NEW YORK -- On the court, the Blue Devils seemed able to keep pace with the Red Storm's attack. But off the court was a different story. Before tipping off against Duke, Mike Jarvis' St. John's squad was given a pregame speech by Herm Edwards, head coach of the NFL's New York Jets.
Jarvis had asked Edwards, his friend, to give the players some words of wisdom before they stepped on the court.
"It was amazing," Jarvis said. "He said all of the things that I was saying, but when he said it, it came out of Herman Edwards' mouth. It went through each and every one of [the players]. I was ready to go into my pocket, pull out some cash and put in it a hat for him, that's how good he was. You're talking about a preacher."
Whatever Edwards' words were, they certainly had their desired effect. Although St. John's did not play exceptionally well from a basketball standpoint--the Johnnies shot only 38.7 percent from the floor--it made up for it with its mental agility. The Red Storm committed only eight turnovers during the entire game and remained focused as Duke began to build its lead.
"With about five minutes left, when we were down 10, I looked at all of the guys and didn't see any quit in their eyes," said St. John's guard Marcus Hatten, who scored a game-high 29 points. "They knew that we were going to win the game."
At the same point in time, the Blue Devils likely held similar thoughts. After a Dahntay Jones free throw gave Duke a 71-60 lead with 4:05 remaining, the Blue Devils seemed poised to close out a St. John's team that had played Duke much tougher than expected. Even after an Anthony Glover layup and Chris Duhon turnover sent the game into its final television timeout, Duke's nine-point lead seemed insurmountable.
It wasn't.
In the game's final 3:37, head coach Mike Krzyzewski's team would not score another point. The Blue Devils would instead commit three turnovers--including a shot-clock violation--and two fouls.
While Duke was missing its opportunities to put the game away, St. John's leaped through the door that was unexpectedly opening. The Red Storm got clutch three-point baskets from Hatten and Anthony Glover, both of whom entered the game hitting less than 30 percent of their long-range attempts.
Meanwhile, Jones, who led the Blue Devils with 23 points, fouled out of the game.
"It was very hard," Jones said. "It was really upsetting to have to watch from the bench."
Hatten's free throw gave St. John's its improbable 72-71 victory and sealed what was possibly the ugliest four minutes for Duke this season.
But more importantly, it capped off a game that Duke just didn't seem to want to play. While the Red Storm took Edwards' pregame speech to heart, the Blue Devils played lackluster basketball for 40 minutes. They committed 16 turnovers--a figure twice that of St. John's total--while converting only 16-of-29 attempts from the free-throw line. The Red Storm stripped Duke of the ball on nine occasions, and point guard Chris Duhon, who leads the ACC with a 2.45 assist-to-turnover ratio, came up even this game with six of each.
But Duhon recognized that Duke's problems Sunday ran deeper than simply the numbers which appear on stat sheets.
"I'm disappointed that we came out and played the way we played," he said. "We've been playing so well recently, we got satisfied and thought we were a better team than we are.
"This wasn't about X's and O's. [Krzyzewski] had to coach attitude, and he shouldn't have to do that. He had to get us enthusiastic and ready to play."
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