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How to Watch, Stream, Listen, Follow
Game Time: 7:45pm CT *edit - previously slated for 7:30
Location: Carnesseca Arena, Queens, NY
TV: FS1 / FSGo
Radio: 1620AM the Zone in Omaha / 570AM WMCA & 970AM WNYM in New York
Other Blogs: White & Blue Review - Creighton / Rumble in the Garden - St. John’s
Tweeters:
Creighton - Rob Anderson / Creighton MBB / Tom Nemitz / “Patrick Marshall” / Matt DeMarinis / Corey Lathrop / Jon Nyatawa
St. John’s: Andrew Padyk / St. John’s MBB / Kim Adams / East Coast Bias (RitG) / Rumble in the Garden
Odds & Ends
Creighton opened as an 8 point favorite, yet the line has moved to 5.5 and back to 7 since announced according to Oddshark.
Over/Under is set at 163.5
If you have a problem gambling on sports may I suggest you preemptively break your knees with a baseball bat as a power move to any bookie who decides to come after you.
Series History
St. John’s currently leads the overall series 7-6 which gives Creighton an opportunity to
GET TO .500!!!!!
with a win. Since joining the BIG EAST, Creighton has managed to win four of the six affairs betwixt these two fine institutions, including a season sweep of last year.
The last time these two teams met Chris Mullin got booted out for saying disgusting words and looking at someone from across the court and saying, in a classic New York manner, “Oh, Yeah?!”
We were all so young and immature back then. I wax nostalgic back to those days of yore when life seemed so simple, St. John’s was so bad, and Chris Mullin would get himself kicked out of blowouts because he had an episode of M*A*S*H recorded on his Kindle Fire that he hadn’t seen yet.
Nowadays only one of these seems relevant and I’m speaking of the simplicity of life.
Verba de Ludis
What St. John’s brings to the table in this game is a phenomenal back court filled with young stars with a great deal of potential. Shamorie Ponds, Bashir Ahmed, and Marcus LoVett will guide the Johnnie’s offense as the trio combine for 47PPG.
The remainder of the roster is packed with lengthy guard/forwards who can pack a powerful punch in the reserve roles, offering a great deal of depth in case their opponent chooses to run. This will leave the Johnnie’s fresh all night long and will offer Creighton an opponent who can withstand their pace of play, though they’ll be missing Federico Mussini tonight (20.8MPG / 9.7PPG) as he battles the flu.
Creighton will have their hands full with the trio yet will be sure to exploit the lack of size down low, as Justin Patton will be sure to feast on their lack of post presence. St. John’s has one player standing at 6’10+ in Tariq Owens (6’11, 200lbs - 17.6MPG / 5.4PPG) who isn’t a great defender and will be overmatched and undersized to cover such a talented post presence.
Maurice Watson Jr., will have a heyday in this affair as well, as St. John’s tends to turn the ball over often enough for the Jays to get their transition game into full swing. After playing Villanova and being held to just 11 fast break points, it wouldn’t come as a surprise for Watson to get his troops running early and often, especially since high flying teammate Marcus Foster has a bit to prove after a less than stellar final 3 minutes against the Wildcats.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Jays attack the Johnnies on defense knowing their size disadvantage. It’d be wise to stick Khyri Thomas on Ponds, leave Watson on LoVett, Foster on Ellison, Huff/Hegner on Ahmed/Yakwe and Patton on whoever the Johnnies decide to throw out there at the 5, whether it be Yakwe or Owens.
These sorts of bounceback games after a difficult loss are usually fraught with a disastrous wake for the opponent, especially when Creighton’s opponent is young and inexperienced. Veteran teams certainly feel like they have something to prove after a hard fought chess match, so the fact that St. John’s - coming off of a mighty upset of top flight Butler and a win against cellar troll DePaul - is their next opponent may pay dividends.
On one hand you’ve got a team coming off an ephemeral high after starting conference play 2-0 and the other coming off a difficult loss to the top ranked team in the nation. We’re either going to be entertained with a stellar basketball game or the Jays will pound the Johnnies into oblivion.
Then again, you never know what Shamorie Ponds will do.
- A note from our St. John’s writer, Andrew Padyk:
Three wins on the trot for St. John’s has been the high water mark so far this season. To add to it they have won their two games to kick off Big East play. All signs may be pointing to a Red Storm Rising in the Big East as the Johnnies appear to be turning the corner and reading excerpts from the aforementioned Tom Clancy novel. All of this talk though will be on the back burner for the time being as St. John’s next opponent will be the toughest they have faced since their brief expedition into the Caribbean. That’s right, St. John’s will be hosting a Wednesday night clash against the #10 ranked Bluejays of Creighton to kick start a tough slate of games for the Red Storm and for Creighton to get their conference play back on track after their wobble against Villanova over the weekend. This should be a fun colorful clash in Queens.
-Andrew Padyk