St. John’s moves forward through a season of adversity

WASHINGTON – St. John’s hasn’t stopped competing despite numerous challenges this season. That was clearly evident in a tough 71-61 loss at Georgetown on Sunday, one where the team moved forward despite the game going in the right-hand column.

This season was going to be a challenge just from a personnel standpoint. With a very senior-laden team last season, the Johnnies were going to be young this time around, and that remains true. But they also didn’t get three of their freshmen right away due to academics, and while Amir Garrett made it for the second semester, Norvelle Pelle won’t be coming and JaKarr Sampson is doing a full year of prep and might go elsewhere when it’s all said and done.

As if that wasn’t enough, head coach Steve Lavin hasn’t been with the team for much of the season on game day while recuperating from surgery to address prostate cancer. Mike Dunlap has run the team in Lavin’s absence, though Lavin still does much of the duties of the job. Then, early in the season, Nurideen Lindsey transferred after a promising start, and earlier this month, Malik Stith, one of their most experienced players, withdrew from the team for personal reasons.

Sunday was symbolic of the season. It’s easy to forget that Georgetown is also young, with ten freshmen and sophomores, but St. John’s stayed right with a team that has knocked off several ranked opponents and doesn’t have a bad loss on the season. The Red Storm had the momentum at times, and even though they trailed throughout, they were never down by double digits until the final three seconds of the game.

This team has some pieces, young though most of them are. The Red Storm start five freshmen, with Moe Harkless and D’Angelo Harrison being the most talented of them. Harkless can be relentless in attacking the basket, while Harrison can be deadly from long range and was at times on Sunday en route to a game-high 24 points. Harrison is the top scorer among Big East freshmen and Harkless is right behind him. Phil Greene has shown potential at the point, especially of late, and Garrett and Sir’Dominic Pointer look like keepers. The only reserves right now are juniors, with God’sgift Achiuwa having started 18 games and giving them a solid post scorer.

The Red Storm are not deep. Indicative of that was the fact that only six players saw minutes until foul disqualifications in the last minute forced a couple of players into the game. In contrast, Georgetown had seven different players score in the first half. In addition, they have been out-rebounded by over three per game on the season and turn the ball over more than 13 times a night.

All is not lost, however. The Red Storm committed just six turnovers on Sunday, and on the season they force over 14 turnovers per game with their pressure. They will come after you, and when they’re forcing turnovers they get chances for easy baskets. That can go a long way towards staying in or even winning a game against a team that is more talented and/or experienced. It’s also why Dunlap said their post-game talk was positive, as the feeling was that they took steps forward.

This season figured to be a challenging one for St. John’s, and that has been the case. There have been bright spots along the way, with the team forging an identity as a tough team that never stops battling. There is a good core to build around and progress is being made, so the Johnnies won’t be down for long.