Your parents told you that you would have days like this. What they didn’t tell you is that you could have weeks like this.
After dropping two of its last three games, which dropped it out of the Top 25, the Red Storm visited its personal demons in Ohio State. The Red Storm marched into the Schottenstein Center and were promptly embarrassed Wednesday night, 71-58.
After the loss to Fordham, Reggie Jessie and Anthony Glover told their teammates that they had to step up and play 40 minutes. That didn’t happen. In fact, what happened was one of the worst losses in the Mike Jarvis era.
Off the opening tip, Willie Shaw hit a three. In retrospect, that was a bad move, as it woke up the Buckeyes (6-2,0-0) who outplayed the Red Storm (4-4,0-0 ) the rest of the game.
Among the ugly statistics accrued by the Red Storm was Anthony Glover only taking seven shots in the game. All seven of his shots came in the first half. Along with the lack of offense from the Manchild, was Omar Cook going 1-of-8 behind the three point arc.
To add to SJU’s woes was the effiency of the OSU offense. The Buckeyes connected on 13 of its first 17 shots, and opened a 40-25 lead at the half. During the second half, the OSU lead swelled to as much as 18.
St. John’s play infuriated Head Coach Mike Jarvis, and during a time out, in full view of television cameras, he angrily chewed out his team’s lackadascal play. The only member of the Red Storm who heeded Jarvis’ message was freshman Kyle Cuffe, who finished with 12 points. Cuffe was the only Johnnie who challenged Ken Johnson, the OSU center and the Red Storm’s personal demon. Johnson finshed with 11 points, 9 rebounds, and and the continued dominance of the Red Storm in the paint with 3 blocks.
After the game, assistant oach Mike Jarvis II, on WFAN, spoke about the free-falling Red Storm. “We didn’t do anything well tonight. We gave them wide open shots and let guys score with very few seconds { remaining on the shot clock }”, Jarvis said. He continued by by questioneing his team’s intensity. “We have to learn to play for 40 minutes, we have to compete more and focus more.”
Anthony Glover was harsher in his assesment of the team. As he walked off the court, Lenn Robbins of the New York Post heard Glover comment “We ain’t sh-t.” Not a good proclamation with Big East play starting very soon. Not good at all.
