Saturday afternoon’s 83-76 loss to Duke showed a different kind of Moe Harkless.

Put it this way:

As an analogy to a classroom, Moe Harkless came to St. John’s as an “A” student. He aced every test that was put in front of him, participated in class, was a model student. He was someone you could point to and say, “Him, right there. He is a great student.”

But after his 30-point, 13-rebound performance at Cameron Indoor, Harkless is showing how he has grown from the “A” student into a player who can dominate in the future.

The biggest knock on him during his time in Queens has been his lack of aggressiveness, at time, through the first 20 games of his career. Then what happened against Duke?

On his first touch of the game, he drove baseline and slammed it home. No layup. Might as well finish with authority on the road.

He had two more dunks in the first 11 minutes of the game, on his way to becoming the first Red Storm player in the history of the program to put up 30 points at Cameron Indoor.

In the wake of his breakout performance vs. Duke, which was really his second breakout performance, considering his records 32 points in his Big East debut against Providence.

But this was different because it was on national television, at one of the most famous venues in the country, against a Top 10 team.

The national audience got their first glimpse at a future pro.

The most telling part of the game for Harkless, though, was not in his statline or the three dunks he had in the first half.

You can see the change in Moe Harkless by his facial expressions. At almost every camera shot of him during the game, he had a mean, determined-looking scowl on his face that we have not seen from him in the past.

If Harkless keeps that up for the rest of the season, St. John’s may be in line for a few more upsets before the conclusion of 2011-12.

In the absence of head coach Steve Lavin, who continued to rest following prostate cancer surgery, Mike Dunlap’s team surrendered 21 offensive rebounds and turned the ball over 14 times in a 78-64 loss Saturday evening at Carnesecca Arena.

There were some who could have helped St. John’s rebounding deficiency. Problem was, they were spread out across the northeast; one in Philadelphia, one in New Hampshire, and one in Maine.

But if you ask, this team will tell you ineligible players are no excuse, and they’re right.

Systematically, there are ways for this team, with this size and depth, to win basketball games.

Take a look at the loss against much more skilled and physical Arizona: the Red Storm were nearly even on the boards, despite allowing 14/29 shooting from three-point range and, had Nurideen Lindsey not fouled out late in the second half, could perhaps have gotten a victory.

The main focus of the St. John’s zone is threefold: Keep big guys (Moe Harkless and God’sgift Achiuwa) out of foul trouble, try to compensate for lack of size by forcing teams to the perimeter, and conserve energy because of the short bench.

But there is one thread that holds all of this together: rebounding.

As assistant coach Mike Dunlap has said, living only by the three-pointer, “is a tough way to live.” But if teams get second-chance opportunities and putbacks, living gets easy.

That’s what happened Saturday versus Northeastern.

Joel Smith, a 6’4”, 180-pound guard, went 7/12 from three-point range, piling up 29 points and 10 rebounds.

Fellow guard Jonathan Lee, standing just 6’2” tall, had four offensive rebounds, on his way to 17 points.

What caused the rebounding deficit?

There were times, both defensively and offensively, where the Red Storm were out of sync.

Early defensive pressure by the Huskies added something St. John’s had not yet seen. This, consequently, translated to their own defensive end.

Instead of rotating, the Red Storm were caught chasing the ball. At any point in the game, the ball is moving faster than anyone on the court. This not only made for open shots from the perimeter, but Huskies left open under the basket for offensive rebounds and second-chance points.

The important takeaway is that the zone works. Yes, it looks bad when a team is consistently knocking down threes, but it has allowed the Red Storm to have flexibility and stay out of foul trouble.

Arizona was 11/31 from inside the arc. Texas A&M shot just 4/15 from three-point land. Both were competitive and, ultimately, winnable games.

As repetitive as the beginnings of games have seemed to be (early deficit, strong three-point shooting) the zone is a necessity.

There are no systemic problems. Now, it is all about execution.

This post also appeared on NBC Sports Beyond the Arc.

NEW YORK- Friday night’s heartbreaking 59-58 loss to Texas A&M showed, in just forty minutes of gametime, the range of emotions that St. John’s will endure this season.

After lacking energy in the first half and falling behind by 11 in the first half, the Red Storm surged back to take the lead in the second half, up 58-57 with 22 seconds remaining.

Texas A&M guard Elston Turner knocked down a jumper from the top of the with ten seconds remaining and St. John’s Nurideen Lindsey could not convert on either of two free throws with seconds remaining, allowing the Aggies to escape, 59-58.

“What I shared with the team after was similar to last night, in terms of the talking points,” said Lavin after the game. “There were stretches we played really well, but by we put ourselves in a hole…and down the stretch, we weren’t able to put a team away because of things within our control.”

The up-and-down emotions of the past few months are becoming a difficult reality of competing at the high-major level, something that this program has not experienced since the early 2000s.

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Around this time last season, Lavin was helping to bring nothing but good news to a reemerging St. John’s program.

Off the court, news broke almost weekly of another top 100 recruit pledging to the Red Storm. On the court, Lavin was leading a group of nine seniors, a collection that had underachieved up to that point in their careers, to the program’s first NCAA tournament appearance in nearly a decade.

As summer came, the difficult news began.

Four players have decommitted in as many months, including two of the three players from the Class of 2011 who were ruled ineligible by the NCAA earlier this season.

Former point guard commit Jevon Thomas signed with Dayton. Forwards Norvel Pelle and JaKarr Sampson remain open in their recruitment. Big man Ricardo Gathers still has St. John’s at the top of his list, he says, but will sign in the Spring.

Kyle Anderson, a prized 2012 prospect from powerhouse St. Anthony (Nj.), turned down the Red Storm and signed with UCLA.

The roster that remains in Queens, though lacking depth and size, is a reason for a reasonable amount of optimism, with three top 100 recruits and two more highly-touted junior college transfers.

But if these past two games at Madison Square Garden have proven anything, an elusive truth of a climb toward national prominence has emerged:

Reasonable expectations will take you far.

A critical fan base has been quick to discount the progress under Steve Lavin, while others have talked of a deep run in the NCAA tournament with this inexperienced group of first year players.

The reality is that this team has and will progress through a natural flow of triumphs and defeats. They will lose games that they should have won. Perhaps they will steal a win on the road in an unfriendly environment.

And it seems that is the attitude they preach.

“We’re getting there. We know how talented we are. As a defensive team, we have to get stops, get rebounds, and we’ll be fine,” said freshman guard Phil Greene, who has 10 points and three rebounds in the loss.

The most remarkable thing about this team is their sense of togetherness. They seem to find safety in numbers, seeing themselves as one unit, instead of six different players.

Freshman guard D’Angelo Harrison, who had 12 points against A&M, was quick to come to the defense of his teammate.

“You can’t just blame Nuri. Everybody missed free throws. I feel like I lost the game,” said Harrison. “I’m pretty sure [junior forward God’sgift Achiuwa] feels the same way, and [freshman forward Moe Harkless] missed two free throws.”

Then, in a unique show of humor after such a loss, he looked at Greene, who sat at the opposite end of the media table.

“Phil was 100% [from the line], so he’s good.”