St. John's routed by Syracuse, 95-70
D'Angelo Harrison of the St. John's Red Storm reacts during their game against Syracuse Orange at Madison Square Garden in New York. (Feb. 04, 2012) Credit: Jim McIsaac
If there is one consolation St. John's can take from a season in which it has gone 0-for-9 against ranked teams, it's that its five freshmen are learning from the best.
The Red Storm's 95-70 loss to No. 2 Syracuse Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden was the team's worst of the season in terms of margin of defeat and points allowed, surpassing a 22-point loss at No. 1 Kentucky and the 83 points allowed to ranked foes Connecticut, Marquette and Duke.
But freshman D'Angelo Harrison, who led the Red Storm (10-13, 4-7 Big East) with 23 points and five assists, got it right when he said, "We showed we weren't scared. We played hard . . . We fight. We don't worry about the score when we're down."
Harrison couldn't make that argument after the Dec. 1 loss in Lexington, where St. John's was tentative and looked afraid to attack the basket in a game in which the Wildcats blocked 18 shots. But even when Syracuse (23-1, 10-1) was running the floor and bringing the Orange half of a crowd of 19,979 to their feet with 11 spectacular dunks, the Red Storm kept fighting back.
But it was a simple case of numbers. St. John's seven-man rotation was overwhelmed by a Syracuse rotation that went 10 deep in the first half even before Jim Boeheim, who tied North Carolina's Dean Smith for third on the all-time list with his 879th victory, cleared his bench at the end.
Seven-foot center Fab Melo returned from a three-game hiatus for academic reasons to score a career-high 14 points, a number that was matched by reserves Dion Waiters and C.J. Fair. All-American candidate Kris Joseph had 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists in what Boeheim described as "his most active game of the year."
But the player of the game might have been 6-7 freshman guard Michael Carter-Williams, a former McDonald's All-American who hit double figures for the first time this season with 13 points and shot 5-for-6, including three three-pointers. His most memorable shot was a powerful dunk he threw down over St. John's Sir'Dominic Pointer moments before Waiters scored on a fast-break dunk for a 70-46 lead that had Orange fans roaring.
"I try to tell him every day that he's playing behind one of the best backcourts in the country -- Brandon Triche and Scoop Jardine. And Dion Waiters is pretty good," Boeheim understated. "Michael is a good player, but I haven't figured out how to play four guards."
Such are the problems of college basketball's elite. Syracuse limited Red Storm leading scorers Harrison and Moe Harkless to 13 first-half points. When the Orange opened the second half with an 18-4 run for a 59-31 lead, the game was over.
Harkless managed 15 points and eight rebounds and Phil Greene chipped in 14 points. But only five Storm players scored, and they were pounded 42-31 on the boards, leading to a 52-20 Syracuse advantage in the paint and a 24-11 margin in second-chance points.
"We had a couple guys who didn't play up to what they normally do," St. John's assistant Mike Dunlap said. "We're depending on our guys to get their numbers, and when they don't, it makes it hard to win. As they go through this, it's going to be an incredible experience. Syracuse exposed us, but long-term, they've helped us by showing us our weaknesses."
