Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
St. John’s may be without leading scorer D’Angelo Harrison tonight when it faces another must win in the Big East at DePaul.
“D’Angelo has a minor concussion and will be a game-time decision [Tuesday],” St. John’s coach Steve Lavin said, referring to the injury Harrison sustained in Saturday’s loss to Villanova. “The team doctors are comfortable with him traveling and will do more tests to determine if he will be cleared to play.”
Harrison is averaging a team-best 18.7 points per game for the Johnnies, who are 9-6, 0-3 in the Big East.
After losses at Xavier, at Georgetown and to Villanova, St. John’s has a chance to put some wins on the board with upcoming games at DePaul and then home to Providence and Seton Hall.
“I don’t look at this as a soft part of our schedule,” Lavin said. “I think we need to take advantage of having three of four at home. This is the Big East. It’s a great conference and each team has a very small margin of error. This year, other than Georgetown, we’ve been competitive in every game and our guys have continued to fight back and a degree of resilience. Naturally the objective is to improve and finish games with a win. ”
Lavin naturally downplayed any talk of a team-wide identity crisis and said the team is still finding its way.
“With a deep bench and our new pieces it has taken us time to gel,” he said. “At the end of the day we have depth and that is the plus side of the equation. One of the advantages of this group is that they’ve been tested and faced adversity both on and off the court. They have a resilience about them and they’ve shown what they are capable of in difficult situations. We have an eager bunch that is ready to play DePaul.”
No Big East team has started 0-3 in the league and gone on to the NCAA Tournament since Seton Hall in 1993-94.
If the Johnnies are to re-live that feat, they need to get some wins.
And now.
“This team still has a lot of fight,” sophomore forward JaKarr Sampson said. “We’re a young team. People have seen glimpses of what we can do at the Villanova and Syracuse games, but I feel like we can do so much more.”
Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle.
A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.
St. John’s may be without leading scorer D’Angelo Harrison tonight when it faces another must win in the Big East at DePaul.
“D’Angelo has a minor concussion and will be a game-time decision [Tuesday],” St. John’s coach Steve Lavin said, referring to the injury Harrison sustained in Saturday’s loss to Villanova. “The team doctors are comfortable with him traveling and will do more tests to determine if he will be cleared to play.”
Harrison is averaging a team-best 18.7 points per game for the Johnnies, who are 9-6, 0-3 in the Big East.
After losses at Xavier, at Georgetown and to Villanova, St. John’s has a chance to put some wins on the board with upcoming games at DePaul and then home to Providence and Seton Hall.
“I don’t look at this as a soft part of our schedule,” Lavin said. “I think we need to take advantage of having three of four at home. This is the Big East. It’s a great conference and each team has a very small margin of error. This year, other than Georgetown, we’ve been competitive in every game and our guys have continued to fight back and a degree of resilience. Naturally the objective is to improve and finish games with a win. ”
Lavin naturally downplayed any talk of a team-wide identity crisis and said the team is still finding its way.
“With a deep bench and our new pieces it has taken us time to gel,” he said. “At the end of the day we have depth and that is the plus side of the equation. One of the advantages of this group is that they’ve been tested and faced adversity both on and off the court. They have a resilience about them and they’ve shown what they are capable of in difficult situations. We have an eager bunch that is ready to play DePaul.”
No Big East team has started 0-3 in the league and gone on to the NCAA Tournament since Seton Hall in 1993-94.
If the Johnnies are to re-live that feat, they need to get some wins.
And now.
