Alumni Hall opened in 1961, and became known as Carnesecca Arena in 2004. The old building has seen a lot of basketball, some good and lately a lot more bad.
Never has it witnessed a night quite like this one from the home team from a defensive standpoint. St. John’s allowed four points shy of 100 — the most it has even given up here in regulation, a clear indication of the direction this once-promising season is headed.
“Our defense was terrible,” coach Mike Anderson said, after his Johnnies dropped their fourth straight, 96-85, to Marquette, falling to 1-4 in Big East play. It is now not only 0-5 in Quad 1 and 2 games, but not even in the top 100 of the NET rankings.
Defense is supposed to be this program’s calling card under Anderson, but it hasn’t stopped anyone since conference play began. After getting torched by Seton Hall on New Year’s Eve, Marquette erupted for 96 points on 53.2 percent shooting and piled up 25 points in transition. In the second half, it hit 7 of 12 3-point attempts and rung up 55 points.
St. John’s Red Storm guard Posh Alexander goes for a loose ball with Marquette Golden Eagles forward Olivier-Maxence on Tuesday night. Corey Sipkin“Right now, we have not become that defensive team I want us to be,” Anderson said. He added: “I thought we’d be a little further along [at this point], I really did. … Our defense is what’s hurting us right now.”
The night began in ominous fashion, with the school announcing point guard Andre Curbelo was unavailable for not adhering to team standards and the other point guard, Posh Alexander, was oddly not starting. Asked about Alexander coming off the bench, Anderson said he wanted to get a look at other players. Curbelo wasn’t on the bench, but he was spotted in the arena wearing a hooded sweatshirt.
“You have to adhere to team policies, that’s all,” Anderson said, declining further comment on the matter.
David Jones tried to attack the basket for St. John’s against Marquette on Tuesday night. Corey Sipkin Still, St. John’s outplayed Marquette for most of the first half, taking an eight-point lead into the break. But after the Golden Eagles adjusted at intermission, St. John’s didn’t have the needed response, which was also the case in recent ugly losses to Villanova and Seton Hall. This team has shown a concerning habit of being unable to take a punch. In this four-game losing streak, it has been on the short end of 17-2, 16-0, 22-8 and 16-2 runs.
“We don’t like to lose. I don’t think anybody in this world likes to lose,” Joel Soriano said. “Frustrating, very frustrating. I feel like we’re right there, we’re just trying to get over the hump.”
As has been the case all season, Soriano was St. John’s (11-5, 1-4) best player, producing a double-double of 22 points and 13 rebounds. Dylan Addae-Wusu added 21 points and five assists in a rare starting role, but did have three turnovers. Olivier-Maxence Prosper led Marquette with 29 points and Kam Jones had 16.
Marquette emerged out of the break a different team, ripping off a 16-2 run to take the lead. The Golden Eagles hit six of their first eight shots of the second half, including three 3-pointers, and suddenly a nine-point St. John’s lead was a seven-point deficit. Marquette (12-4, 4-1) scored 32 of the first 46 points in the second half and was dominant across the board. It led by 11 after a Prosper 3-pointer with 9:25 left.
St. John’s got as close as four with 3:14 to go, but it failed to get back following a David Jones (13 points) dunk, and Prosper converted a three-point play to push the lead back to seven. The game was never in jeopardy again.
“Our defense was not where it should be, especially in the second half. But the fast breaks — the fast breaks — that’s one of the things we really harped on, getting back on defense,” Anderson said. “Even right there, before the four-minute mark, we cut it to four, and all you gotta do is get a stop. And we were unable to.”
