Injured St. John’s forward Anthony Mason Jr. will miss tonight’s home game against Sacred Heart, but the Red Storm know they can’t afford to look past the woe-be-gone Pioneers and their 0-4 record.
“It’s a big deal because we’ve got to show people we’re a whole different team from last year,” said Malik Boothe, St. John’s freshman guard. “We have to come out and play harder than we ever did before to make a statement.
“We know we can’t take any team lightly no matter who they are. On any given day a team can play their best and knock you out.”
That would be asking a lot for the Pioneers from Bridgeport, who are going to run a lot of ball-screens, backdoors and such, but don’t have anywhere near the Red Storm’s athleticism. And no player has personified that more than sophomore guard Larry White.
With Mason missing the opening win over St. Francis of Brooklyn last week due to a high ankle sprain – he could return Sunday against Fairleigh Dickinson – White stepped up with 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting.
Unlike last season when he was settling for jumpers, White is using his athleticism and a 38-inch vertical to drive and wreck havoc on defense.
“If [Mason] plays or doesn’t play, Coach [Norm Roberts] looks for us to play hard,” said White, who averaged just 4.0 ppg last season. “He still wants us to do what we have to do. It’d be really good to have [Mason], but we can’t roll over and play dead.”
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Roberts dismissed reports that freshman Mike Cavataio is going to redshirt.
“That’s ridiculous people writing that stuff,” Roberts said. “That’s people who have no clue what they’re talking about. He’s going to play.”