WASHINGTON — New Big East, same intense rivalry.
When St. John’s and Georgetown meet for the 100th time Saturday afternoon in the nation’s capital, emotions figure to be running high, if history is any indication.
Sir’Dominic Pointer of St. John’s has friends on Georgetown, including forward Aaron Bowen, a former high school teammate, yet when the versatile swingman takes the floor, he will have the mindset the Hoyas have stolen his lunch money.
“We don’t like them at all,” said Pointer, who initially used the word “hate” to describe his feelings before toning it down. “It’s got to be hereditary. From the first game, I got players on their team who I played with a long time, from high school.
“It’s a rivalry game. As soon as they went to Georgetown, it’s like during the game, ‘I got no love for you.’ … They put our players on the floor; we put their players on the floor. It’s going to continue to happen. It’s no love lost.”
Indeed, there was a minor postgame scuffle during last year’s matchup at the Verizon Center in Washington. Adding to the rivalry from the St. John’s (9-4, 0-1 Big East) perspective, this current crop of Johnnies has never defeated Georgetown in four tries, losing in double figures in each contest. The Red Storm were drubbed in a pair of meetings last year, including a lopsided 67-51 loss at the Garden that now-junior guard Phil Greene described as “embarrassing.” St. John’s, furthermore, hasn’t won at the Verizon Center since 2003, and the Red Storm are desperate to avoid an 0-2 start in the Big East after Tuesday’s 70-60 loss to Xavier in Cincinnati to start conference play.
“As a junior, I want to beat them — bad,” Pointer said. “That’s one of the teams we haven’t beaten. We’re going to go in there play hard, hopefully we come out with the ‘W.’
“We got to be consistent. We got to come out and play the whole game. That’s been our problem this year. We have to keep working until we get it right.”
St. John’s leads the head-to-head series, 53-46, but the Hoyas own a recent 12-4 record.
St. John’s could certainly use a trademark victory. The Storm have dropped four of their five games against major-conference foes, the only win coming against the ACC’s Georgia Tech. St. John’s coach Steve Lavin is more focused on his team improving its play than adding to its resume, however.
“We just need to improve and then the marquee wins will take care [of themselves],” he said.
He was pleased with St. John’s first half against Xavier, but extremely disappointed with its defense after halftime, allowing the Musketeers to shoot 56 percent, the highest shooting percentage St. John’s has allowed in a half all season. The Red Storm’s shot selection was also poor, as too many players attempted to shoot over or dribble through multiple defenders, rather than display patience and make the extra pass. That was a point of emphasis in practice the last two days.
“If you’re in a crowd, pass out of a crowd. If there’s one person guarding you, go to work,” Greene said. “It’s simple.”
Lavin is still trying to get a feel for his deep and versatile roster, which players work best together and the optimal combinations, which he has said likely would be an ongoing process through February. He went with his seventh different starting lineup against Xavier, inserting bruising redshirt senior forward God’sgift Achiuwa to defend Musketeers big man Matt Stainbrook. There is a chance Lavin goes with the same five at the tip against Georgetown (11-3, 1-0), matching Achiuwa against Hoyas wide-body Josh Smith.
“Every week something reveals itself, in terms of an area that we need to take advantage of or an area we need to improve upon,” Lavin said. “We’re definitely still learning about the team. It’s also a team that’s still growing. They’re learning about one another.”