With just seven players in their rotation, it was not supposed to look this easy.

Thanks to career nights from two of their freshmen; one of whom set a new conference record, St. John’s (7-5, 1-0) played at a level that belied their tender age on their way to a 91-67 victory over Providence (11-3, 0-1) in the Big East opener for both squads.

“I didn’t even know that,” said Moe Harkless when informed of the fact that his 32 points broke a record for highest point total by a freshman in his Big East debut previously held by Troy Murphy and Allen Iverson. “I don’t know what to say. It’s an honor to be mentioned with those guys. Being able to break the record is a great feeling,” said the Queens native, who also had thirteen rebounds, four steals, and shot 14-of-17 from the field.

In addition to Harkless’ masterpiece, the Red Storm also got career bests from D’Angelo Harrison, whose 25 points and seven assists were personal highs for the Texan.

“What’s significant is that we were able to score that many points and play a team that came in pretty hot,” said assistant coach Mike Dunlap. “There’s lots that we can do to get better and our guys know that.” Gerard Coleman paced the Friars with 20 points in the losing effort for his sixteenth consecutive double-figure scoring game.

St. John’s hits the road in conference play for the first time this season when they tackle reigning national champion Connecticut on Saturday afternoon, but not before some highlights and turning points from last night’s statement win are shared first.

Lasting Impressions
– Moe Harkless’ 32 points broke the record for most points by a freshman in his Big East debut, eclipsing the old mark of 30 previously held by Troy Murphy and Allen Iverson. Coincidentally, both of those previous performances also came at Providence’s expense. Harkless also added thirteen rebounds, four steals and four assists on 14-of-17 shooting. That sounds like an effort worthy of our game ball to me.

– Last night’s 91 points were the most by St. John’s in a Big East opener since January 2, 1990 (93 against Connecticut) and most in any Big East game since March 4, 2001. (91 against Syracuse) The 91 points also represented the highest output overall since St. John’s scored 93 against Duke this past January. (Stats courtesy of Mark Fratto, St. John’s senior associate athletic director for communications and men’s basketball sports information director)

– The Red Storm won this game with their transition execution, scoring 34 points off 20 Providence turnovers and ending the night with fourteen steals. St. John’s also outscored the Friars 26-10 on fast breaks. Of the 20 turnovers; seven were committed by point guard Vincent Council, who entered the game with an assist to turnover ratio of greater than 2:1.

– Finally, the highlights were not restricted to the court. Providence head coach Ed Cooley gave the media a piece of his mind in his postgame press conference, and some of the memorable quotes are listed below:

– “Our kids were pathetic. I thought we were selfish today and we weren’t tough at all. That was very sad to see.”

– “We just didn’t pay attention to detail once the game started. To me, that shows a lack of focus.”

– “A blind man could have scored today. I promise you we will correct that.”

– “That was the worst defensive game I ever coached, and it will be addressed tomorrow at 6 a.m. Emphatically.”

It’s been said that revenge is a dish best served cold. Yesterday at Madison Square Garden, not only was it cold, it was also not easy on the eyes by any means.

Taking on Fordham University for the first time since last year’s upset loss at Rose Hill Gym, St. John’s (5-5) overcame a six-man rotation to defeat the Rams (4-6) by the final of 56-50 in their Holiday Festival matchup, ending a three-game losing streak. Three Red Storm players scored ten or more points, led by D’Angelo Harrison (15 points, six rebounds) and Moe Harkless. (13 points and 16 rebounds for his third consecutive double-double)

“The second shot opportunities really hurt us, and a lot of it has to do with their length,” said Fordham coach Tom Pecora. “We got some really good looks early and we didn’t make them. They (St. John’s) do a great job finding the ball on the weak side and closing you out.”

St. John’s faces Texas Pan-American in their final tuneup before opening Big East play, but not before we leave you with the ever-popular lasting impressions from yesterday’s matinee at the Garden.

Lasting Impressions
– Above all else, the effort St. John’s yesterday has to go down as one of the better outings of the season considering the Red Storm only played six men. For the first time this season, four starters played each of the forty minutes. Only Sir’Dominic Pointer (eight points, seven rebounds) was relieved during the game.

– The turning point of the game was an 18-0 St. John’s run spanning the end of the first half and start of the second stanza. Fordham struggled to hit a shot in this stretch much as they had throughout the game, as they only managed a 30 percent clip from the field in a statistic that proved to be their downfall.

– Fordham capitalized off turnovers, but St. John’s made a bigger difference in the paint and on second chance opportunities. In those two categories, the Red Storm outscored the Rams 34-20 and 20-7, respectively.

