# 2010–11 St. John's Red Storm men's basketball team

The 2010–11 St. John's Red Storm men's basketball team represented St. John's University during the 2010–11 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was coached by Steve Lavin in his first year at the school. Saint John's home games were played at Carnesecca Arena and Madison Square Garden and the team is a member of the Big East Conference. They finished the season 21–12, 12–6 in Big East play and lost in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Big East men's basketball tournament to Syracuse. They received an at-large bid in the 2011 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament where they lost in the first round to Gonzaga.

## Off season

On March 30, 2010, Lavin was announced as the head coach of St. John's. Lavin replaced Norm Roberts, who was fired after six seasons as the Red Storm head coach. Lavin named his mentor Gene Keady to the position of Special Assistant.

### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Anthony Mason, Jr. | 2 | F | 6'7" | 213 | RS Senior | Memphis, Tennessee | Graduated |
| Omari Lawrence | 11 | G | 6'4" | 185 | Freshman | Bronx, New York | Transferred to Kansas State |

### Class of 2010 signees

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Dwayne Polee II SF | Los Angeles, CA | Westchester High School | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 193 lb (88 kg) | May 8, 2010 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 92 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2010 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. ||||||

## Season

St. John's, a former Big East and national power, had fallen on tough times in recent seasons. This year, the Red Storm (17–9, 9–5 Big East) have made a habit out of knocking off highly ranked teams, with wins over Duke, Notre Dame, Connecticut, Georgetown, and Pittsburgh, all top-15 teams. The Red Storm are looking for their first NCAA tournament berth since 2002. After defeating then #4 Pittsburgh on February 19, all 63 participating brackets in The Bracket Project placed the Red Storm comfortably within the NCAA Tournament.
The Red Storm also achieved their first Top 25 ranking in over a decade. The last time the Red Storm had previously been ranked was on November 28, 2000. On February 21, the Red Storm were ranked #23 in the AP Poll and #25 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. They reached as high as #15 in both the AP Poll and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll on February 28 following their road win against Villanova.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 6* 7:00pm | | Westmont | W 100–42 | — | Carnesecca Arena Queens, NY |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 16* 2:00am, ESPN | | at Saint Mary's | L 71–76 | 0–1 | McKeon Pavilion (3,500) Moraga, CA |
| November 17* 8:00pm | | Columbia | W 79–66 | 1–1 | Carnesecca Arena (4,657) Queens, NY |
| November 25* 1:45am, MSG Plus | | vs. Ball State Great Alaska Shootout quarterfinals | W 78–73 $^{OT}$ | 2–1 | Sullivan Arena (4,632) Anchorage, AK |
| November 26* 9:30pm, MSG Plus | | vs. Drake Great Alaska Shootout semifinals | W 82–39 | 3–1 | Sullivan Arena (4,976) Anchorage, AK |
| November 28* 12:00am, MSG Plus | | vs. Arizona State Great Alaska Shootout finals | W 67–58 | 4–1 | Sullivan Arena (5,662) Anchorage, AK |
