St. John's roller coaster reaches new inversion with loss to Providence

St. John's first game since defeating 10th-ranked Marquette on road was 14-point loss at home to Providence Saturday, leaving Chris Mullin perplexed to find answers for inconsistency. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

NEW YORK -- I know that things are going wrong for me

You've gotta listen to my words

- Ozzy Osbourne, "Crazy Train"

Such is life for St. John's, its latest descent in a season rife with peaks and valleys being a disappointing 70-56 loss inside Madison Square Garden to Providence just four days after the Red Storm was anointed by both pundits and fans alike as a team destined for the NCAA Tournament, a 70-69 victory against a Marquette team ranked tenth in the nation -- and one that had previously not lost on its home floor at Fiserv Forum -- serving as the fuel to propel a talented roster from the corner of Union and Utopia back to the field of 68 for the third time this decade.

Alas, the proverbial bubble will once again serve as St. John's primary residence -- and will continue to do so until the telltale week in March more commonly known as the Big East tournament -- after the Red Storm (17-7, 5-6 Big East) could not firmly place its grip on a game it was supposed to win on paper, even with Mustapha Heron unavailable due to a knee contusion he suffered following the Marquette game.

"I don't think it had anything to do with adjusting to playing without Mustapha," Marvin Clark admitted with regard to St. John's effort. "He's one of our better scorers, but the game wasn't won because we didn't score the ball. The game wasn't won because we didn't rebound well enough."

Indeed, Providence (14-10, 4-7 Big East) commanded the boards to the tune of a 43-23 margin on the glass, with 15 of those caroms coming from Alpha Diallo, who proved a matchup problem for both Clark and Sedee Keita, who got the start Saturday afternoon in place of Heron. But for large stretches of the game, St. John's was unable to find a flow on either side of the basketball, wasting 20 points from Shamorie Ponds and giving up a 16-4 run to the visiting Friars midway through the second half, a stretch from which the Red Storm was unable to properly recover.

"We weren't horrible in the post, we weren't horrible defensively," head coach Chris Mullin interjected, glossing over St. John's massive rebounding deficit. "But when you get a stop and you don't get the ball back, it just demoralizes your offense and defense. They got 16 of those -- some of them were actually after some good defensive possessions late in the clock -- that was the first part of the game to move to the second part. We never got to the second part. That second part would have been getting out in the open floor, spreading them out and getting some pace to the game. Like Marvin said, give them credit. The pace was theirs the whole night."

Sadly, the majority of the season has gone that way for the Red Storm, who must now regroup heading into a pivotal stretch of two home games against Butler -- who comes to Carnesecca Arena this Tuesday -- and reigning national champion Villanova, who will certainly bring a much greater fan presence to Madison Square Garden than Providence, no disrespect to the Friars, on Sunday. With two potential make-or-break matchups looming, what is the key for this group to get back on track?

"When things are going bad, I need to figure out a way to get through to my teammates," said Clark. "I take all the blame on that, as far as up and down. I didn't really bring it on the offensive end all that much tonight, and I gotta figure out a way to get my guys going. I feel like we brought it in spurts, but it wasn't enough."

"The games we've won, the defense has been solid and the other parts of our game have been good," Mullin reiterated. "But if you get stops and you give the ball back, you give them more chances. The other parts of the game are still important, but if you give them 16 extra attempts, it's going to cost you."

The marked contrast between efforts at home and on the road -- especially in Big East play -- have also mounted up to potentially cost the Red Storm, its wins at Marquette and Creighton offset by losses at home to DePaul, Georgetown, and now Providence. When prompted to address the inconsistency, Mullin was initially unable to put his finger on why the clear disparity was there.

"I have to look at each game individually, but yeah, the last two road games, we played really well and our last two home games, we haven't," he said. "I'm not quite sure if the building had a huge effect. It's how we played. It's a tough one to figure out. I don't know."

Clark, however, as has always been the case, was more succinct in explaining what was needed to right the ship, regardless of where it steers.

"We've got to string something together," he opined, "or we're just going to be just another talented St. John's team."