St. John’s coach Steve Lavin has used Madison Square Garden and the bright lights of Manhattan as one of his core selling points to prospective recruits. His current players are looking forward to playing at the Garden, too, but they have become very comfortable at cozy Carnesecca Arena also.
The Red Storm improved to a perfect 4-0 in Queens last night, taking care of South Carolina, 89-65, in the SEC-Big East Challenge in front of a large crowd, a majority of them donning black St. John’s T-shirts as part of the program’s organized “Blackout” event.
“We try to take care of our house,” sophomore guard D’Angelo Harrison said. “Coach Lav stresses winning our home games. We’re more comfortable here.”
It was an enjoyable evening for St. John’s supporters. With a rare size advantage, the Red Storm (5-2) controlled the paint, turned defensive rebounds into transition opportunities and registered their usual array of emphatic blocked shots and dunks. St. John’s shot over 56 percent from the field, had 19 assists and held South Carolina (5-2) to 36 percent shooting.
“St. John’s made us go away, and we went away before 40 minutes expired,” South Carolina coach Frank Martin said. “The stuff watching in person that was even more impressive than watching on tape was their willingness to make the extra pass.”
Harrison led four teammates in double figures with a game-high 26 points — the sixth time in seven games he has reached at least 20 points — and Phil Greene IV added 13 points and four assists. Amir Garrett notched a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds and new starter Felix Balamou continued his inspired play with eight points, three blocks, three assists and three rebounds.
“There were some stretches we played good basketball and naturally also some poor play, but I think the big picture is we’re making some progress,” Lavin said. “We’re trying to get them to be more of a buzzsaw, a buzzsaw that goes right through wood.”
Like most young teams, St. John’s is comfortable around the familiar surroundings of its own gym, which has been obvious thus far at Carnesecca Arena. Of the four wins, three have come by double figures and the other was a thrilling come-from-behind win over projected Horizon favorite Detroit in the season opener.
There likely will be an adjustment period for the Red Storm’s newcomers once they step on the Garden floor for the first time, against Fordham Dec. 8 as part of the Holiday Festival. Unfortunately for St. John’s, it has just four more games at Carnesecca, tomorrow against NJIT, followed by UNC-Asheville and Big East foes DePaul and South Florida.
* South Carolina reserve Brenton Williams was taken off on a stretcher midway through the second half after hitting his head on the court following a hard fall. He was taken to a nearby hospital with a neck injury and had movement and feeling in his extremities, Martin said. He was released from the hospital and traveled with the team last night.