St. John’s has gotten off to a terrific start in Big East play. But it might be a little early to start talking smack — especially with the brutal schedule confronting the Johnnies.
Yet smack it was earlier this week. Little smack, but smack nonetheless.
The Red Storm (10-4 overall, 3-1 in the league) are embracing tonight’s showdown at the Garden against fourth-ranked Syracuse (16-0, 3-0), a team that has owned St. John’s.
“They’re from upstate and we’re from the city,” said guard Dwight Hardy of The Bronx.
“They’re undefeated right now, and it would feel good to give them their first loss of the season and get one-up on them.”
Certainly no one thought a 4-1 start in league play was feasible for St. John’s. The schedule seemed too daunting. But the road wins at West Virginia and Providence and an upset of Georgetown in the Garden have put the Johnnies in an unfamiliar spot.
They can be a factor in the league in January with a win over the Orange. It would be a terrific win for St. John’s, which has seen its homecourt advantage in the Garden fade.
A local ticket broker told The Post more than 13,000 tickets have been sold for tonight’s game.
Teams such as Connecticut, Syracuse and Duke have brought their fans to Madison Square Garden and left St. John’s feeling like the minority owners.
Red Storm coach Steve Lavin said he is looking to change that.
“I think it’s a game clearly similar to the Georgetown game,” Lavin said. “The energy that we anticipate in the Garden will be at a high level.
“It’s not a game that you really have to get your kids hyped up for. They understand.
They’ve been in this league and they know that we’re facing an undefeated Syracuse team and one of the top programs in the country currently ranked in the top 5 on our home court.”
St. John’s has dropped four consecutive games to Syracuse and also has lost 10 of 11 to the Orange.
The Orange, with its 2-3 defense, has harassed the Red Storm, which have been one of the league’s worst outside shooting teams.
St. John’s, coming off a 76-61 loss at Notre Dame, is tied for 12th in the league in 3-point shooting (30.8 percent), and they will have to do better than that against the Syracuse zone.
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Hardy is expected to start at the point ahead of Malik Boothe, who still is nursing a hamstring injury. Boothe played against Notre Dame.