For power-conference teams such as St. John’s, the non-conference portion of a schedule is the equivalent of a thief casing his next heist.
What you learn, and how you prepare to overcome the pitfalls in a job, could mean the difference between success and failure.
After five games, St. John’s knows the easiest way to get busted. The Johnnies, who posted a predictable 65-53 win over a gritty Holy Cross team Wednesday night at Carnesecca Arena, must find a way to keep teams off the glass.
It was unsettling, but understandable, when the Johnnies got outrebounded, 41-20, by a towering Baylor team in the consolation game of the Charleston Classic. But it is alarming the Red Storm got out rebounded, 35-31, by a Holy Cross team filled with non-scholarship players.
“Lack of size would be my biggest concern,’’ St. John’s coach Steve Lavin said. “We have to win in a different way. We don’t have that [Shaquille O’Neal] or [Hakeem] Olajuwon. But what we do have is a number of players that have some nice length.’’
The Johnnies don’t have a dominating center waiting in the wings, but they could get some big-time help if 6-foot-9 post man Orlando Sanchez is cleared by the NCAA.
“Orlando Sanchez would help,’’ Lavin said jokingly. “If Orlando doesn’t end up joining the team, it’s going to be the same that it’s always been — boxing out, doing the drill work in practice every day, creating better basketball habits, communicating. When a shot goes up we need to get five players saying, ‘Shot!’ ”
Sanchez is the center that would give the Red Storm (3-2) the kind of physical body they don’t have. Christian Jones is a powerful player at 6-foot-7, 222 pounds, and Chris Obekpa, who was at it again last night with six more blocked shots (he has 23 in five games), is an athletic forward, but the Johnnies don’t come in bulk.
St. John’s still is awaiting word from the NCAA as to whether Sanchez, 24, will be cleared to play. This is not uncommon with foreign-born players. The NCAA needs to verify their age and that they did not receive an improper benefits prior to playing college ball.
With no guarantee the Red Storm will ever have Sanchez in the fold, whatever solutions must be found within.
“With our players, it doesn’t serve them well to get caught in a wrestling match with players on the box out,’’ Lavin said. “What they can do is check to impede progress and then use their bounce and quickness and length to go get the ball.
“If you have a player on your team that’s built like a brick house, like a DeJuan Blair, then it makes sense to have that player play the game like a pulling guard for the Packers and get into a wrestling match like a water buffalo. For our guys, the way they’re built, they need to get a low base.’’
The Red Storm, a little drained after playing three games in four days in Charleston and then facing Holy Cross the night before Thanksgiving, were sluggish in the first half. They trailed by as much as nine but rallied to tie it 30-30 at halftime.
Eventually the Red Storm’s superior athleticism won the night. They held Holy Cross (3-2) to 30-percent shooting in the second half and forced three shot-clock violations.
JaKarr Sampson scored a career-high 20 points on 10-of-15 shooting to go to along with seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and one blocked shot. D’Angelo Harrison added 17 and Phil Greene IV had 15 points. Holy Cross got 12 each from Dave Dudzinski and Justin Burrell.
“There was a sense of urgency,’’ said guard Felix Balamou, who played an active 22 minutes. “We’re supposed to win this game no matter how many games we played. This is our home court, we are supposed to protect it.’’
Now if only the Johnnies could learn to protect the glass.