St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Faces No. 23/23 Butler Saturday
1/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
FOX Sports Go | | Game Notes | Media Guide
QUEENS, N.Y. - St. John's visits historic Hinkle Fieldhouse Saturday to face No. 23/23 Butler (12-4, 1-3) at noon on FS1. Joe Davis and Dickey Simpkins will call the action for the national broadcast that is also available through FOX Sports Go. St. John's radio broadcast with John Minko and Brandon Tierney can be heard on 570 AM WMCA or via TuneIn.
The Red Storm's new-look roster, which features nine new scholarship players, continues to be battle tested with a schedule that is among the strongest in the nation. The Bulldogs are the sixth nationally-ranked opponent St. John's will face this season and it is the team's fifth game against a Top-25 opponent away from home. On Saturday, St. John's will try for its first road win over a ranked team since 2013.
St. John's (7-11, 0-5) looks to bounce back from a setback against Georgetown on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. The Red Storm had four players score double-figures for the fourth time this season, including a team-high 15 points from Ron Mvouika (Paris, France) on 6-of-7 shooting. Mvouika has been one of the team's top performers as of late, averaging 15.7 points and a 3.5 assist-to-turnover ratio in the past three games.
The Red Storm freshmen continue to develop as they play key minutes in BIG EAST action. Federico Mussini (Reggio Emilia, Italy) is coming off his 13th double-figure scoring performance and has started all 18 games this season. He drained a pair of 3s against the Hoyas to increase his season total to 41, which is the second-most in the league.
Kassoum Yakwe (Bamako, Mali) has taken advantage of extended minutes in the absence of injured classmate Yankuba Sima (Girona, Spain). The 6-foot-7 forward has averaged a team-high 9.5 rebounds and 4.5 blocks to go with 7.0 points per game in his last two starts. Malik Ellison (Voorhees, N.J.) has also contributed eight points in each of the last two games coming off the bench.
Butler's veteran-laden roster features seniors Kellen Dunham (15.3 ppg) and Roosevelt Jones (14.6 ppg) who each rank in the top-10 of the league's scoring chart. After going 11-1 in non-conference play, the Bulldogs were tripped up by tough BIG EAST competition early in the conference season falling to nationally-ranked Providence, Xavier and Villanova. Butler is 16th in the nation averaging 84.6 points per game and among the best in limiting turnovers giving up only 9.4 per contest.
About the Series with Butler
- St. John's owns a 3-2 record all-time against Butler and has gone 2-2 in BIG EAST play.
- The series began in the 1958 National Invitation Tournament (NIT) at MSG. St. John's won the inaugural contest 78-68.
- The Red Storm won the first three meetings in series history, but was swept by the Bulldogs in the 2014-15 regular-season.
