February is known as the shortest month of the year, but St. John’s hopes it also proves to be the month it lives up to expectations.
“I’ve been pretty consistent that this would be a team that would probably hit its stride in February,” coach Steve Lavin said in advance of Thursday night’s showdown against Seton Hall (11-7, 2-3) at Carnesecca Arena.
It had better be if St. John’s is going to come anywhere close to reaching its lofty preseason hopes. Entering the final third of January, the Johnnies are still in search of their first Big East victory, and they are looking to improve their record against major conference opponents from the current unsightly 1-8 mark and to settle their late-game woes.
St. John’s (10-8, 0-5) feels Saturday’s win over Ivy League bottom-feeder Dartmouth is the start of a turnaround. Lavin has seen “dramatic” improvement since an ugly loss at Georgetown Jan. 4, despite the three disappointing league losses that have followed. Lavin said he isn’t concerned about the Red Storm’s underwhelming record, harping on making incremental progress, which he feels the team has done.
“I wish we were 4-1 or 3-2 and we’re not. We’re 0-5,” Lavin said. “But if you follow the team, it’s pretty clear that since the Georgetown game, we’ve been really competitive and done some good things.”
Leading scorer D’Angelo Harrison said he believes the cellar-dwelling Red Storm are on the doorstep of a turnaround, a notion repeated often over the last month.
“We got a win, so we have some momentum. We get this game, we’re going to be headed in the right direction,” Harrison said. “We’ve lost three games by a combined total of [10] points. We make a couple more shots, get a couple more stops, it’s a different kind of season for us. We wouldn’t be having this conversation today.”
Harrison said there have been multiple team meetings to address the Johnnies’ issues. The latest one came after the most recent Big East loss, a double-overtime setback against Providence in which St. John’s had opportunities to win at the end of regulation and in both overtimes.
The message was: “You got to play hard for the man next to you, period,” Harrison said. “ … Always, no matter what.
“We’re hungry for a win and we’ve got to get one. It’s time for us to put it together.”