St. John's Opens Garden Homestand With Rutgers On Wednesday

Jan. 8, 2013

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QUEENS, N.Y. - Returning to Madison Square Garden for the first time in just over a month for their conference home opener, head coach Steve Lavin and his young St. John's basketball team (9-5, 1-1 BIG EAST) meet local BIG EAST rival Rutgers (10-3, 1-1 BIG EAST) to begin a home-and-home series that will end at The RAC two weeks later. The 7 p.m. Wednesday matchup will be aired in the New York area on the MSG Network with announcers Mike Corey and Bob Valvano. The meeting can be heard live on the official radio flagship of St. John's Basketball, Bloomberg Radio 1130-AM, and on RedStormSports.com (subscription), with veteran play-by-play announcer John Minko and analyst Brandon Tierney.

Lavin returns in 2012-13 after posting a 2-2 record last season while making a full recovery from prostate cancer surgery (Oct. 6, 2011). Dr. Peter Scardino of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center placed Lavin on a modified schedule in 2011-12 that kept him off the sideline, enabling Lavin to better focus on a full recuperation, while simultaneously securing the No. 8 recruiting class in the nation per HoopScoop.com. St. John's 2012 recruiting class is comprised of eight standout student-athletes representing five countries. The highly-acclaimed group followed a 2011 class ranked No. 3 nationally by ESPN. Lavin is 32-19 at St. John's.

After defeating Fordham on Dec. 8 in the MSG Holiday Festival, St. John's is 401-269 (.599) all-time at "The World's Most Famous Arena," which has served as a home court for St. John's basketball for more than 77 years. STJ looks to improve upon a 4-8 mark from 2011-12.

JaKarr Sampson scored 16 points and D'Angelo Harrison added 15 as St. John's topped No. 14/15 Cincinnati on Saturday, 53-52, courtesy of a defensive effort that held the Bearcats to just 31.7 shooting. The win marked STJ's eighth victory over a Top 25 in The Lavin Era and the seventh with the third-year head coach on the sidelines. Harrison scored 13 points in the second half including a jumper with 29 seconds remaining to give St. John's its final lead. The Red Storm finished +6 on the glass (40-34) as Chris Obekpa grabbed nine rebounds, Sampson eight and Harrison seven. Obekpa also added six points and three blocks as St. John's overcame a 1-of-9 effort from distance to shoot 40.0 percent from the floor.

Wednesday's game marks the 39th meeting in a series that dates to 1974. St. John's holds a 25-13 lead, a 15-6 advantage in BIG EAST play, and has won nine of the last 13 contests. The last meeting resulted in a hard-fought 61-58 home win for Rutgers (March 3, 2012), despite double-figure scoring from Harrison (17 pts), Amir Garrett (14 pts, 9 rebs) and God'sgift Achiuwa (12 pts, 8 rebs), snapping a two-game Red Storm winning streak in the series.

Storm Tracker

A Preseason All-BIG EAST Second Team selection, D'Angelo Harrison is now the league's leading scorer at 21.6 points per game (seventh nationally), and his 80.3 percent success rate at the free throw line ranks ninth among all BIG EAST players. The five-time BIG EAST Honor Roll member's 2.5 made 3-pointers per game rank third in the conference, he holds the team lead and is 11th in the league with 1.9 steals per game and his 35.1 minutes per game rank eighth in the BIG EAST. He is currently firing at a rate of 45.0 percent from the field and owns a 35.7 mark from beyond the arc. He has reached the 20-point plateau in 10 of St. John's first 14 games.

Second-year guard Phil Greene IV is making an early run as the BIG EAST's Most Improved Player. After averaging 7.6 ppg as a freshman, he is currently firing at a 9.8 ppg clip and showing his ability as a dynamic scorer and playmaker. His 3.3 assists per game rank tied for 16th among all BIG EAST players and his 1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio is ranked 11th.

Sophomore swingman Amir Garrett closed out 2011-12 with 14-straight starts as part of the "Fresh Five." Garrett spent the offseason in professional baseball as a left-handed pitcher within the Cincinnati Reds minor league system. In BIG EAST play he is averaging 11.5 ppg, 5.0 rebounds and 1.0 blocks with an impressive .714 field goal percentage in 28.0 minutes per game.

