Chris Mullin isn’t accustomed to losing. But with an inexperienced team playing its first Big East game since he became the head coach at St. John’s, he know it’s going to come with the territory.
The process of rebuilding the program he took to the Final Four as a player continued Thursday with an 80-70 loss to Creighton in front of a crowd of 4,633 at Carnesecca Arena.
It was the Red Storm’s fourth straight loss.
“Seeing the improvements guys are making and also handling the losing, that’s a tough balance,” Mullin said after his team fell to 7-7, 0-1 in the conference. “It doesn’t matter who’s playing, who’s hurt … you want to win that night.”
The Johnnies had their chances, trailing by just four at the half following a late 8-0 run and then cutting the Bluejays lead to 42-39 with a 3-pointer by Durand Johnson and a dunk by Yankuba Sima early in the second.
But Sima was called for a technical after he hung on the rim, and the Johnnies never got that close again.
“We had all the momentum, we just couldn’t get over the hump,” said Johnson, who had 14 points in the defeat. “We’ve got to keep moving forward. The energy was there. The confidence was there.”
Creighton head coach Greg McDermott agreed.
“You can point to the win against Syracuse,” McDermott said of St. John’s shocking victory in early December. “Obviously, with inexperience comes inconsistency.”
That was on display during the first half, when St. John’s fell behind by 11 and then during an 8-0 run by Creighton (10-4, 1-0) that put the game away.
Seven-footer Geoffrey Groselle led the Bluejays with 22 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the floor and has missed just two of his 27 attempts over his past three games.
Mullin thought his team wore down in the second half and blamed it on some players coming back from injury.
Arguably St. John’s best performer Thursday was Malik Ellison, who scored 13 of his team-high 17 after the break.
Ellison said Mullin has told him to attack the basket more, which he did throughout the game.
“This game was more important than any other game this season,” Ellison said of the Big East opener. “We fought hard.”
Things won’t get easier for the Red Storm, who visit Providence on Saturday followed by a home game against Xavier. Both teams are ranked.
For now, though, Mullin is focusing on his own team and liked some of what he saw.
“We had 12 turnovers,” Mullin said. “Two weeks ago, that would have been hard for us to do. All these things, in the long-term, are going to be very beneficial. In the moment, it’s not enjoyable.”
It might take a while for the enjoyment to start again in Queens.
Mullin declined to comment on the possibility of point guard Marcus LoVett, Jr. missing the entire season, as The Post’s Zach Braziller reported.
“I have no idea,” Mullin said when asked about the status of LoVett, who was ruled a partial qualifier by the NCAA and who had been appealing to get on the court this season.
LoVett was not with the team Thursday.