St. John’s coach Norm Roberts has maintained adamantly he will not give up on his team. And for the first third of the season, the Red Storm fans stuck with him.
That all changed yesterday.
St. John’s fans booed their own in a 60-54 loss to DePaul in Carnesecca Arena.
They booed and then they left in the final seconds after watching St. John’s blow a nine-point second half lead. Some of those fans won’t be back this season. It’s hard to stick with a team that is 7-8, (1-3 Big East), and isn’t easy on the eyes.
“They can’t shoot,” said one veteran Big East expert who was at the game. “They play hard, but they don’t play together.
“Justin Burrell is going to be a terrific player in this league, but he can’t do it alone,” added the expert. “[Anthony] Mason [Jr.] is an action guy, but they don’t play an up-and-down game. He dribbles too much. Next year they’ll be pretty good. But right now they’re going to struggle.”
St. John’s officially became the Struggling Storm midway through the second half. They had pushed a 24-21 lead to 30-21 and still had a 41-35 lead with 9:13 left when DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright called a timeout.
What in the world did he say to his Blue Demons (7-8, 3-1)?
“I wish I could tell you it was Xs and Os,” said Wainwright. “I saw Dr. Phil visited Britney and I asked for the transcript. I’m not reading any more coaching books. . . . All I asked them to do was concentrate on the moment.”
Which St. John’s failed to do. DePaul, accustomed to playing tough competition on the road (at Creighton, Kansas and versus Mississippi and Clemson in Puerto Rico), busted St. John’s for a 16-0 spurt.
Roberts used a timeout when the deficit hit 47-41 and the fans began grumbling. He burned a second timeout when DePaul’s lead hit 51-41 with 4:43 left.
That’s when the booing hit a crescendo.
“It’s New York City, New York people aren’t patient people don’t want to be patient,” said Roberts. “And that’s fine.
“They’re trying, they’re trying hard to do the right things. Sometimes they press a little, freshmen. But even our older guys pressed today and they made some mistakes.”
That might have been the toughest part of the loss. It was the upperclassmen that made the bad plays, not the freshmen.
Eugene Lawrence, coming off a one-assist, four-turnover performance in Tuesday’s loss at Connecticut, had seven assists and five turnovers, and spent the final 2:50 on the bench. Mason was 0-for-4 on 3-pointers including a ridiculously bad attempt with 42 seconds left, and had five turnovers.
So now the Red Storm is one-half game ahead of Rutgers (0-3) for last place in the Big East. The last four teams fail to qualify for the league tournament in March.
St. John’s is digging a hole so deep an EMS worker might not be able to haul them out. And the fans are on the verge of taking the last step from booing to apathy.
“I don’t play basketball for the fans,” said Lawrence. “I play for St. John’s.”
These days that’s nothing to cheer about.
DePaul 60 St. John’s 54