St. John’s has proven able to beat the Big East’s best. In four games against the conference’s top two teams — No. 11 Marquette and No. 17 Villanova — the Red Storm have three wins, and nearly a fourth.
It’s games against everyone else in the conference — mediocre opponents all (aside from Seton Hall) under .500 in the league — that give the Johnnies trouble.
“It’s all mental,” junior wing Mustapha Heron said Tuesday, referring to St. John’s 4-5 league record against teams other than Villanova and Marquette. “Every night you have to play like you’re playing against the best.”
If only it were that easy. Of those five losses, four have come by eight points or more, including a 14-point setback to Providence on Feb. 9 at the Garden. That loss came on the heels of a 2-1 road trip. The day before the game, St. John’s talked extensively of handling prosperity and not overlooking inferior opponents.
The talk didn’t work, though it should be noted Heron was missing from that defeat due to a right knee bruise.
“The game will be played totally different when [Heron is] healthy the next time we play them in Providence,” Friars coach Ed Cooley said after the first meeting. “It’s a totally, totally different team.”
Heron will be in the lineup Wednesday when St. John’s visits Providence, which is tied with Creighton in the Big East basement. The former Auburn star is hitting his stride and performing like the impact transfer many predicted he would be after struggling to find his niche early in his first season in Queens. The reigning Big East Player of the Week, Heron scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half of Sunday’s come-from-behind win over Villanova. He is averaging 17.8 points over his past nine games on 48 percent shooting from the field.
“It felt like [I wasn’t playing well], but I stayed at it. I watched film to see what I could correct … on both ends of the floor,” he said. “I think it’s just coming to fruition now.”
The same can be said for St. John’s (19-7, 7-6 Big East), which is surging toward its first NCAA Tournament bid in four years and the first trip of the Chris Mullin era. The Johnnies have won three of their past four games and four of six. In that span, they became the only team to win at Marquette this season and won at Villanova for the first time in 17 years. Now they have to take care of the teams they’re supposed to beat.
“It’s human nature to get up for somebody whose got recognition,” Heron said. “It’s just natural for anybody. Now we have to go in [with] a mindset for every game that we’re playing somebody ranked.
“Locking in as if we’re playing against a Marquette or a Villanova every night. No matter who it is.”