St. John's renews local rivalry with Seton Hall
Photo credit: AP | Seton Hall guard Jordan Theodore, right, and teammate Herb Pope celebrate after beating Connecticut 75-63. (Jan. 3, 2012)
Certainly, no love will be lost between St. John's and Seton Hall in their Valentine's Day meeting Tuesday night at the Prudential Center, but with five freshmen starting and a junior college transfer completing the short rotation, the Red Storm's newcomers know little of the local rivalry. Coming off Sunday's loss at Georgetown, their eighth in the past 10 games, St. John's kids simply are trying to make something positive happen.
They got within three points of No. 10 Georgetown several times late in a 71-61 loss but couldn't get the timely scores and stops necessary to win. Still, assistant coach Mike Dunlap saw signs of improvement.
"Our guys played all the way through," said Dunlap, who is filling in while coach Steve Lavin follows his modified schedule after prostate cancer surgery. "We really took a step forward. We took good care of the ball, we got to the free- throw line and we played our style of basketball. When we got it down to one possession, we just couldn't level the score."
With the exception of recent blowout losses to No. 2 Syracuse and Cincinnati, St. John's (10-15, 4-9 Big East) has been extremely competitive despite the lack of depth and experience. Leading scorers D'Angelo Harrison (16.9 points) and Moe Harkless (16.0 points, 8.4 rebounds) lead Big East freshmen in scoring and rank third and fifth nationally.
They will face a Seton Hall team that is starting to play back to its form of a month ago, when it cracked the national rankings after a 4-1 start in Big East play. The Pirates (17-8, 6-7) proceeded to lose six straight, but they have won their past two, at Rutgers and home against Pittsburgh. No doubt, seniors Herb Pope (15.9 points, 10.5 rebounds) and Jordan Theodore (15.8 points, 6.7 assists) would like to record their third career wins over St. John's.
