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Game Recap: St. John's 69, Butler 52

Butler's nightmare Big East season takes another turn for the worse. Bulldogs now have last place for themselves.

Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Four factors

58 Possessions Butler St. John's
Effective FG% 46.5% 61.4%
Turnover % 15.5% 17.2%
Offensive Rebound % 10.7% 35.7%
FTA/FGA 46.5 8.7

The St. John's Red Storm annihilated the Butler Bulldogs on the boards and climbed out of the Big East cellar with a big seventeen-point victory on the road. As for Butler? Its hard to imagine this season getting any worse. The Bulldogs need to turn things around dramatically to make it to any postseason tournament this year.

Butler Breakdown (Player Grades)-

Alex Barlow (D+) has shot better than 29 percent in just one of the past four games. His steal-foul ratio during that run? 1-3, 4-3, 1-4, 1-5. Its becoming readily apparent that Barlow just isn't a Big East point guard. Butler doesn't have anybody to replace him though. Without a backcourt mate who can create scoring chances against conference foes, Kellen Dunham (C-) isn't going to break out of his current shooting slump. Defenses have figured out how to take Dunham out of games when nobody else in the Butler lineup can beat them.

Khyle Marshall (C+) has quietly put together a good string of games. Six straight contests of double-digit scoring on 50 percent from the field or better. However, Marshall has never shown the ability to take over contests with Dunham neutralized and his rebounding continues to underwhelm. Though other Butler forwards were even more disappointing on the glass.

Erik Fromm (D) was completely invisible. Two points and one rebound in 22 minutes on the floor. His replacement off the bench, Andrew Chrabascz (C), made a big impact on the scoring end with eight points, but also ended with zero boards. Its hard to criticize the team's rebounding leader Kameron Woods (C-) with seven points and seven rebounds, but a below-average result from him combined with the other bigs to lead Butler to a 14 rebound deficit against the Johnnies.

Elijah Brown (C-) played within himself for the second game in a row. Four points on two of four shooting, but he's not anywhere near the weapon off the bench that Butler fans hoped he would be at the beginning of the year.

Almost halfway through its Big East schedule, Butler is still sitting on one win. Ken Pomeroy projects them as the underdog in all of their remaining contests, save the finale against Seton Hall.