The Day Everything Peaked: St. John's has Ascended, Providence Unraveled Since the Two Last Met in MSG

Photo courtesy of Carl Rizzo at gameone_photography and Friarbasketball.com

When Providence and St. John’s last took to the floor together, the Friars were teetering.

Kim English’s group was 7-6 on the season and 0-2 in the Big East, but rallied late to take a 77-71 victory in their first matchup with old friend Bryce Hopkins.

To look back at the scenes from Madison Square Garden a little over a month later — well, the energy from Providence and their fans almost feels like it couldn’t have taken place this season.

Friar fans roared their approval during a first half-dustup, and got to enjoy not only a victory over Hopkins, but a horror show from their former star.

Hopkins shot 3-13 from the field and 1-5 beyond the arc, and he was on the wrong side of virtually every key basketball late — from Jamier Jones dropping him with a spin move in transition, to falling for a Stefan Vaaks up-fake which led to a go-ahead three, to simply being taken one-on-one by Vaaks in the closing seconds.

The boos that echoed out in the Garden when Hopkins was introduced were jarring — and a sharp contrast from Friartown’s jubilation when he missed a last-gasp three.

Following the game, Jamier Jones (Providence’s star freshman) poured a little salt in the wound, saying he believes he would have deserved to start over Hopkins had he returned to PC for a fourth year.

Providence fans reveled in every indignity Hopkins faced on that Saturday afternoon in early January.

It was a stirring victory, the most gratifying day to be a Friar fan over the past two seasons.

Yet, any positive feelings that resulted from that game have come from only one of the two teams that took to the floor.

St. John’s hasn’t experienced defeat since that loss on Jan. 3. They enter Saturday afternoon’s visit to Providence on a 10-game winning streak, and sporting a 19-5 overall record to go along with a 12-1 league mark.

Conversely, little has gone right for Providence. They are 3-8 in the 11 games that followed, and are now 11-14 overall and 4-10 in the conference. The team that was so competitive and edgy against St. John’s has reverted back to being disjointed, done in by an inability to stop anyone on the defensive end.

Providence fans will give Hopkins hell on Saturday, maybe they’ll even pull off another stunner, but any indignity left this year looks reserved for the Friars.

It would be an upset if St. John’s didn’t find their way back to the Big East Tournament finals again, and Hopkins just might be on a team capable of winning a few games in the NCAA Tournament.

Hopkins kept a neutral tone when meeting with the New York press on Thursday.

“It’s another game on our schedule where we’re playing for something much bigger than any personal narratives. We’re playing for a Big East championship, and Providence is the next game up on our schedule and we have to be locked in to the fullest,” he said.

“Obviously, there’s going to be a chip on my shoulder. That’s probably the only thing I’m going to say about it.”

St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino didn’t play into any narratives either — at least not publicly.

“Bryce was around when Ed Cooley came back, and I don’t think it can get any worse than that,” Pitino said. “He witnessed that and he knows what to expect — but he’s playing, right now, the best basketball he’s played this season.”

That may be true, but it still isn’t at the level Hopkins was at during his one healthy season in Providence, when he was a 1st Team All Big East performer.

In the ten-game winning streak, Hopkins is averaging 14.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game. He’s drawing 4.4 fouls a game during that time, but is shooting just 31% from beyond the arc.

While Hopkins didn’t offer much in the way of bulletin board material at the beginning of this week’s media session, he likely didn’t do himself any favors in Providence when asked about the experience of seeing Cooley return as a Hoya.

“Me and Coach Cooley had a great relationship and I’d seen what he was able to do for Friartown — how he was able to turn that program around. So, it was kind of sad to see how they treated him when they (Georgetown) went back, but it’s basketball and that’s part of the game right now,” Hopkins said.

“Coach Cooley did a great job when he was at Providence, and I think they were a little bit mad that he decided to part ways from there.”

“Providence is the toughest crowd in the Big East in terms of what they yell, what they speak,” Pitino said on the Red Storm Report this week. “Providence is probably the toughest place to play in the Big East.”

While Hopkins will be the headliner due to his history, Zuby Ejiofor is the problem. The Johnnies’ center should be Big East Player of the Year at season’s end. He is the most physical force in the league, defends and boards at an amazing level, and is one of the better playmakers St. John’s has.

The first time these two teams met it felt like he fouled out everyone but Providence’s team managers. Ejiofor went for 33 points, 15 rebounds (11 offensive), and took 23 free throws. His 14-23 effort at the stripe kept the door open a crack, and Providence kicked it open with their late-game run.

St. John’s scored just 33 second-half points against a defensively disinterested Providence group, and made only 7-31 from three.

In a long season for Providence, Saturday will be this team’s last chance for a feel-good win, barring an absolute miracle at the Big East Tournament.

St. John’s has a little something to prove of its own — seeking to avenge their only loss in Big East play, while looking to rally around Hopkins in what will be one of the most hostile environments in college basketball this season.