When discussing the performance of his team this season, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski has often emphasized the youth on his roster. This weekend, though, his Blue Devils will face a squad that is even younger.
When the No. 8 Blue Devils (17-3, 5-1 in the ACC) face St. John’s at Cameron Indoor Stadium Saturday at 12 p.m., their opponent will boast no seniors in their regular rotation. Only two juniors play significant minutes for the Red Storm (9-11, 3-6 in the Big East), but one of those is new to St. John’s after transferring from junior college. The team’s only sophomore, point guard Nurideen Lindsey, left the team after nine games and transferred to Rider University. Beyond that, the team relies on nine freshmen to fill out its roster.
“We really enjoy it as coaches, but you put in a lot of hours, a lot of time into it,” St. John’s special assistant Gene Keady said. “When you don’t win many, it gets frustrating.”
The Red Storm halted a four-game losing streak with a victory over West Virginia Wednesday with a five-freshman starting lineup. Moe Harkless led the team in that victory, as he has throughout the season with an average of 16.0 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.
St. John’s certainly does not lack raw talent, as Harkless and teammates Sir’Dominic Pointer, D’Angelo Harrison and Amir Garrett were all ranked among ESPNU’s top 100 recruits in the class of 2011. Harrison ranks just behind Harkless with 15.5 points per game.
What the recruiting class lacked, though, was height. Harkless, a 6-foot-8 combo-guard, is listed as the Red Storm’s tallest player, along with center God’sgift Achiuwa—the team’s third double-digit scorer at 10.6 points per game—and forward Sam Sealy, who rarely sees the court.
The dearth of tall players could pose issues for St. John’s against the Blue Devils, especially considering the dominant performances of Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly in a victory over Maryland Wednesday night. Plumlee led the Blue Devils in points, rebounds and assists in the road victory, while Kelly added 14 points and three blocks of his own.
“We have to play good defense, keep them off the boards. Duke’s fundamentally sound,” Keady said. “We know they’re going to be very difficult to stop. We’re going to be competitive and see if we can learn something from it.”
But the Red Storm’s lack of height could cause problems for the Blue Devils as well, since Duke has been exploited in past games by teams with big perimeter players. Harkless and the 6-foot-5 Pointer can both play on the wing for St. John’s, and only sparingly-used Blue Devil freshman Michael Gbinije, who missed Wednesday’s game against Maryland due to illness, can match their size and perimeter abilities.
The Duke defense should be able to give St. John’s room to operate on the outside, though, since the Red Storm are not a threat to score from long range. They rank dead last in Division I with a 24.7-percent shooting performance from beyond the arc, and will rely on getting to the basket and to the free-throw line for points.
Another roadblock for St. John’s will come from the challenge of playing in Cameron, in an environment that will likely be energized following a plea from Krzyzewski for more enthusiasm from the fans.
“Most kids understand you don’t go into Cameron and win a lot,” Keady said.
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