Twice this season, St. John’s has suffered excruciating losses that rattled the program to its core. The Red Storm bounced back from the first crushing defeat, beating Rutgers after losing to Cincinnati.
Today at the Garden against an elite Louisville team still smarting from a blowout loss to Connecticut, the Red Storm face a much more daunting bounce-back game after an eyesore of a 91-81 loss Thursday at Seton Hall.
After a 71-60 loss to Cincinnati on Jan. 22 at Carnesecca Arena, swingman D.J. Kennedy, who had been ejected from the game early in the second half, took sole responsibility for the defeat.
Coach Norm Roberts lauded Kennedy as being a stud for being accountable. St. John’s bounced back to defeat Rutgers 70-59 at the Garden two days later.
It’s déjà vu all over again for the Johnnies.
The Red Storm (12-10, 3-7 Big East) spent Friday and yesterday trying to regroup from the slapping at the hands of Seton Hall.
Point guard Malik Boothe took the heat for that loss.
“All that is my fault,” Boothe said. “I didn’t get my team fully focused before the game started. As the leader of this team I’m supposed to do that and I didn’t get the job done.”
Roberts lauded Boothe for being a stud. Perhaps Boothe’s willingness to be accountable can motivate the Red Storm into a studly performance today against Louisville (17-4, 8-1). The No. 5 Cardinals use full-court pressure to force 16.7 turnovers, second best in the Big East, and nab a league-high nine steals per game.
And Louisville has plenty of motivation in its own right. The Cardinals had their nine-game win streak snapped in a 68-51 home loss to Connecticut on Monday. Future Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino has had six days to refocus the Cards.
Louisville has big plans for the NCAA Tournament. St. John’s is hoping to get into the NIT for its first postseason appearance since 2003.
Roberts was adamant that the loss at Seton Hall was not a setback, even though the Pirates scored the most points against the Red Storm since Niagara posted a 102-81 win in the third game of 2004-05, Roberts’ rookie season. Roberts also didn’t believe that the Seton Hall loss was all Boothe’s responsibility.
“He’s our point guard and he knows that he’s our leader out there on the floor,” said Roberts. “It’s not all on Malik. We didn’t execute as a team.”
