St. John’s Resumes BIG EAST Play against Butler on Tuesday
Red Storm and Bulldogs set to square off inside Carnesecca Arena at 8:30 p.m. on FS1
Red Storm and Bulldogs set to square off inside Carnesecca Arena at 8:30 p.m. on FS1
QUEENS, N.Y. (Jan. 1, 2024) – Fresh off its seventh win in the last nine games, the St. John’s men’s basketball team will resume BIG EAST play on Tuesday when Butler visits Carnesecca Arena. Tip-off is set for 8:30 p.m. in Queens.
The 23rd all-time meeting between St. John's (9-4, 1-1 BIG EAST) and Butler (10-3, 1-1 BIG EAST) will air on FS1 with Alex Faust and Jim Spanarkel on the call. An audio broadcast of the game on the LEARFIELD Red Storm Sports Network with John Minko and Tarik Turner will also be available on a variety of platforms including the Varsity Network App, TuneIn Radio, RedStormSports.com and the St. John's Red Storm mobile app. The radio broadcast can also be heard on SiriusXM channel 387 and the SiriusXM App.
St. John’s improved to 6-1 at home on Saturday with an 84-79 victory over Hofstra at UBS Arena. Daniss Jenkins led the Red Storm with a dominant performance against the Pride, finishing with 21 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. The 6-foot-4 guard from Dallas took over the game in the final nine minutes where he scored 15 of his 21 points to lift St. John’s to its fifth-straight victory at home.
On Tuesday, the Red Storm will return to action at Carnesecca Arena where it owns a perfect 4-0 record and has won each game by 15 points or more. The Johnnies have averaged 86.8 points per contest while shooting 48.7 percent from the field and 39.8 percent from 3-point territory over its four games in Queens this season.
In the team’s last contest on-campus, St. John’s delivered a dominant defensive performance in a wire-to-wire victory over Xavier on Dec. 20. The Red Storm held the Musketeers to a 34.9 field goal percentage, including a season-low 19.0 percent from 3-point range. St. John’s also forced 18 turnovers while Joel Soriano set a career-high with six of the team’s eight blocks.
St. John’s has won four of the last five meetings against Butler and three-straight at Carnesecca Arena. The Red Storm and Bulldogs last met in the BIG EAST Tournament opening round when Soriano recorded 19 points and 15 rebounds to lift St. John’s to a 76-63 victory at Madison Square Garden.
Butler returns to action for the first time since Dec. 23 when the Bulldogs suffered an 85-75 setback in overtime at Providence. It was the Bulldogs third overtime contest in the last six games and first loss since Nov. 23. DJ Davis led the team with 22 points while Pierre Brooks II added 20 points against the Friars.
The Bulldogs lead the BIG EAST and rank 35th in Division I averaging 83.2 points per game this season. Four starters are averaging double-figures for Butler, including Brooks who has posted 16.8 points per game in 13 starts. The Michigan State transfer also leads the team and ranks sixth in the conference averaging 2.3 3-pointers per contest.
After hosting Butler, the Red Storm will play three of its next four games on the road. St. John’s lone home contest over the two-week stretch is against Providence on Jan. 10 at Madison Square Garden.
