St. John’s is a senior-laden team. Rick Pitino even picked them first in the Big East before the season. While both establish that the Red Storm should be good this season, their 3-0 start in Big East play, with the first two games coming on the road, surely surprises many people not inside the St. John’s locker room.
Winning at West Virginia to begin the slate certainly opened some people’s eyes. On Saturday, they pulled one out where the game was in doubt late and the home team had good momentum. They looked like the veteran team late in the game against a young Providence team. Then on Monday, they came home and knocked off Georgetown to really get some buzz around the program.
Although the Red Storm won the Great Alaska Shootout after losing at St. Mary’s in the season opener, that trip may not be as important in shaping their season as a couple of games that came just over a week later. In early December, they lost by one to St. Bonaventure at home and went to Fordham and dropped an 84-81 decision. That surely had some thinking nothing had changed with this team. While they were losses to teams they should not have lost to, there’s at least one person who thinks they did the best thing a team could do from such a loss: learn from it.
“We’ve put together a good stretch of basketball, and I really think for us the turning point was the St. Bonaventure and Forham losses,” head coach Steve Lavin said. “We really came of age through those heartbreaking losses.”
One way in which that helped is that Lavin feels they have run the offense more efficiently since those games. He feels they’re exhibiting better shot selection and showing a better feel for the game. Beyond that, he sees a difference not only from that point, but even from the season opener.
“There was such a difference from when we were out at St. Mary’s to start the season, and St. Mary’s had made a run to pull ahead from us after we had led for some of that game,” Lavin reflected. “During a timeout, I didn’t sense that it was a team that had great confidence or a belief that they could come back and win the game. Tonight, inside of four minutes, I noticed that it was a group that seemed really poised and confident that they were going to take care of business and find a way to get it done.”
That showed late in the win at Providence, when one of their seniors who had not played much got his chance. Paris Horne, a starter the past two seasons who has instead come off the bench this season, got a pass from Justin Brownlee in the right corner and nailed a three-pointer that proved to be the game-winner. But that wasn’t all, as he took a charge at the other end of the court right after it.
“Once he shot it, I knew it was going in,” senior Dwight Hardy said of the winning shot.
It was fitting that the veteran depth would come through, and in the form of a starter-turned reserve like Horne. It happened earlier as Justin Burrell came in the game early and got several easy baskets inside. It’s not easy to deal with a coaching change, and also not easy to deal with going from starting to coming off the bench, and that’s not just a matter of ego. Coming off the bench is different than starting in terms of approach, something Horne knows. Horne has continued to put the work in, and that hasn’t escaped Lavin.
“I was thinking he deserves it, in terms of basketball karma, if someone has earned the right to make that shot, it’s Paris Horne, with the kind of kid he is and has been here four years,” said Lavin.
St. John’s finally got a chance to play a Big East game in front of the home folks in the win over Georgetown on Monday. It was another chance to show that this start is no fluke, but that won’t be all. The rest of January has one great challenge after another: at Notre Dame, home against Syracuse and Notre Dame, at Louisville, home against undefeated Cincinnati, at Georgetown, and the month closes with Duke coming to Madison Square Garden.
It’s still early yet, but the Red Storm looks to be playing like a team full of seniors. They’re winning games with key plays late, and they appear to have learned from earlier games. Maybe Rick Pitino was on to something before the season.
