Following a road loss to Seton Hall Thursday night, the St. John’s Men’s basketball team returned to Queens Friday for a full day of practice and meeting with the media.
The mood in this press conference preceding the Red Storm’s match-up with South Florida had a different tone. Coach Steve Lavin and the players conveyed a very business-like, learn-and-move-on attitude, putting Thursday’s loss aside and looking forward to Senior Night at Carnesecca Arena on Saturday.
“Big picture, it’s the Big East Conference. If Seton Hall can go into the Carrier Dome and win by 20-plus points, they can clearly beat us on their home court in a late season game,” Lavin said. “The nature of this conference is, if you don’t bring an A-level effort, you’re gonna get beat.”
As a team fueled by a metro-area rivalry and the energy of playing spoiler, the Pirates shot significantly better from the field (64%) and from 3-point range (67%) than their season averages (41% and 28%, respectively). That impressive team performance, highlighted by senior guard Jeremy Hazell’s 31 points and freshman Fuquan Edwin shooting 5/6 from long distance, helped to lessen the impact of the 18 turnovers Seton Hall committed. That fact, coupled with a lack of energy and a loose zone defense from St. John’s ultimately led to the upset victory for the Pirates.
A few tense moments at the end of the game showed the Johnnies’ frustration, including two technical fouls on Lavin that led to his ejection, and a hard foul and taunt by forward Justin Burrell that led to his ejection as well.
The Big East will take no further action and will not hand down a suspension to either Lavin or Burrell.
But, much like the loss to Fordham earlier in the year, the coaching staff has used this defeat to highlight key lessons moving forward.
“If the lesson resonates, and there’s a powerful take-away that helps you elevate your level of play, then there are times that a setback can be a springboard for better basketball,” said Lavin.
The Red Storm hope to springboard into a victory on what is sure to be a memorable Senior Night Saturday versus South Florida. A sold out crowd of over 6,000 will look on as these nine seniors take the court for the final time at Carnesecca Arena. Not only is it Steve Lavin Bobblehead Night, but fans will receive free black t-shirts to have a “blackout” at Carnesecca.
St. John’s players will be wearing their alternate black jerseys to complete the occasion. The Johnnies are 0-5 when wearing the black uniforms, including a loss earlier this year to Fordham. For trying to turn the tide, Lavin credits the decision to wear black to Justin Burrell.
“The black jerseys are awesome. I love them. They’re probably one of my favorite ones,” said Burrell. “And also because we haven’t gotten a win in those jerseys, so it would be great to go out winning in those jerseys in front of our home crowd.”
This will be bittersweet night, brightened by the fact that this will not be the last game together for this large group of seniors. Still, many memories will be left on the floor at Carnesecca.
“From day one, from us being freshman coming in, there have been a lot of sweat, blood, tears into this building and on the floor at Carnesecca [Arena] and Taffner [Fieldhouse],” said senior guard Paris Horne. “So it’s a special night for us.”
And, once the ceremonies end, the Johnnies will see that South Florida has come to play.
The Bulls (9-20, 3-13) lost last year’s star and leading scorer Dominique Jones to the NBA and have struggled since his departure. With the loss of Jones’ scoring ability, the Bulls put up just 61.9 points per game as a team, with leading scorer Augustus Gilchrist averaging 13.1 points per game.
Gilchrist is a big, muscular junior forward from Clinton, Maryland who originally signed with the Maryland Terrapins coming out of high school, before transferring to USF. His 6-10, 245 lb frame draws attention down on the block and he has displayed solid rebounding skills, averaging 6.2 rebounds per game this year.
South Florida is not a team that beats opponents with one superstar and some help from the supporting cast, as they did last season. Their three Big East wins came over DePaul (twice) and Providence, so they lack a marquee in-conference win, but the Johnnies are still preparing as they would for any other game. Much like St. Bonaventure snuck out of Carnesecca Arena with an upset victory earlier this season, the Bulls are looking to do the same. But, these seniors are determined to keep that from happening.
“We have to come compete for 40 minutes every game,” said senior forward Sean Evans. “Any team can beat any team on a given night.”
In practice, Coach Lavin stressed “revisiting the essentials” that win games at this point in the year; those essentials that have gotten the Red Storm victories over six Top 15 teams and at least a 5-seed in the Big East Tournament. Moving forward, Lavin is keeping his perspective grounded:
“If it takes a sock in the mouth, or smelling salts, or getting beat by Seton Hall to awaken for the tough road ahead, then it may end of up being a blessing in disguise.”
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