| December 1* 7:00pm | | Wagner | W 69–61 | 5–1 | Carnesecca Arena (4,008) Queens, NY |
| December 7* 7:00pm, SNY | | St. Bonaventure | L 66–67 | 5–2 | Carnesecca Arena (4,408) Queens, NY |
| December 11* 7:00pm, YES Network | | at Fordham | L 81–84 | 5–3 | Rose Hill Gym (3,200) Bronx, NY |
| December 20* 9:30pm, MSG | | Davidson Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival | W 62–57 | 6–3 | Madison Square Garden (6,596) New York, NY |
| December 21* 9:30pm, MSG | | Northwestern Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival | W 85–69 | 7–3 | Madison Square Garden (5,583) New York, NY |
| December 29 7:00pm, SNY | | at West Virginia | W 81–71 | 8–3 (1–0) | WVU Coliseum (11,138) Morgantown, WV |
| January 1 7:00pm, SNY | | at Providence | W 67–65 | 9–3 (2–0) | Dunkin' Donuts Center (8,157) Providence, RI |
| January 3 7:00pm, ESPN2 | | No. 13 Georgetown | W 61–58 | 10–3 (3–0) | Madison Square Garden (8,897) New York, NY |
| January 8 8:00pm, ESPNU | | at No. 15 Notre Dame | L 61–76 | 10–4 (3–1) | Edmund P. Joyce Center (8,032) Notre Dame, IN |
| January 12 7:00pm, ESPNU | | No. 4 Syracuse | L 59–76 | 10–5 (3–2) | Madison Square Garden (14,440) New York, NY |
| January 16 12:00pm, ESPNU | | No. 11 Notre Dame | W 72–54 | 11–5 (4–2) | Madison Square Garden (8,550) New York, NY |
| January 19 7:00pm, SNY | | at No. 15 Louisville | L 63–88 | 11–6 (4–3) | KFC Yum! Center (21,638) Louisville, KY |
| January 22 4:00pm, SNY | | Cincinnati | L 51–53 | 11–7 (4–4) | Carnesecca Arena (5,602) Queens, NY |
| January 26 7:00pm, SNY | | at No. 20 Georgetown | L 52–77 | 11–8 (4–5) | Verizon Center (7,160) Washington, D.C. |
| January 30* 1:00pm, CBS | | No. 3 Duke | W 93–78 | 12–8 | Madison Square Garden (19,353) New York, NY |
| February 2 9:00pm, SNY | | Rutgers | W 58–56 | 13–8 (5–5) | Carnesecca Arena (5,002) Queens, NY |
| February 5* 1:00pm, CBS | | at UCLA | L 59–66 | 13–9 | Pauley Pavilion (8,592) Los Angeles, CA |
| February 10 7:00pm, ESPN | | No. 9 Connecticut | W 89–72 | 14–9 (6–5) | Madison Square Garden (13,652) New York, NY |
| February 13 2:00pm, MSG | | at Cincinnati | W 59–57 | 15–9 (7–5) | Fifth Third Arena (7,374) Cincinnati, OH |
| February 15 9:00pm, ESPNU | | at Marquette | W 80–68 | 16–9 (8–5) | Bradley Center (17,270) Milwaukee, WI |
| February 19 12:00pm, ESPN | | No. 4 Pittsburgh | W 60–59 | 17–9 (9–5) | Madison Square Garden (14,514) New York, NY |
| February 23 7:00pm, MSG Plus | No. 23 | DePaul | W 76–51 | 18–9 (10–5) | Carnesecca Arena (5,602) Queens, NY |
| February 26 2:00pm, ESPN | No. 23 | at No. 15 Villanova | W 81–68 | 19–9 (11–5) | Wells Fargo Center (16,042) Philadelphia, PA |
| March 3 7:00pm, ESPN2 | No. 15 | at Seton Hall | L 70–84 | 19–10 (11–6) | Prudential Center (9,470) Newark, NJ |
| March 5 8:00pm, MSG | No. 15 | South Florida | W 72–56 | 20–10 (12–6) | Carnesecca Arena (5,602) Queens, NY |
| Big East tournament ||||||
| March 9 2:00pm, ESPN | (5) No. 17 | (13) Rutgers Second Round | W 65–63 | 21–10 | Madison Square Garden (19,375) New York, NY |
| March 10 2:00pm, ESPN | (5) No. 17 | (4) No. 13 Syracuse Quarterfinals | L 73–79 | 21–11 | Madison Square Garden (19,375) New York, NY |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 17* 9:45pm, CBS | (6 SE) No. 18 | vs. (11 SE) Gonzaga First Round | L 71–86 | 21–12 | Pepsi Center (19,216) Denver, CO |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. SE=NCAA Southeast Regional. ||||||