NEW YORK — Before the Knicks took on the Cleveland Cavaliers Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, head coach Mike D’Antoni made a somewhat bold statement about his team’s deep bench.
“There’s no drop-off,” D’Antoni said. “I’m not sure my 10th, 11th guy is not better than my third guy. I’m thinking my 11th guy is as good as anyone I got.”
If Steve Novak is the 10th or 11th guy on the bench, D’Antoni looks like a genius about now.
D’Angelo Harrison broke the St. John’s freshman scoring record and notched his 12th-career 20-point performance with a game-high 21 points as the Johnnies lost at Pittsburgh, 89-69.
Entering the night needing just six points to match the freshman record of 500 points set in 1998-99 by Erick Barkley, Harrison tied the mark with a 3-pointer at the 7:55 mark before breaking it with a layup at 7:07.
Phil Greene scored a career-high 18 points and added seven assists to help pace St. John’s (13-17, 6-11), while God’sgift Achiuwa finished with 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting.
“It’s a tremendous accomplishment to set a new freshman scoring record, but I’d
NEW YORK –– Linsanity in Italy?
It almost happened.
Jeremy Linsaid he considered signing with Italian club Banca Tercas Teramo just before the NBA lockout ended in late November.
“I was close. I was extremely close,” Lin said after putting up 19 points, 13 assists and one turnover in the Knicks’ 120-103 come-from-behind win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“I actually booked a flight to go back to California so I could get my visa done and everything so I could go to Italy.
NEW YORK — Kyrie Irving said he’s still mulling whether to play for Australia in the 2012 London Olympics.
“I’m not sure,” Irving said Wednesday before tallying 22 points, 7 assists and 4 turnovers in the Cavs’ 120-103 loss to the Knicks at MSG. “You know, it’s still up in the air. I haven’t made a decision yet. You’ll probably hear about it next week or so, what decision I make. But it’s still up in the air.”
Asked if there was any deadline to decide, Irving said, “Honestly, if there is, I’m not aware of it, so I don’t know.”
Kyle Anderson Sr. said his son stands by UCLA coach Ben Howland and the program despite the recent damning Sports Illustrated story on the program.
“The article does not matter to Lil Kyle or our family,” Anderson Sr. told SNY.tv. “We support Coach Howland and the UCLA staff and Lil Kyle is still UCLA-bound in June.”
Anderson signed with the Bruins last fall, choosing them over Seton Hall, St. John’s, Georgetown and Florida.
In this special edition of "The Big
Two-time N.C. State decommit Torian Graham has changed high schools, but apparently not his favorite college.
Ro Russell, Graham’s coach at Creedmoor (N.C.) Christian Faith, said the Wolfpack are still Graham’s top option.
‘N.C. State still leads for him but he hasn’t closed the door for other schools,” Russell told SNY.tv Wednesday.
“We’re waiting for the season to be over before he figures what schools to visit officially and narrow it down. He won’t make a decision until April.”