– Finally, our game ball goes to Moe Harkless. The freshman forward posted his third consecutive double-double by registering 13 points to go with a career-high 16 rebounds. When used effectively on either end of the ball, Harkless is very reminiscent of Seton Hall big man Herb Pope both from a talent level and skill set perspective, and that is something St. John’s can use with conference play now just nine days away.

No one ever said it was going to be easy.

Playing their first game following a 22-point loss to top-ranked Kentucky, St. John’s (4-5) dropped their third consecutive contest, losing on the road to the University of Detroit (4-6) by the final of 69-63. The loss came on a celebratory night for the Titans, as they honored former coach Dick Vitale, now an ESPN analyst, by dedicating their home court to him.

Ray McCallum (21 points) and Chase Simon (20 points) led the way for Detroit, while a double-double from Moe Harkless (19 points, 11 rebounds) and a 10-point outing from Detroit native Sir’Dominic Pointer were the lone bright spots for the Red Storm.

As St. John’s takes a brief hiatus for final exams, we leave you with some lasting impressions from the Johnnies’ road trip before the Red Storm return to the court one week from Saturday against Fordham at Madison Square Garden.

Lasting Impressions
– Call it coincidence, but St. John’s is a different team when they don their alternate black jerseys. Sadly, the curse of the black reared its ugly head once again last night. St. John’s has won just one game in the black, which came on senior night last March against USF.

– The ball handling skills of Nurideen Lindsey are really becoming a cause for concern after another ineffective night at the point. Lindsey did contribute seven rebounds, but only scored four points, and more importantly, committed six turnovers, while failing to register an assist on the night. When Lindsey fires on all cylinders, this team is a different unit, but it has yet to be seen since the Philadelphia native’s near-triple-double last month against UMBC.

– At the start of the season, Sir’Dominic Pointer was the relative mystery among the newcomers. Nine games into the season, one can now make the argument that the freshman swingman is arguably the best player on the roster, despite his reduced minutes in comparison to some of his teammates. Pointer provided yet another well-rounded effort last night, finishing with ten points, eight rebounds, and two highlight reel-worthy dunks in the opening half.

– As expected after last night’s result, the game ball will be awarded to Detroit point guard Ray McCallum. The coach’s son led all scorers with 21 points and, just as he did against Notre Dame earlier in the season, took the game over on more than one occasion. McCallum was singlehandedly responsible for putting the game away, as he went on his own personal run of eight points in a span of 72 seconds to answer every St. John’s threat down the stretch.

St. John’s celebrated Thanksgiving by helping those less fortunate. Their first game after the holiday, however, was a different story.

Fueled by hot outside shooting and an aggressive offensive rebounding effort, Northeastern (3-1) got a career-high 29 points from Joel Smith to walk out of Carnesecca Arena with a 78-64 victory over a Red Storm (4-3) team who was once again without the services of head coach Steve Lavin, who continues to recover from offseason prostate cancer surgery.

“We let him get 29,” said assistant coach Mike Dunlap when asked about Smith’s performance. “That’s on us. We gave up 38 points in the paint. That’s something we want to fix.”

The Red Storm did get 17 points and nine rebounds from God’sgift Achiuwa to lead the team, but essentially played from behind throughout the night. After Nurideen Lindsey (16 points) put St. John’s ahead 37-35, Smith drained a three-pointer to give Northeastern a lead they would not relinquish.

As the Red Storm prepare to open the month of December with their first road game of the season against Kentucky, JohnnyJungle.com leaves you with some “Lasting Impressions” from this upset in Queens.

Lasting Impressions
– Joel Smith got more than just the game ball for the Huskies. The junior shooting guard’s 29-point, 10-rebound performance is the second double-double of his career, and highest point output in school history since J.J. Barea, now of the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks, went for 29 back in 2004.

– In addition to their plus-9 offensive rebound margin, (21-12) Northeastern played fundamentally sound basketball throughout the night. The Huskies entered their meeting with the Red Storm averaging nearly 19 turnovers per game, but committed just ten miscues while forcing St. John’s to cough up the ball fourteen times.

– Today marked the first time in which neither D’Angelo Harrison nor Moe Harkless (eight points each) scored in double digits. After career-high performances in Tuesday night’s win over St. Francis, Harrison and Harkless shot a combined 5-of-20 from the field and 1-of-9 from three-point range in the losing effort against the Huskies.

– Finally, one of the few bright spots for the Red Storm was Sir’Dominic Pointer. Although he only scored eight points and was hindered by four fouls, Pointer provided another highlight reel-worthy dunk in the second half and made several other key defensive plays while St. John’s was still within reach. Pointer could very well be the difference between the Kentucky game being manageable as opposed to the runaway everyone is expecting it to be.