In the 40 days between St. John’s 18-point loss to Creighton and its showdown with lowly DePaul on Saturday, the Red Storm made believers out of everyone.
In 40 minutes Saturday night, it all came crashing down.
The six-game winning streak, the upsets of Villanova and UConn, beating Xavier for the first time in six years, the emergence of bona fide stars in Julian Champagnie and Posh Alexander, the prediction of cleaning up at the Big East postseason awards, all a heartbreaking footnote of a likely lost season.
On the bubble and in firm control of their own destiny, the Johnnies laid an egg at home Saturday, getting outplayed and out-toughed by the perennial basement-dwelling Blue Demons. DePaul not only downed the Red Storm, 88-83; it shot 63 percent from the field, it outscored St. John’s laughably in the paint, 58-18, and off the bench, 49-32.
The Red Storm shot just 33.8 percent from the field. It attempted 33 3-pointers and made just 12. Champagnie filled it up with 29 points, but was just 9-of-22 from the field. Alexander was uncharacteristically quiet, finishing with five points on 2-of-9 shooting. Fifth-year senior Rasheem Dunn, who has been so instrumental to the Johnnies’ recent success, had his worst game in a St. John’s uniform, scoring seven points on an ugly 1-of-10 shooting and committing six turnovers in the loss. Greg Williams, Jr. is still injured, he scored just three points, and Marcellus Earlington, who put up 16 points and nine rebounds to help down Xavier on Tuesday, was scoreless.
DePaul senior guard Charlie Moore returned from injury and came off the bench to score 24 points, grab six rebounds and notch eight assists. Moore is a nice player with a lot of experience, but what he was able to accomplish against the normally-stout defense of Alexander and Dunn is inexcusable.
“We always talk about our defense and how our defense has come along,” St. John’s coach Mike Anderson said after the loss. “But I thought tonight, our defense was nonexistent, and not like we have been playing.”
Now St. John’s has the unenviable task of traveling to play No. 10 Villanova on Tuesday. The Wildcats haven’t forgotten their loss to the Red Storm on February 3, and can smell blood in the water.
“It’s upsetting, but we’re not going to lay down,” Champagnie said. “We have to battle, and that’s it. You’ve got to move on. Next game, we play Villanova on the road, which we have to win now, regardless. We are not going to sit here and cry about it.”
The sophomore is saying the right things, but executing those sentiments is a completely different issue. St. John’s has shown the ability to bounce back after a tough loss, like it did in defeating Xavier a week after falling to Butler, but this type of loss in this stage of the season is more likely to take the wind out of a team’s sails than it is to springboard it.
The silver lining is that St. John’s only fell eight spots to 76 in the NET rankings, while DePaul moved up enough to qualify the loss as Quad 3 instead of Quad 4. There’s still a pulse, albeit a faint one. Maybe the Red Storm upsets Villanova a second time, then handles Providence and Seton Hall, makes a little noise in the Big East Tournament and gets some help from outside teams. Maybe the Johnnies win the conference tournament outright. Stranger things have happened.
But more than likely, St. John’s target now falls to the NIT. Postseason experience is good. Dunn is the only contributor that’s set to graduate, Champagnie should return as a junior next year looking to impress NBA scouts, and Alexander figures to take another step in his second year. The rest of the supporting cast probably returns. Year three of a coach’s tenure is usually the bench mark for its trajectory, and 2021-22 will surely be an NCAA Tournament or bust mindset for the Red Storm.
But man, what could’ve been.
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