St. John's feeling plenty of urgency as it prepares for No. 1 UConn
Even in the first days of a college basketball season, we hear coaches talking about wanting their teams to play with a '‘sense of urgency.’' They throw the phrase around because they want to coax a level of effort that accompanies desperation, even though there is nothing desperate about an early November game.
There is no coaxing required anymore for St. John’s as it enters the second half of the Big East schedule with Saturday’s noon matchup against defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Connecticut at a sold-out Madison Square Garden.
Feelings of desperation have been creeping up on the Red Storm (13-8, 5-5) as the big opportunities keep getting away from them and the losses — four in the past five games — pile up.
The four-point loss to the Huskies (19-2, 9-1) was a head-shaking disappointment for them. But in the last few weeks, there were one-point losses to nationally ranked foes Creighton and Marquette. On Wednesday, St. John's had a chance at back-to-back wins for the first time since early January, shook off a poor start and tied the score twice in the final four minutes before folding late at Xavier.
When asked on Friday if the Red Storm players are starting to feel anxiety about not winning these close ones, Daniss Jenkins replied, "Yeah . . . that’s exactly right.”
In describing a conversation the night before with Joel Soriano and Glenn Taylor, Jenkins said, “We keep being on the [wrong] end of them — now it has to be our turn. We have to stand up and seal the win . . . make the key play.
“It’s like, ‘we're in the game, but we don't want to win’ — that’s kind of how it was in the beginning. Now we’re like, ‘we have to stand up and want to win’ — just have the will to win. That's what UConn has [had] the whole season. Their will to win is just unbelievable.”
As if the closeness of their first meeting, the Huskies' No. 1 ranking and the Red Storm’s quest for a signature win didn’t give the meeting enough intrigue, there is the seeming conflict that boiled up in late December when Rick Pitino suggested that St. John’s would host UConn next season at Carnesecca Arena instead of the Garden. That likely was sparked by some issue with Huskies coach Dan Hurley from the first meeting, but Pitino said the idea was to have the Huskies in to honor the 100th birthday of St. John’s coaching legend Lou Carnesecca.
“I wanted to play them [for] Louie’s 100th,” Pitino said. “They immediately called the Big East office and protested, so I guess they don't want to do that. I was paying them the ultimate compliment.”
There are rematches ahead with Creighton at the Garden and Marquette on the road as well as chances to open some eyes against the other teams in the conference’s mid-pack logjam. But a win over UConn would be the fastest and surest way for St. John’s to distinguish itself in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
The Huskies also may be the toughest game in St. John’s path. Donovan Clingan, the 7-2 starting center who missed the teams’ first meeting, has returned and Pitino said what had been a “good” team is now “great.” He added that this UConn team compares favorably with the one his Iona team lost to in the NCAA Tournament first round last season en route to the Huskies' championship.
“We have to play the best game of the season to beat a team like them because this team does not have a weakness,” Pitino said. “They have size, they play great defense and they have a great bench. I would venture to say when they are 100% now . . . I’m not sure they aren’t better than that team.
“We will have to play a lot better than we have all season.”
The Red Storm enter this game with 10 conference games and the Big East Tournament remaining before Selection Sunday. The other thing they go in with is a real sense of urgency.
As Soriano said, “We have been having a sense of urgency for the whole season. There is a little bit more meaning to it now because we have been losing some games . . . Our backs are kind of plastered against the wall. We’ve got to finish out the season strong if we are going to make the NCAA Tournament.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
