St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Visits DePaul Thursday
2/24/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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QUEENS, N.Y. - St. John's begins a two-game road stretch Thursday when the squad visits Allstate Arena for a showdown with DePaul at 9 p.m. eastern on FS1. Jeff Levering and Steve Bardo are on the call for the national telecast. St. John's radio broadcast with John Minko will air on 570 AM WMCA and is available through TuneIn.
The Red Storm will try to complete the regular-season sweep of the Blue Demons as the teams meet for the second time in nine days. With only three regular-season games remaining for St. John's (8-20, 1-14), Thursday's contest with DePaul (8-18, 2-12) will have implications for BIG EAST Tournament seeding.
In their previous contest on Feb. 17, St. John's rallied for an 80-65 victory at Carnesecca Arena. Durand Johnson (Baltimore, Md.) scored a team-high 18 points and Federico Mussini (Reggio Emilia, Italy) posted all 17 points in the second half, hitting 10-of-11 free-throws to help seal the double-digit win. Kassoum Yakwe (Bamako, Mali) also posted his first of two consecutive double-doubles (11 points, 11 rebounds).
Yakwe, a 6-foot-7 freshman forward, has delivered his top performances of the season as of late and has been one of the top rookies in the conference throughout BIG EAST play. Most recently, Yakwe dominated both ends of the court Sunday against Seton Hall posting career-highs with 16 points and 15 rebounds to go with four blocks. He was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Monday.
St. John's enters Thursday's contest looking to continue its solid defensive play. Over the past two games, the Red Storm has given up just 63.5 points and limited opponents to a 36.3 field goal shooting percentage. In the last 20 minutes versus Seton Hall, St. John's allowed only five field goals and forced 10 turnovers. Yakwe and fellow freshman Yankuba Sima (Girona, Spain) combined for seven of the team's 10 blocks against the Pirates, which increased the duo's nation-best blocks average for a set of teammates to 5.62 per game.
After falling in Queens, DePaul dropped its fourth-straight game Saturday with a 73-60 loss to Marquette at Allstate Arena. The Blue Demons are 4-8 at home this season with their last victory coming against Providence on Feb. 2. Senior guard Myke Henry is the team's leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 14.1 points and 6.3 boards per contest.
About the Series with DePaul
- St. John's owns a 20-16 overall record against DePaul, including a 12-5 mark as BIG EAST members.
- The Red Storm has won 11 of the last 13 meetings with the Blue Demons dating back to 2009.
- St. John's has dropped the last two meetings with DePaul at Allstate Arena. The Red Storm fell 71-67 in overtime last season.
