BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The first two games have gone according to plan. Two blowout victories. Two impressive performances in which the roster upgrades were obvious.
But now St. John’s will begin to learn about itself. Wednesday night, it will really start to see what this group can do. It will face its first high-major opponent, Indiana of the Big Ten, in a hostile environment at rabid Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. For the first time in this young season, the Johnnies are underdogs.
“I think it’s a big game,” junior star Julian Champagnie told The Post on the eve of the Gavitt Tipoff Games matchup. “We do see the opportunity.”
There was so much to like in the lopsided wins over Mississippi Valley State and Saint Peter’s by a combined 79 points. Newcomers shined. The star holdovers, Champagnie and Posh Alexander, thrived. Glue-guy Dylan Addae-Wusu, a sophomore, looked like himself after minor ankle surgery in mid-September.
But that was against smaller and less-athletic opponents in cozy Carnesecca Arena. The Johnnies will be facing a far more significant challenge in Indiana, led by former Knicks coach Mike Woodson. It will be loud and chaotic, an expected sellout in the 17,222-seat arena.
“I expect it to be extremely hard to play in, a different kind of environment, something I’ve never experienced in a while,” Champagnie said. “It’s going to be a challenge, but at the end of the day, it’s a basketball game, so we got to come in there and play hard despite all the fans being against us.”
The argument can be made that the undefeated Hoosiers will have the best player on the floor in Associated Press preseason All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis. The 6-foot-9, 245-pound junior is an NBA prospect, a difference-maker St. John’s must account for. He may be too quick for starting center Joel Soriano and too strong for forwards Champagnie and Aaron Wheeler. That could mean a bigger role for freshman O’Mar Stanley, who has yet to miss a shot in his college career (10 attempts).
“It’s going to have to be our whole basketball team,” coach Mike Anderson said. “We have to make him work. It’s going to be everybody.”
St. John’s is confident it is ready for this type of game in this kind of venue. Montez Mathis and Wheeler have played, and won, at Assembly Hall before with their previous schools — Rutgers and Purdue, respectively — and have briefed their teammates on what to expect. Just as Indiana is the best opponent St. John’s has faced this season, the same can be said for the Hoosiers. They haven’t seen anyone close to the Johnnies yet, having narrowly escaped an upset at home against Eastern Michigan before blowing out Northern Illinois. And Indiana could be susceptible to St. John’s pressure defense, as point guards Xavier Johnson and Rob Phinisee are averaging a combined 4.5 turnovers per game.
“I’m anxious to see how they perform, how they react to adversity, how they react to playing in a place that’s not Carnesecca Arena,” Anderson said. “This is a new team. This team is in uncharted waters.”