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St John's at Seton Hall

Halldan1

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Jan 1, 2003
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


St. John’s to Kick Off Crucial Road Swing at No. 16/14 Seton Hall

Red Storm and Pirates to meet on national network television for the second time this season


· Game Notes (PDF)

· Media Guide (PDF)



QUEENS, N.Y. (Feb. 20, 2020) – After splitting a two-game homestand with Providence and Xavier, the St. John’s men’s basketball team will begin the most challenging portion of an already daunting BIG EAST slate when it kicks off a two-game road swing at No. 16/14 Seton Hall on Sunday.

The game, which will air live nationally on CBS, is set to tip off at 2 p.m. Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel will have the call from Prudential Center. Fans can also catch the Learfield-IMG College Red Storm Sports Network broadcast with John Minko and Vin Parise calling the action on 570 AM WMCA, TuneIn and Sirius XM.

The Red Storm’s Sunday contest with the Pirates will mark the first of five games to end the regular season against teams ranked in the Feb. 17 edition of the Associated Press Top 25 poll. After taking on their cross-river rivals, the Red Storm will head to No. 12/13 Villanova on Feb. 26 before playing two of its final three regular season games at home. The Johnnies will host No. 15/15 Creighton on March 1 at Carnesecca Arena before traveling to No. 21/23 Butler on March 4 and closing out their slate with a matchup at Madison Square Garden against No. 19/19 Marquette on March 7.

The team’s five season-ending opponents will each present the Red Storm with an opportunity for a crucial Quad One victory. The Johnnies, who placed 65th in Friday morning’s update of the NET rankings, currently sport three Quad One wins, including a 2-0 record in such games during non-conference play. The Red Storm defeated Arizona, currently no. 7 in the NET, on Dec. 21 in San Francisco two weeks after outlasting West Virginia, currently no. 10 in the NET, on Dec. 7 at “The World’s Most Famous Arena.”

St. John’s will look to avenge an 82-79 loss to Seton Hall on Jan. 18 in which the Red Storm led by 13 at halftime. That contest at MSG was one of five during BIG EAST play that the Johnnies have lost by five or fewer points. The Red Storm led in the second half at one point during all five of those games, led in the last two minutes in four and led in the final minute in three. Myles Powell scored 23 of his game-high 29 points in the second half, shooting 9-of-11 from the floor, including a 2-for-3 showing from beyond the arc.

The Red Storm’s last outing was also a closely contested affair at MSG, as Xavier scored the final eight points of the game to escape with a 77-74 victory. The Johnnies led by five with less than two minutes to go before Xavier moved ahead for good on a Zach Freemantle baseline floater with 10 seconds remaining. Four Johnnies finished in double figures against the Musketeers, led by Rasheem Dunn and Marcellus Earlington with 17 points apiece. Dunn scored 12 of his 17 in the latter stanza while Earlington netted all but two of his points in the final 20 minutes. Hardly known as a three-point threat just a few short weeks ago, Earlington has been a threat from beyond the arc over his last three outings. The sophomore from Stony Point, N.Y., has connected on six of his 10 tries from downtown since Feb. 8, averaging 18.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game in just 22 minutes per appearance during that span.

Graduate student Nick Rutherford put forth his most productive outing as a Johnnie against Xavier, finishing with a season-high 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting to go along with seven assists, five rebounds and three steals. Rutherford and Julian Champagnie, who tallied 11 points, were both in double figures before the intermission. Champagnie has scored no fewer than nine points in any one game since returning to the starting lineup against Georgetown on Feb. 2.

The Johnnies recorded their best turnover margin of the season on Monday against Xavier, forcing the Musketeers into 22 miscues while coughing up just four possessions of their own. Through games played on Thursday, the Red Storm leads the BIG EAST and ranks third nationally with an average turnover margin of +5.7. The Johnnies also rank third nationally with 10.3 steals per game and boast the top two theft artists in the conference in LJ Figueroa (2.2 per game) and Rutherford (1.9 per game). Figueroa has registered four steals in back-to-back games.

Seton Hall needed a Sandro Mamukelashvili buzzer beater to snap a two-game slide on Wednesday, as the Pirates pushed past No. 21 Butler, 74-72, at Prudential Center. Prior to that victory, Seton Hall had dropped back-to-back decisions against Creighton and Providence. The Pirates are 3-3 in their last six games since starting BIG EAST play with eight straight wins.

Seton Hall is led by Powell, a preseason All-American who tops the team and ranks 13th nationally with 21.4 points per game. Mamukelashvili (10.6 ppg) and Quincy McKnight (12.1 ppg) also average double figures for the Pirates.

St. John’s and Seton Hall will meet for the 103rd time in a series history dating back to 1909. The Red Storm owns a 60-42 all-time record against the Pirates.

The Red Storm, which will return to Newark for the first time since losing in controversial fashion on a Shavar Reynolds buzzer beater on Dec. 29, 2018, will look to capture its first victory at Prudential Center since the 2013-14 season, a streak of five straight losses in New Jersey.
 
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