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The St. John's Red Storm and Seton Hall Pirates are both on the heels of defeats this past weekend to the likes of the Marquette Golden Eagles and Xavier Musketeers respectively.
The latter has suffered defeat only a few times this year and has been up and down as the season has progressed.
The former, meanwhile, is still seeking their first conference victory of the season and looking to put a 10-game losing streak to bed.
The Johnnies and Pirates will collide in a New York-New Jersey showdown in Newark Wednesday night with tournament implications for one side and, dang, just a tally in the win column for the other.
Here's the 411.
How to watch, listen or stream
Game Time: 7 p.m. ET
TV: FS1
Radio: AM 570 The Mission (St. John's) || AM 970 The Answer, WSOU 89.5 FM (Seton Hall)
Live Stream: You can stream this game via the FOX Sports GO app.
Gamblin' Info
Spread: The Pirates opened up as a staggering 18-point favorite over their rivals across the Hudson River. The line bumped down to 17 points. All spread info, per the usual, comes from those fine folks at OddsShark.
Records ATS: St. John's (7-13) || Seton Hall (12-6)
O/U: The O/U opened at 146. Guess whose line isn't different? BetDSI's!
3 things to watch
1. How will Seton Hall respond after a loss?: Something that often plagued this Pirates team last year was the residual effect of losses. Often times, the Pirates were mired in lengthy losing streaks that wound up disrupting the flow of their season. They haven't coughed up too many times in the 2015-16 campaign, to their credit. To this point, their longest losing streak is at two games, and that's the one they walk into this game with.
They did have a two-game losing streak going into Friartown on Saturday, January 16, but managed to pull a huge victory out of their hats. They will need to do the same here against the lowly Red Storm. If they don't, they will not only have their longest losing streak of the season, but their tournament hopes could begin to capsize.
2. More like Kassoum BLOCK-we: St. John's big man Kassoum Yakwe has assumed the role of shot blocker from Yankuba Sima and former big man Chris Obekpa. Nicknamed 'O-block-pa,' the Johnnies were one of the best shot-blocking teams in the country with him down low protecting the rim. Well, the interior defense hasn't changed much despite the new faces.
The Red Storm are No. 1 in Block% in the country with a mark of 16.7 percent and Yakwe has been a big part of that. His Block% this season is a staggering 13.4 percent (!!) and is coming off a seven-block outing against Marquette. Against the likes of Ismael Sanogo, Angel Delgado and Seton Hall's slashers, Yakwe will be relied d upon again to do his damnedest to protect the rim and prevent baskets.
If his performances of late have proven anything, the Bamako, Mali native should be able to handle the pressure.
3. Will the woes for St. John's finally end?: St. John's continues to go fishing for victories and aren't even coming up with a bite. Heck, I'm not even sure if the bait wants to be on the hook right now.
The Red Storm nearly caught Marquette on Sunday, losing by five, but of late have been getting blown out by much more superior opponents. We're not sure if this could qualify as a trap game but the situation could be ripe for the taking if St. John's gets the bounces and perhaps capitalizes on a mistake-heavy Seton Hall team.
FWIW, St. John's forces turnovers at a rate of 20.0 percent and The Hall, when they have the ball, commits turnovers at a rate of 19.3 percent. If that winds up being the case, the Red Storm must capitalize on their opponent's mistakes. If they do, who knows?