LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The St. John's players aren't going to know until a few ticks of the clock after 9 o'clock tonight if the events of the last six weeks have finally taken their toll.
Six weeks ago, the Red Storm opened their Big East schedule with an overtime loss at Villanova, the falling off point to a 1-3 league start. The young Johnnies seemingly came of age quickly, winning five straight to move into third place in the conference. It put them in position to face their toughest stretch of the season, a four-game gauntlet that culminates with tonight's showdown at No. 12 Louisville.
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TALL ORDER: Freshman JaKarr Sampson and St. John's, who lost to Syracuse 77-58 on Sunday, continue their tough four-game stretch tonight against No. 12 Louisville.
Even under the best of circumstances, a team primarily comprised of freshmen and sophomores, would have been drained. But whatever emotional energy that still remained in the tank might have been drained by the death of Cap Lavin, the father of St. John's coach Steve Lavin, this past weekend.
Lavin will not be on the bench tonight. He was not on the bench for Sunday's 77-58 loss at Syracuse, which deflated the record to 15-9, 7-5 in the Big East and dinged the team's NCAA Tournament chances. Assistant coach Rico Hines, who had never coached a game on any level prior to facing Hall of Famer Jim Boeheim in his house, finds himself in a daunting position.
He will face future Hall of Famer Rick Pitino in his house, and must try to keep the Johnnies from hitting an emotional nadir.
"What I always tell them is to lose yourself to the game we love so much, lose yourself to basketball,'' Hines said. "Do the things they've been doing since they were little guys. During those two hours nothing else in life matters than being with your teammates, being with your brothers and competing.
"I try to give them confidence and tell them we've been playing for a long time and just go out and do what you love to do. We have to execute. We have to be smart and do the things we practice. Be fundamental. That's how I try to get them through that, just trying to keep their mind off everything else but the one thing they love so much which is basketball.''
The Johnnies are 1-2 in the stretch, getting manhandled by Georgetown, pulling out a gritty win against Connecticut and suffering a 19-point loss against Syracuse. And Louisville (19-5, 7-4) has had five days to stew over that five-overtime loss at Notre Dame on Saturday, 104-101.
This could be the game that breaks St. John's.
"The whole team is real emotional right now, even the coaching staff, but we're rallying around each other,'' guard Phil ''The Rock'' Greene IV said.
"We're just going to have to get through it because we're like a family. So we're going to pick each other up and be ready to play against Louisville.''
Greene said the players received a text message from Lavin, who remains in northern California mourning the loss of his father and making funeral arrangements.
"Don't let anyone tell you [you] can't just because they can't.''
Can the Johnnies pull off their biggest win of the season? It doesn't seem likely, considering where they are, what they've gone through and whom they face tonight.
"No question,'' Hines said. "They hurt and they feel for coach but at the same time we have a job we have to go out and do, which is we've got to beat Louisville.''
lenn.robbins@nypost.com
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