The NCAA Tournament invitation for St. John’s is in the mail. Barring a collapse of four straight losses before Selection Sunday, it won’t get lost.
When the four-year drought is officially over and the bracket is set, Marvin Clark II said he knows which game film the Red Storm’s initial opponent will pull up first.
“We tip our hat off to Ed Cooley and Providence, they showed the recipe, which is slow the game down,” said Clark, referring to the Red Storm’s two double-digit losses to the Friars, their only sub-60-point efforts so far this season. “We have to figure out how to beat that, and that’s a challenge I’m excited for. … “Once it gets to tournament time … defenses are better, games are definitely gonna slow down, but we’re at our best when we’re wreaking havoc and getting out. Regardless of who we’re playing, we gotta make sure that we dictate the tempo and we dictate how we want to play.”
St. John’s (20-8, 8-7) will get much-needed preparation against an unfavorable style with a pair of games against Xavier (15-13, 7-8) over the next nine days, beginning Thursday with the sold-out regular-season home finale at Carnesecca Arena.
While the Red Storm’s athletic roster boasts the nation’s 42nd-fastest adjusted tempo (according to kenpom.com), Xavier plods along at the 300th-fastest.
“If we’re playing fast, gang-rebounding, getting our in transition, we’re gonna be fine,” Clark said. “But if it turns into a slow, methodical game, like Providence, like DePaul, we’re gonna have to see.”
In those upset losses, as well as in a split with Georgetown, the Johnnies’ undersized front line was dominated inside, allowing an average of 13 offensive rebounds.
DePaul’s frontcourt of Femi Olujobi and Paul Reed combined for 45 points and 18 rebounds in the Red Storm’s only loss in Queens. Center Nate Watson averaged 19.5 points, as Providence outrebounded St. John’s by a total of 29 in winning twice by a combined 33 points.
Georgetown’s Jessie Govan averaged 22.5 points and 9.5 rebounds, and the Hoyas pulled an average of 11 more boards per game.
Xavier, which is riding a four-game win streak and has won seven straight over St. John’s, is constructed to cause similar problems. The Musketeers have 6-foot-11 Zach Hankins and 6-9 Tyrique Jones, two of the Big East’s top-five leaders in field-goal percentage.
But a weakness doesn’t have to be an Achilles’ heel.
“Put your [imprint] on the game from the jump ball on, being physical, matching the physicality, and then playing our basketball game,” St. John’s head coach Chris Mullin said. “It’s important to front the post. I think we gotta get over the backs. I think we gotta take charges. That’s part of our makeup. That’s how we have to play defensively. When we do that we’re really, really good and get out in the open floor. … When we don’t , we let the physicality bury us under the basket, we give up free throws and fouls and all that, … then it becomes the other team’s game.”
Mustapha Heron remains day-to-day with right knee tendinitis. The Red Storm’s second-leading scorer didn’t practice Wednesday and is considered a game-time decision after missing two of the past five games.
