It has been a rough stretch for the St. John’s Men’s Basketball team (10-8, 0-5 BIG EAST) who has the 33rd-toughest schedule in the nation. Three of St. John’s losses have come to teams rated in the RPI’s top six, including a neutral game versus Wisconsin (RPI No. 5, 16-2) and games at The Garden versus Villanova (No. 2 in the RPI, 16-2) and still undefeated Syracuse (RPI No. 6, 18-0).

The Red Storm will be heading into Thursday’s game against Seton Hall (11-7, 2-3 BIG EAST)  with momentum, earning a 69-55 victory over non-conference foe Dartmouth, and having played competitively in their last few BIG EAST Conference games.

All it takes in one basketball season is one victory in conference play for momentum to change, and with St. John’s heading into their last game at Carneseecca Arena –where the the team holds a 7-1 record this maybe the game where the team can go on a run.

Seton Hall is coming into things with momentum as well, winning two of the last three BIG EAST road games over a 13-day span. For the Hall Senior Eugene Teague will play in his second game after missing the Pirates fir four BIG EAST Games due to a concussion suffered on December 27.

Meanwhile for St. John’s they will enter the game as the top shot blocking team in the nation with 8.83 rejections-per-game. Sophomore center Chris Obekpa (Makurdi, Nigeria) stands second in the NCAA Division 1 standings, averaging 3.78 blocks, while also leading the conference with 38.

The Red Storm have averaged 73.2 points-per-game this season and 69.0 against conference opponents. Junior guard D’Angelo Harrison (Missouri City, Texas)  is the fourth leading scorer in the BIG EAST with 18.2 points-per-game, having scored double figures in 16 of the last 18 games this season.

1495 Sports is proud to bring the following videos from a press conference held by St. John’s University, to help get fans get ready for the game:

D’Angelo Harrison:

Chris Obekpa:

St. John’s University Head Men’s Basketball Coach Steve Lavin:

The St. John’s versus Seton Hall game will air on the CBS Sports Network on Thursday , with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m.