WASHINGTON – There are few secrets in college basketball and almost none in conference play. Assistant coaches chat with fellow assistants. Beat reporters e-mail other teams’ beat reporters. Players text message each other.
This is the scuttlebutt on the St. John’s Red Storm: They play hard for Norm Roberts, much harder than they played for Mike Jarvis. They’re more organized, especially on out-of-bounds plays where the Red Storm actually run plays that work.
And the Red Storm can’t hit an outside shot if it means free tickets to the next Nas concert.
Which is why the Red Storm (7-8 overall, 1-4 in the Big East) can expect to see a lot more zone defenses over the remainder of the season, probably starting with tonight’s game at Georgetown (12-5, 4-2).
“I don’t think zones baffle us,” Roberts said after the team’s 79-73 loss to Boston College on Saturday night in Carnesecca Arena.
“We have to attack the paint. We have to attack the lane and try to make two people guard us and get an open shot.”
St. John’s had built a nine-point lead on the Eagles, who couldn’t match the Red Storm’s quickness and attacking style with a man defense. Guards Eugene Lawrence and Daryll Hill beat their men off the dribble and scored or dished to teammates for open looks.
BC coach Al Skinner had seen enough. Midway through the first half he moved the Eagles, one of three undefeated teams in the nation, into a 2-3 and then a 2-3 matchup zone. BC went on a 23-8 run to take charge.
“They came out with a lot of enthusiasm and we knew that they would,” said Skinner. “We had to slow them down. So we went to a zone defense, that helped slow them down a little bit. Our man-to-man wasn’t very effective.”
The zone was.
Pittsburgh’s switch to a zone helped the Panthers erase a 52-39 and take a 56-54 lead before St. John’s responded for a 65-62 triumph. Syracuse, which plays exclusively a 2-3 zone, handed St. John’s its worst conference loss, 79-65.
St. John’s is third-to-last in the Big East in 3-point shooting, making just 32 percent. Unlike last season, when the Red Storm truly did seem baffled by the zone, this team recognizes when a team no longer is in man coverage. Scoring against the zone is another matter.
“I think we attack it immediately,” said Roberts. “If you look at the tape, we got good shots. We just didn’t make them.”
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ST. JOHN’S at G’TOWN Tonight 7:30 – Metro; WQEW (1560 AM)
