ROSEMONT, Ill. — It’s getting late early.
The St. John’s season that began with NCAA Tournament aspirations has become a major disappointment more than halfway through the regular season.
Four Big East games, four losses. Eight games against major conference foes, seven losses.
Coach Steve Lavin has preached patience, saying he expects this team to jell by February. At this pace, it won’t matter.
The Red Storm’s struggles continued Tuesday night at the mostly empty Allstate Arena, as they lost to DePaul, 77-75, for the first time in nine meetings. It marked the first time the Blue Demons have won back-to-back Big East games since 2008.
“We haven’t gotten the results,” Lavin said, when asked if St. John’s has underachieved thus far. “For me, the disappointing part, we’d rather be 4-0 or 3-1 or 2-2 [in the Big East]. The results aren’t what we want them to be, so we have to go back and work.”
St. John’s (9-7, 0-4) will look for its first Big East win Thursday against Providence at Carnesecca Arena, where the Red Storm are a perfect 6-0.
The Johnnies seemed headed for a confidence-building victory, rallying from seven points down in the second half lead by four with 4:35 remaining after D’Angelo Harrison’s jumper.
But the Johnnies managed just a single point the rest of the way — a Rysheed Jordan free throw — missed their final five shots, four of them 3-point tries, and committed a turnover while DePaul closed on a 7-1 run. It mirrored their late-game issues against Syracuse and Villanova.
Cleveland Melvin’s basket in the lane with 2:19 remaining proved to be the game-winner.
“We got to make more shots, we missed a couple,” said Harrison, who scored 24 points and reported no lingering effects from the mild concussion he suffered on Saturday against Villanova. “I had a bad turnover, Rysheed had a turnover. We stopped them, we were up four, we were supposed to take advantage of the lead. We came up short.
“Of course we’re frustrated, but we’re a scrappy group. We’re going to regroup, get ready for Thursday. Got to have a short memory, get home, practice and be ready to perform Thursday.”
Jordan (16 points, six rebounds, four assists) missed a desperation half-court heave at the horn, but St. John’s had ample opportunities before that to get its first Big East win. Down a point following a timeout, Orlando Sanchez drew air on a 3-pointer from the left corner with 47 seconds left. After a stop at the other end, Jordan set up Max Hooper for a 3-pointer. It rimmed out with 2.5 seconds left.
“We would’ve preferred to get something in the paint or at the rim in a one-point game,” Lavin said.
St. John’s found itself down seven with 13:24 to go, after DePaul (10-8. 2-3) converted a Sir’Dominic Pointer Flagrant 1 foul for pushing down Billy Garrett Jr. into a five-point play. Pointer was pulled and never returned.
St. John’s eventually retook the lead, only to set up another maddening finish to what has been an infuriating start to the Big East Conference season.
“We have to figure out how to get a win,” Harrison said. “We didn’t do it tonight.”