Out of desperation, St. John’s may have found its identity.
Trailing ACC also-ran Georgia Tech big and lacking energy and emotion, Steve Lavin resorted to full-court pressure.
From then, the Red Storm team many pegged as an NCAA Tournament contender and a possible sleeper in the Big East, emerged.
The move woke them up from their slumber, and paved the way to Saturday afternoon’s much-needed 69-58, come-from-behind win over Georgia Tech in the Barclays Center consolation game. St. John’s first victory over a major conference foe in three tries came less than 24 hours after its heartbreaking overtime loss to Penn State.
“That’s what we are looking for,” junior guard D’Angelo Harrison said. “We got to make it happen if we are trying to beat the Creightons and the Villanovas, the Marquettes, so we have a lot of work to do.”
The pressure sped up the game, turning it into a frenetic end-to-end track meet — which best fits St. John’s and its array of high-flying athletes. Suddenly, instead of going through the motions and settling for jump shots, the Johnnies were attacking — attacking on defense, attacking the rim on offense, attacking all 94 feet of the court.
“Today was about aggression,” Lavin said. “It was a bounce back win for our team and there was aggression on display on both ends of the floor.
“I thought the kids played with a purpose in the second half. It was a cohesive bunch. These last two games were really good for us. Our team grew up a bit. We took a baby step in our development.”
St. John’s ended the first half on a 12-6 run and exploded for a 23-5 spurt across an eight-minute block of the second half, turning a 12-point deficit into a six-point lead, drastically changing the narrative entering a week off before next Saturday’s meeting with Fordham at the Garden.
Harrison kept St. John’s (5-2) within striking distance in the first half, scoring 12 of his team-high 21 points, and JaKarr Sampson made sure St. John’s wouldn’t remain winless against major conference opponents in the second half, pouring in all 16 of his points.
He was a major factor after halftime, pep talks from Lavin and Harrison serving as motivation. He made his first shot, a jumper that hit each part of the rim before dropping, then used his gifts in space for an assortment of dunks and acrobatic layups.
“It energized me, I like seeing the ball go in the hoop when I shoot it,” Sampson said, cracking his trademark smile. “That’s for any scorer who’s struggling, the first shot is always big, always gets you going.”
Sir’Dominic Pointer had nine points and five steals off the bench and Chris Obekpa added six blocks, each adding to the Johnnies’ turnaround in different ways.
More than any individual performance, though, Lavin’s decision to pick up full court late in the first half awoke his sleeping team.
“For us, the press adds that dimension of scoring flurries, to be able to put points in bunches, and we have seen that result to our defense,” Lavin said.
In fact, it may soon become the Red Storm’s calling card.