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Well all those fearing a record-losing streak will have to start over at zero after St. John's victory against seventh-ranked Notre Dame in front of the largest crowd of the year — 9,807. Plus there was a Tim Higgins sighting!!! Maybe what they saw will inspire others to show up.A couple more victories like this would help in that department also. The victory snapped SJU's three-game losing streak and Notre Dame's four-game winning streak.The last St. John's victory over a ranked team was last season against....Notre Dame. The victory gives SJU 10 victories, one behind last year's total, with at least 18 games left on the schedule. It was arguably Norm Roberts' best victory as St. John's coach. Notre Dame was the highes-ranked team his SJU squads have defeated, two slots better than when the Red Storm beat No. 9 Pitt last season. It was the sixth win over a ranked team in Roberts' five seasons, all coming at Madison Square Garden.
SJU took the lead for good with 11:30 left to play. Notre Dame made just 4-of-17 three-pointers and Kyle McAlarney was just 1-of-5 — the Irish were averaging nearly 10 threes a game at a 41.8 percent clip. Luke Hatangody, the reigning Big East Player of the Year, played like it and almost won the game for the Irish, finishing with 28 points and 14 rebounds.
D.J. Kennedy finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds — including four free throws in the final 15 seconds to seal the victory — for his sixth double-double of the season.
Justin Burrell had a season-high 18 points and six rebounds in 30 minutes. In addition to harassing McAlarney, Paris Horne finished with 18 points — his 12th straight game with double-figures. Quincy Roberts struggled from the floor for the second straight game — 1-of-7 — and is now 7-for-26 against Big East competition. The one shot he did make, however, came in the final minutes and kept SJU in front. SJU outrebounded Notre Dame, 41-30, after trailing on the glass at halftime. Outside of Harangody's 14 rebounds, no other Irish player had more than four — compare that to the five Johnnies who had at least five. St. John's is now a perfect 10-0 when outrebounding its opponent.
Dele Coker continues to be a foul machine, notching three of them in seven minutes. By comparison, Horne locked down McAlarney and did not pick up a foul in 38 minutes. Hot shooting helped SJU pull off the upset — the Red Storm shot 44.6 percent from the floor, 45.5 percent on threes and 76.2 percent from the line. The Irish shot 43.5 percent overall but just 23.5 percent on threes and 58 percent on free throws. Rob Thomas returned from battling a stomach virus and had 10 points and five rebounds in 18 minutes. Even though it comes after a victory, this quote caught my eye: "But in this league, we're getting ready to play the number three team and then the number two team, (then the) number 16 team. There are so many good teams in the league. I just want our guys to play hard, stay focused , don't give up, play with pride all the time. And they try. They're young people and when things don't go well, most young people put their head down a little bit. And we have to teach them not to do that, fight through it, fight through adversity." My question after that answe would have been, then what the hell happened at Providence?
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