The St. John’s basketball bandwagon has been losing passengers ever since its first loss against Alabama in early November.
More passengers got off after losses in two of three games at the Players Era Championship and even more abandoned the ship following a dismal second half against Kentucky in Atlanta.
For those who remained faithful after the losses, it felt like there was nobody left in support of the Red Storm following its epic collapse late in the second half last week against Providence and losing its first conference game of the season.
Now, the Johnnies (10-5, 3-1 Big East) have the ability to prove itself as a contender in the Big East again on Saturday afternoon (2:00 p.m. ET, FS1) in Omaha when it battles Creighton (10-6, 4-1 Big East).
It’s a city and venue that have not been kind to St. John’s, posting a 1-13 record in the series on the road. Its only win came during the 2018-19 season when Chris Mullin was the head coach and its two losses under Rick Pitino have been by an excruciating two combined points.
“There’s not been a good memory,” Zuby Ejiofor said about playing on the road in Omaha. “It’s going to be a big test…We have to go out there and leave everything on the table.”
Still, after a Quad 1 victory against Butler on Tuesday, another opportunity presents itself to land not only a marquee win in the league but a chance to boost its lackluster NCAA Tournament resume.
“It’s basketball at the end of the day, there’s always going to be people who jump off the ship when things aren’t going right, but we only could control and worry about what we do and how we approach ourselves every day.”
It felt like something clicked for the Johnnies in the second half against the Bulldogs.
Its defense was suffocating, its offense was aggressive and attacking, and it got major contributions from its bench. The real test will be trying to replicate that formula over multiple games, something the team has been unable to do this season.
“Going to Creighton is going to be a big game for us and it’s a game we definitely need for the season,” Dillon Mitchell explained. “It’ll be a big win for us that we know we need to get.”
St. John’s players know the message and the mission, but will they be able to execute in a hostile environment and get its season trending in the right direction.