St. John's turns attention to Orange zone
St. John's Justin Burrell, center, protects the ball from Syracuse's Rick Jackson, right, and James Southerland during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game. (Jan. 12, 2011) Credit: AP
St. John's nine seniors have one major bit of unfinished Big East business left on what amounts to their college "bucket list."
Beat Syracuse.
They haven't done it in four seasons, but they get one last shot at 2 p.m. Thursdayin the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden. They narrowly escaped the second round with a 65-63 win over Rutgers, but the No. 17 Red Storm (21-10) now owns an 8-1 mark this season at the Garden.
The one blemish? A 76-59 loss to the No. 11 Orange (25-6) on Jan. 12. That was the game where Syracuse students wore T-shirts proclaiming their school as "New York's college team."
More than a few St. John's players took umbrage at that insult. "We feel like we're the team in New York City," Justin Brownlee said. "People say they are, and we feel like we have a lot to prove. They beat us pretty bad. That's the only loss we had in the Garden. My teammates and myself are happy we're playing Syracuse. We haven't beaten them since we've been here. So, we feel like we've got some payback."
St. John's defeated ranked teams from Notre Dame, Georgetown, Duke, Connecticut and Pittsburgh at the Garden, but they couldn't solve Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim's troublesome 2-3 zone defense. In recent games, they also struggled against Seton Hall's zone in a loss, and Rutgers abandoned its usual man-to-man to go 2-3 zone against the Red Storm Wednesday.
The Scarlet Knight succeeded in controlling Dwight Hardy and making him take tough shots, but St. John's showed it could get the ball inside during the second half to Brownlee, Sean Evans and D.J. Kennedy, and that was the key to the win.
Forward Justin Burrell, who won the Big East Sixth Man award, was limited to 13 minutes against Rutgers because of a stiff back. He was feeling much better after the game, but Evans did a great job in his place with 13 points and nine rebounds.
Although it helped to see Rutgers' 2-3 zone, Evans emphasized it's no comparison to Syracuse's zone. "Their zone is one of the best in America," Evans said. "We're going to have to find little cracks to come out with a win. It's going to be intense. They're really long, and we're going to have to get out in transition and get easy buckets. It will be a good game and, I think, a fun game to watch."
