St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Makes Madison Square Garden Debut on Sunday
12/15/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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QUEENS - After playing five of its last six games on the road, the St. John's men's basketball team will return to New York City on Sunday afternoon for its 2017-18 Madison Square Garden Debut. The Johnnies will square off with local foe Iona at 4:30 p.m. in the second game of the MSG Holiday Festival, a doubleheader that also includes a meeting between Army and Air Force.
FS1 will carry the live national broadcast with FOX Sports announcers Brian Custer and Sarah Kustok calling the action from Midtown. The contest will also be available through FOX Sports Go. The St. John's IMG Radio broadcast team of John Minko and Tarik Turner can be heard on 970 AM WNYM or through TuneIn Radio.
St. John's has been put to the test recently, playing its last six games over a 16-day road heavy stretch, as the Johnnies traveled nearly 8,000 miles to face stiff competition in Orlando, Phoenix and Los Angeles. The Red Storm came away with four wins, including three away from home, against Pac-12 member Oregon State, Grand Canyon and UCF, a team that ranks inside the RPI top 50. Now back in the Northeast for its next four contests in more familiar venues, the Red Storm will look to improve upon its 8-2 record, the program's second-best mark through 10 games in the last eight seasons.
The Johnnies carry a perfect 5-0 mark at home into Sunday's contest with the Gaels for the 51st edition of the Holiday Festival. After an eight-day layoff from competition, St. John's will look to keep its unblemished home record intact under the bright lights of MSG, where the squad won four of its last six games during the 2016-17 campaign, highlighted by a BIG EAST Tournament victory over Georgetown.
Despite having the team's second-leading scorer, Marcus LoVett, sidelined with an injury, the Red Storm split its last two road games by grinding out a victory over Western Athletic Conference (WAC) preseason favorite Grand Canyon before falling to then No. 16/17 Arizona State at the wire. In addition to Shamorie Ponds' elevated play of late, Marvin Clark II, Tariq Owens and Justin Simon have helped fill the void for the past three games in LoVett's absence, as each member of this trio has turned in a career-best performance.
Clark and Owens shined last Friday by filling up the stat sheet against the nationally ranked Sun Devils. Clark set personal highs with 18 points on 7-for-13 shooting, including four three pointers, to go along with seven boards, while Owens poured in 17 points by hitting eight of his 10 field goal attempts and swatting three shots.
Simon notched a career-high 17 points to help lift the Johnnies past Grand Canyon in a hard-fought contest. A 6-foot-5 guard from Temecula, Calif., Simon has bolstered the St. John's lineup averaging 12.3 points on 57.9 percent shooting from the field in the last three games. On the season, he ranks top-10 in the BIG EAST in rebounding (8.0), steals, (2.5) and assists (4.0).
With two games left on its non-conference slate, St. John's will look to continue its solid play and carry momentum into BIG EAST action. Sunday's showdown with Iona (5-4) will mark the 10th all-time meeting between the programs and the first since 1995. St. John's owns a 6-3 all-time record against the Gaels.
Iona has won its last four games and is coming off an 83-67 victory over Yale on Tuesday in New Rochelle. With five players returning from their 2017 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship team, the Gaels were selected to win the MAAC again this season according to the league's preseason coaches' poll.
After Sunday's matchup, the Johnnies will compete at Mohegan Sun Arena for the second time in the past three seasons, taking on Saint Joseph's on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. on ESPNU in the Basketball Hall of Fame Holiday Showcase. St. John's will then open conference play on Dec. 28 in Queens against Providence.
