Rarely has a team that won by 41 points been as disappointed in itself as the St. John’s Red Storm was after last Tuesday night’s 84-43 win at Stony Brook.
Bootsy Thorton described it as an awful performance. Erick Barkley stared into his locker with a look that could kill and answered questions with terse, one-word responses.
“We know if we don’t play better than we did against Stony Brook, we may not win another game,” Thornton told The Post yesterday after practice. “Basically, we have to do everything better.”
The Red Storm (2-1) gets their first chance to improve since the Stony Brook debacle tonight when they host Coppin State (0-5), which is in the midst of one of the most grueling road trips in recent college basketball history, playing 10 straight games away from Baltimore.
The Red Storm, however, aren’t concerned with the Eagles road trip. Their concern is wondering who put the lids over the baskets.
Thornton is shooting 36.8 percent from the field (14 of 38) and 17.6 percent (3 of 17) on 3 pointers. Those numbers look good in comparison to Barkley’s. After shooting so well in two exhibition games, Barkley has missed 39 of 53 field goal attempts and 20 of 22 threes. Lavor Postell, the team’s leading scorer at 16.7 points, has made 1 of 5 threes. Reggie Jessie is 1 of 6 from behind the arc.
“From a coaching standpoint, it’s good to have a block of time to go back to the drawing board and work on some things,” said St. John’s coach Mike Jarvis. “We’ve talked about some things in terms of executing and adjusting. Whether or not they’ve really learned, we’ll find out against Coppin State.”
Jarvis’ message to the Red Storm has been a simple one in theory: Don’t try to be something you’re not.
Thornton established himself as a premier scorer, not necessarily a pure shooter last season. So why has he hoisted up 22 threes? Barkley, who understandably wants to show NBA types that he has a jumper, must remember the strength of his game is as a distributor. The point guard has just as many turnovers (seven) as assists.
“Coach has done his job this week,” said Thornton, a Baltimore native who will be pumped up to play against Coppin State. “He told to me to concentrate on making a couple of layups first and then move outside. I’m a scorer, not just a shooter. When I settle for threes, I limit my game.”
It shouldn’t be much of a game tonight at Alumni Hall. The Eagles, who upset second-seeded South Carolina 78-65 in a first-round game of the 1997 NCAA Tournament, are trying to gain experience for their conference schedule, but Jarvis has warned his team that the Eagles have been giant killers in the past.
The goal for St. John’s is to get back to playing on offense as it did last season. Barkley must look to be a point guard first and a scoring option second. Thornton must look to be a scorer first and a shooter second. Postell, who has just three assists and nine turnovers, might consider giving up the ball on occasion.
“We’re not a patient team but we have to be patient,” said Thornton. “Me and Lavor are seniors and we want to make it happen now. But if we force the issue, other problems will develop. Now is the time to make things right.”