St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Faces Georgetown Monday on FS1
1/8/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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QUEENS, N.Y. - The St. John's men's basketball team heads to our nation's capital for a Monday night showdown with archrival Georgetown (8-8, 0-4 BIG EAST) at the Verizon Center. The Johnnies and Hoyas will meet for the 106th edition of the storied rivalry at 6:30 p.m. on FS1.
FOX Sports announcers Tim Brando and Jim Jackson have the call for the national telecast while John Minko and Vin Parise can be heard on St. John's IMG Radio broadcast which airs on 970 AM WNYM or through TuneIn Radio.
After a grueling two game stretch against two of the BIG EAST's four nationally ranked teams, the Red Storm looks to get back on the winning track against the Hoyas who are in search of their first BIG EAST win. St. John's (8-9, 2-2 BIG EAST) plays on the road for the third time in the last four games on Monday when it visits a venue that has not been friendly to the Johnnies for over a decade. The young and talented Red Storm, many of whom will be experiencing the storied rivalry with Georgetown for the first time, tries to snap an 11-game slide against the Hoyas in Washington dating back to 2003.
Despite a pair of recent setbacks against No. 10/10 Creighton and No. 16/15 Xavier, redshirt freshman Marcus LoVett has been a bright spot for St. John's, averaging 27.5 points while shooting 54.8 percent (17-31 FG) from the field and 8-for-12 (66.7 3FG pct) from distance in the last two contests. Coming off a career-high 32-point performance at Xavier, LoVett has ascended to the top of the BIG EAST scoring chart averaging 21.8 points per game in conference play.
In order to snap the lengthy road-losing streak to the Hoyas, St. John's will need to get back to playing the brand of basketball that it put on display in several wins this season, including its three road victories. The Johnnies were clicking on all cylinders in blowout road wins at Tulane and Syracuse, averaging 94.0 points and 24.5 assists in those two contests, and most recently rallied past DePaul on New Year's Day by handing out 18 assists on 27 made field goals. LoVett led the way with a game-high 22 points against the Blue Demos, marking the first of three-straight 20+ point performances.
On the defensive end of the floor, St. John's has been at its best this season when holding opponents below 75 points as the team has won seven of its 10 games. Additionally, the Johnnies fare well when keeping the opposition below 50 percent shooting, something St. John's youthful roster was unable to do in its last two contests against veteran Creighton and Xavier clubs, falling to 0-4 on the year when teams go above the mark.
Georgetown has lost four-straight games, including its last two at the Verizon Center against Xavier and Butler. On Saturday, the Hoyas battled Butler into overtime before falling, 85-76. Junior guard L.J. Peak scored a game-high 21 points while freshman backcourt mate Jagan Mosely finished with 20 points going a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point range against the Bulldogs.
Graduate transfer Rodney Pryor leads the Hoyas and ranks fourth in the BIG EAST averaging 18.6 points per game. His 46 3-pointers are the third most in the conference, trailing Red Storm freshman Shamorie Ponds, who leads the league with 49, followed by Villanova's Kris Jenkins who has 48 triples.
Monday's contest features two of the top shot blocking teams in the BIG EAST as the Johnnies average 6.9 rejections to Georgetown's 5.5 blocks per game. Red Storm sophomores Tariq Owens (2.5 bpg) and Kassoum Yakwe (2.4 bpg) occupy the top two spots on the league's block chart, while Georgetown blocks shots by committee as six Hoyas have double digit totals this season including a team-high 17 rejections from Jessie Govan.
St. John's leads the series with a 55-50 all-time record against the Hoyas, but in BIG EAST play the Johnnies trail 37-30.
The Johnnies return home for its next two games to face No. 1/1 Villanova on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Two days later, St. John's will host DePaul at Carnesecca Arena as part of the BIG EAST's Martin Luther King Day Marathon on FS1. The first 5,000 fans will receive a commemorative Felipe Lopez bobblehead on Monday, Jan. 16.
