The taste of foot in one’s mouth is never pleasant, but when it’s the alternative to having crow shoved down your throat, you’ll take it. St. John’s came within one shot of beating Texas on Friday night, ultimately falling to the Longhorns in a 77-76 thriller.

On Thursday, I blasted the Red Storm in this column, particularly their ineffective offense. In retrospect, I should’ve been lauding Maryland with a lot more praise and wringing my hands over this Texas team’s atypical lack of defense. With Rick Barnes at the helm, having some individuals unable to play even average man defense is surprising.

Granted, the Johnnies (2-2) shot lights out. And coming a night after they couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, it came as quite a shock. But Texas (3-1) didn’t help matters by being unable to react to good ball movement and having men get lost on simple high screens. In addition to rebounding, this is likely going to be a recurring theme for the team this season.

Once again, Kevin Durant carried the Longhorns. As St. John’s came running out of the gate — hitting their first five shots, including a trio three-pointers — Durant single-handedly kept Texas in the game. He opened the game a perfect 4-for-4 from behind the arc, and finished the night with 29 points and 10 boards.

Durant’s value to the team was made crystal clear in the second half. With roughly fifteen minutes left in the contest and Texas up by nine, he picked up his third foul and was sent to the bench. With Durant out of the game, St. John’s made up a huge chunk of the deficit, tying the game four minutes later. It’s apparent that Damion James is going to need to step up if Durant goes cold or gets into foul trouble later in the year.

D.J. Augustin continued to impress, reaching double digits again with seventeen points and dished out seven assists. This shift to more of a scoring mentality is certainly an added bonus. Texas hasn’t had a true point guard since T.J. Ford led the team to New Orleans and the Final Four in 2003. With Augustin, Barnes has another floor general who can run the show, attract extra defenders, and has an uncanny knack for finding passing lanes invisible to the average player.

I hate to make this the daily Connor Atchley bashing column, but the poor guy is really struggling. It’s clear as day that the scouting report is to attack Atchley, and every team seems to have gotten the memo. Just think back to the brutal three or four-minute stretch in January’s Villanova game for the most painful example of this.

Friday night, St. John’s did the same. Atchley came in at one point, guarding useless foul-magnet Aaron Spears. At the time, Spears had two personals and two points. Roughly twenty seconds later, they fed it to Spears, who isolated Atchley and quickly doubled his meager point total.

Fortunately, Atchley did not pick up the stupid fouls that had plagued him in Thursday’s Michigan State game. And while that helps the Horns in the team fouls department, his defense is still a huge liability. Out of all the players in what is amounting to a seven-man rotation, Atchley is by far the most worrisome. I’m still hoping his light-bulb moment is not far away.

Damion James had another frustrating night on the offensive end and saw his minutes decrease. After playing 31 minutes in the semifinal game against Michigan State, James played only 26 in Friday night’s contest. He scored six points, but did not have the same impact on the defensive end that he did against the Spartans.

The effects of having a short bench were apparent on Friday night, but Coach Barnes was ready to go a little further down the pine to spell his core seven players. J.D. Lewis saw early action to get A.J. Abrams some extra rest, and Dexter Pittman played earlier than usual in an effort to save energy for Matt Hill and Atchley. The two subs only provided six minutes, but the starters desperately needed the (short) early rest after the Michigan State contest.

Abrams only scored twelve points against St. John’s, but played 36 of the 40 minutes. His three-point shooting was a little off, as he finished 3-for-7 on the night. Abrams helped out on the defensive end, logging three steals in the contest.

Texas certainly saw its share of late-game scenarios in New York, and hopefully the added exposure will help by March. The team’s youth showed in the waning moments of Friday night’s game, as time ticked away with the shot clock turned off. St. John’s was at first unaware of the need to foul, but then scrambled as Texas shifted into its half-court set. Justin Mason received the ball on the wing and nearly shot a three-pointer with 14 seconds left and a one-point lead. Then, instead of quickly working the ball around in an effort to get it to Abrams, he held it and waited for the foul. Mason then missed the front end of a one-and-one, allowing St. John’s a final possession and shot for the win. Luckily for the Horns, it was one of the few shots that the Red Storm missed all night.

Thankfully the season is still young and there is more than enough time to work on rebounding and team defense. I just hope that in the meantime, the Horns can play some games that don’t come down to the final possession. At this rate, I’ll be dead from a heart attack before conference play even arrives.