It seems daunting or even unrealistic.
Even though they lost 7 out of 9 games, will they end up with 6 wins and 0 losses?
Don’t say that to St. John’s. Coach Rick Pitino said the Johnnys are going to win and his players feel the same way.
“Some people might say we’re running out of time, but you never know what’s going to happen in these six games,” point guard Danis Jenkins said. “We come in and work hard every day. We have the greatest coach in college basketball.
“We have a great staff and everyone works hard for each other. We’re just working to achieve that goal.”
Of course, this was part of the schedule St. John’s (14-11, 6-8) was supposed to clean up.
Three of the final six games are against league doormats Georgetown and DePaul.
Two of the remaining three games are at home, Sunday against Seton Hall at UBS Arena and next Sunday against No. 17 Creighton at the Garden.
The biggest challenge could be a trip to surprise Butler, who St. John’s cut short in early January.
Johnny’s believes it won’t be long before they turn this loss into a victory.
The games over the past month have been disappointing, but three of the seven losses were by three points or less.
In four of those games, they led at halftime.
The only one-sided setback was Seton Hall, home of No. 1 Connecticut.
“We had a lot of close games. It was a game we should have won,” forward Chris Ledlum said. “Obviously that’s how basketball is, but we know we have the ability to do it and it’s just a matter of going out there and doing it.
“We control our own destiny.”
Perhaps the biggest issue during this period has been the play of Joel Soriano, who came off the bench for the first time this season in Tuesday’s game against Providence.
Soriano’s play has declined, with St. John’s trailing by 78 points in the last nine games he’s been on the floor, but he’s been crucial to a 4-1 start in league play. .
Pitino said he wants Soriano to play with more effort on both ends of the floor and rewarded his hard work by giving backup Zuby Ejiofor the starting role.
“He’s trying to find himself again. He’s trying to get back to where he started at this point in his career,” Jenkins said of Soriano. “He’s just trying to figure it out right now. I talk to Joel and I just tell him, don’t worry about anything, don’t overthink it. At the end of the day, it’s just basketball.
“You just have to go out there and play. I think Joel sometimes influences his game too much.”
The same can be said in many ways about St. John’s, especially in the second half of their many losses.
Looking for a way to end the game and rectify the situation.
Time is running out.
Reconstruction must begin on Sunday.
“We know how hard we work in practice every day. We show it in games, we just don’t show it for 40 minutes,” Jenkins said. “We all know how hard we work and we all know who we are. We all know how hard we work and we all know who we are. We all know how hard we work and we all know who we are. We all know how hard we work and we all know who we are. We all know how hard we work and we all know who we are. We all know how hard we work and we all know who we are. We all do that for 40 minutes and at that level of effort we put it up to the standard of all games.” It is important to
“If I play every game with the effort I just played 40 minutes in Providence, I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
