The St John’s Men’s Basketball Huddle. Photo by: Stacy Podelski/1495 Sports
The St. John’s men’s basketball team returns to the hardwood at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday to take on Marquette (10-7, 2-3) at 7 p.m. FOX Sports 1 has the national telecast with Joe Davis and Tarik Turner on the call. The St. John’s radio broadcast can be heard on 970 AM (WNYM) with John Minko and Brandon Tierney.
St. John’s (12-5, 1-4) returns to the “World’s Most Famous Arena” after splitting a two game road series, winning by 13 points at Providence before falling at DePaul in overtime. The Red Storm has played well on its home court in Midtown Manhattan going 7-3 in its last 10 regular-season contests at MSG dating back to last season. St. John’s has picked up two wins this year defeating Minnesota in the NIT Season Tip-Off and Fordham in the MSG Holiday Festival.
The Red Storm swept its regular-season series with the Golden Eagles in 2013-14 and has won three of the last five meetings. However, Marquette is hungry for its first road victory of the season after dropping three hard fought BIG EAST contests each by six points or less at DePaul, Georgetown and Xavier.
In their last meeting at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 1, 2014, D’Angelo Harrison scored 27 points and hit six 3-pointers en route to a 74-59 triumph. In the regular-season finale at the Bradley Center, St. John’s battled through two overtimes to take home a 91-90 victory.
Things To Know
- D’Angelo Harrison was named to the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 List announced last Wednesday by the Los Angeles Athletic Club. A Preseason BIG EAST First Team selection, Harrison has 10 20-point performances in 17 games this season and is 17th in the country with a 20.0 scoring average. The 6-foot-4 guard is tied for 11th in the BIG EAST with 5.9 rebounds per game. He has six BIG EAST weekly honors this season, including two Player of the Week Awards (Dec. 8 & 15). St. John’s has had two John R. Wooden Award winners in program history with Chris Mullin receiving the award in 1985 and Walter Berry in 1986. Most recently, All-BIG EAST First Team performer Dwight Hardy was named a Wooden Award Top-20 Finalist in 2011.
- Phil Greene IV was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Monday after leading St. John’s with 18.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in two conference road games last week. Greene IV notched his 1,000th career point last Wednesday posting 20 points with a career-high five 3-pointers en route to an 83-70 victory at Providence. He finished the week with a 50.0 (6-of-12) 3-point shooting percentage and a 87.5 (7-of-8) free-throw shooting percentage. Greene IV is the fourth St. John’s player to receive a conference accolade this season. D’Angelo Harrison has received six weekly honors, including BIG EAST Player of the Week recognition on Dec. 8 & Dec. 15. Rysheed Jordan was named to the honor roll on Dec. 15 and Sir’Dominic Pointer on Dec. 29.
- The Red Storm’s strength of schedule is rated No. 22 in the nation as of Jan. 19 according to RPIRatings.com. Four of St. John’s five setbacks have come against teams that ranked in the top-25 this season, including two currently ranked in the top-5 (Gonzaga & Villanova). The Red Storm has picked up two key wins on the road, defeating Syracuse and Providence by double-digits on their home floors. The BIG EAST has the second highest RPI of the 33 conferences in college basketball and has compiled a 93-29 (.762) record against outside competition. Outside of the BIG EAST, St. John’s has wins against teams from five conferences rated in the top-9 of the RPI standings – ACC (No. 3), Big Ten (No. 5), Atlantic 10 (No. 7), American (No. 8) and West Coast (No. 9).
- In two starts during St. John’s recent two-game road stretch, Rysheed Jordan has averaged 17.0 points shooting 50.0 percent (11-of-22) from the field to go along with team-highs with 3.0 assists and 2.5 steals per game. The sophomore guard has scored in double-figures in four of the last five contests and 11 times in 15 appearances this season. Jordan currently leads the BIG EAST averaging 2.3 steals in conference games.
- St. John’s is one of two teams in the BIG EAST to have four players in the top-20 of the conference’s scoring chart – D’Angelo Harrison (2nd, 20.0), Rysheed Jordan (7th, 13.6), Phil Greene IV (13th, 12.6) and Sir’Dominic Pointer (T-20, 11.1). DePaul is the other team, but the Blue Demons do not have a player higher than eighth. In five BIG EAST games, Harrison and Greene raised their scoring averages to 22.4 points and 16.0 points, respectively.
- In 56 career BIG EAST appearances, D’Angelo Harrison has averaged 17.5 points and has 978 career points in conference action. He is 22 points shy of becoming the 38th player in BIG EAST history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
About the Series
- St. John’s and Marquette will meet for the 24th time in series history and 10th time as BIG EAST counterparts.
- The Red Storm has won three of the last five games with Marquette, but the Golden Eagles own a 15-8 overall record and a 3-6 BIG EAST mark all-time versus St. John’s.
- St. John’s swept the regular-season series with Marquette last year. The Red Storm earned a 74-59 win at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 1, 2014 and a 91-90 double-overtime triumph at the Bradley Center on March 8, 2014.
For more information on the St John’s Men’s Basketball team fans are encouraged to click on the link seen here:
http://www.redstormsports.com/