Motor City sophomore Sir'Dominic Pointer averaged 6.6 ppg and 4.6 rpg in 2011-12. The Red Storm's best on-ball defender is tied for 20th in the BIG EAST with a 1.2 steals per game average, and recently scored 12 points with seven boards, five assists and two steals against St. Francis (N.Y.) (Dec. 15).

Three-time BIG EAST Rookie of the Week JaKarr Sampson owns a team-leading 7.0 rpg (10th in the BIG EAST) to go along with 13.9 ppg (16th) and a pair of preseason dunks that were selected as SportsCenter Top 10 plays. His rejections (1.6, tied for seventh) offensive boards (2.2 per game, 13th) and defensive rebounds (4.8 per game, 11th) are listed among the league leaders.

A game-changing shotblocker who craves defense, 6-9 Chris Obekpa averaged 13.0 rebounds and 9.0 blocks per game as a high school senior on Long Island. The Nigerian native with the 7-5 wingspan led STJ with a school-record 11 blocked shots in the victory vs. Fordham (Dec. 8), and is averaging a BIG EAST-leading 5.1 rejections per contest, second in NCAA Division I.

Texas A&M transfer point guard Jamal Branch, who averaged 4.2 points, 2.5 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 18.6 minutes across 11 games for the Aggies in 2011-12, has now played in two games for his new squad, drawing one start. He is averaging 7.0 ppg, shooting 46.2 percent from the floor (6-for-13), and adding 2.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists to go along with 4.0 turnovers.

Athletic wing Felix Balamou continues to be a key playmaker. In the last 12 games he has averaged 3.4 ppg, connecting on 17-of-34 field goals (.500) while contributing 1.7 rpg in 12.0 minutes.

The final member of Lavin's eight-man recruiting class, freshman Christian Jones was the surprise of the preseason. He played one postgraduate year for IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., averaging 12.0 points and 5.0 rebounds. In exhibition play he averaged 12.5 ppg on 66.7 percent shooting with 8.5 rebounds.

JUCO transfer Orlando Sanchez will not participate Wednesday as he awaits an eligibility ruling from the NCAA. Harvard transfer Max Hooper is eligible for game participation in the 2013-14 season.

Senior big man God'sgift Achiuwa, who averaged 9.5 ppg and 5.6 rpg in his JUCO transfer year in 2011-12, is in the midst of a redshirt season. Achiuwa, a member of St. John's University's prestigious President's Society, is on track to graduate with a degree in administrative studies and could complete Master's degree requirements by the end of 2013-14.

On Deck

The MSG homestand continues as No. 15/16 Georgetown arrives for a Sat., Jan. 12, nationally-televised morning game, which will take place at 11 a.m. and air on ESPN2 as part of a doubleheader with the Red Storm women (vs. Seton Hall, 1:30 p.m.).

Scouting Rutgers

Rutgers comes in to Wednesday's matchup at 10-3 and 1-1 in the BIG EAST. RU is 3-2 in games away from Piscataway in 2012-13, with a 1-0 record at Madison Square Garden after an 81-73 neutral site win over local rival Iona in the MSG Holiday Festival. The Scarlet Knights come in with an RPI of 53 after playing a schedule ranked 134th-toughest in the nation.

The Scarlet Knights are some of the best shooters in the BIG EAST, firing at a .476 clip from the field and a conference-best .745 from the charity stripe. RU is also proficient as a team from behind the arc, ranking in the top-five in the BIG EAST with a .349 three-point field goal percentage.

Sophomore guard Eli Carter is RU's top scorer at 17.5 points per game, sixth-best in the BIG EAST. Classmate Myles Mack is the only other Scarlet Knight averaging in double figures at 13.2 points per contest. Redshirt junior forward Wally Judge averages a team-leading 6.9 rebounds per contest while Mack averages a team-best 2.8 assists.

Head Coach Mike Rice is in his third season at the helm of Rutgers, posting a 39-38 record so far in Piscataway. The Scarlet Knights are off to the best start of the Rice era, reaching the 10-win plateau just thirteen games into the season.

St. John's University Athletics

St. John's Opens Garden Homestand With Rutgers On Wednesday

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Players Mentioned

God'sgift Achiuwa

Felix Balamou

Jamal Branch

Amir Garrett

Phil Greene IV

D'Angelo Harrison

Max Hooper

Christian Jones

Chris Obekpa

Sir'Dominic Pointer

JaKarr Sampson

Orlando Sanchez

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