-place tie on the all-time wins list, joining Hall of Famer Dean Smith with 879 career victories. "I thought we did a better job on the boards than we had … [Read more...]