On paper, the game didn’t mean anything for St. John’s, and the Red Storm played like it.
Their Big East Tournament seed (eighth) was already set, and while a victory over Providence would’ve given Chris Mullin’s team an eighth conference victory after winning just one all of last season, that didn’t seem like nearly enough motivation.
The Johnnies came out flat, unorganized, and never recovered in their worst home performance of the league season, falling to the Friars, 86-75, at the Garden on Saturday afternoon. Making matters worse, a large contingent of Providence fans made their presence felt, as “Let’s go Friars” chants could be heard throughout the arena on several occasions.
“We kept waiting and waiting for something to happen, someone to step up,” Mullin said. “No energy, no pop. It looked like we were sleep-walking. I got to do a better job. … It was pretty brutal.”
St. John’s (13-18, 7-11 Big East) will open the Big East Tournament Wednesday night at 7 p.m. against ninth-seeded Georgetown.
It was an ugly end to the regular season for Mullin’s young team, which was hammered on the glass (43-35), couldn’t shoot straight (37 percent), and offered little resistance to Providence (20-11, 10-8) in the paint (42-34). St. John’s, which had just six assists on 23 made shots, trailed by 12 at halftime, by as many as 18 at one point, and never got closer than seven over the final 20 minutes.
“They just threw the first punch at us, and we couldn’t recover,” said freshman Shamorie Ponds, after scoring a career-high 29 points and adding seven rebounds. Ponds also broke the St. John’s freshman scoring record, his 547 points eclipsing D’Angelo Harrison’s mark of 544 set in 2011-12.
Junior wing Bashir Ahmed echoed Ponds, criticizing St. John’s effort, its lack of ball movement, and inability to beat Providence to loose balls.
“We didn’t play with enough energy,” he said. “We didn’t play hard enough.”
Ponds was one of the Johnnies to bring it. On his 21st birthday, Marcus LoVett struggled, committing more turnovers (four) than made field goals. The St. John’s frontline of Kassoum Yakwe, Tariq Owens, Amar Alibegovic and Darien Williams combined for just eight points and eight rebounds. Isaiah Jackson led Providence with 18 points off the bench, and Alpha Diallo and Jalen Lindsey added 17 apiece.
Mullin didn’t have an explanation for the no-show performance, clearly frustrated by his team’s inconsistent effort. He bristled at the suggestion St. John’s didn’t play well because it had nothing on the line, its spot in the Big East already set.
“You going to pick and choose when you play? Kidding me. Come and compete, no matter what. If we play this game on West 4th Street, go play, and play with passion and play with fun,” he said. “Maybe I’m oblivious to it, but I would hope not. I am out of touch, I’m not a phone guy, not an email guy, so I’m pretty out of touch. That might be the case.
“If it is,” Mullin added, “I won’t be sitting here much longer.”