INDIANAPOLIS — To most visitors, Hinkle Fieldhouse is a storied building and basketball royalty, the sixth-oldest college basketball arena still in use.
Nevertheless, it’s a house of horrors for St. John’s, which has lost by at least 20 points at “Indiana’s Basketball Cathedral” four straight years.
“Just the atmosphere, the crowd is always involved in the game,” junior star Shamorie Ponds said in a phone interview, explaining why St. John’s has struggled there so much. “It’s definitely a tough place to play.”
It won’t be easy Saturday. The 9,100-seat Hinkle Fieldhouse will be sold out, and improving Butler is coming off an 87-69 throttling of improved DePaul following two one-point losses on the road.
St. John’s (15-3, 3-3 Big East) has handled the Bulldogs (11-7, 2-3) well in Queens, beating them each of the past two seasons at Carnesecca Arena. But Hinkle Fieldhouse has been something else entirely. Last year’s lopsided loss was a low point of the season, a 70-45 thrashing that dropped St. John’s to 0-10 in Big East play. Ponds failed to sink a single field goal, going 0-for-12, thoroughly outplayed by Butler’s Kamar Baldwin.
“That definitely adds fuel to the fire. It’s definitely motivation,” said Ponds, an All-American candidate from Brooklyn. “They always put it on us. We’re going to try to return the favor.”
It was after that performance that Ponds began to find himself, aided by some late-night gym sessions with coach Chris Mullin. He followed that up with five straight games of at least 26 points and engineered upsets of Villanova and Duke.
After flirting with the NBA, Ponds returned to school and has St. John’s in position to return to the NCAA Tournament. He is leading the Big East in assists (5.9) and steals (2.6) while averaging 20.6 points per game and shooting 49.4 percent from the field. After missing one game with a lower back strain that still isn’t 100 percent but is improving, Ponds returned to lead an 81-66 victory over Creighton on Wednesday, as the Johnnies snapped a two-game losing streak.
All eyes will be on the matchup between Ponds and Baldwin, two skilled 6-foot-1 guards and leading scorers of their respective teams going at each other. Ponds’ mindset is simple.
“Be aggressive, get my teammates involved,” he said. “Just try to go out there and get the win.”
Just two weeks ago, Ponds exploded for 37 points, six assists and four steals in an overtime win at Georgetown that snapped a 13-game road losing streak to the Hoyas. Now he’s being counted on to end another ugly streak away from home.
“We never got a win there. It’s definitely a big game,” Ponds said. “It would show a lot about our team, because it’s hard to win there.”
