Seton Hall vs St. John’s preview: Time, TV schedule, odds, series history

Saturday afternoon at The World’s Most Famous Arena, the St. John’s Red Storm will host the Seton Hall Pirates in a important showdown between these two Big East programs.

The Pirates, who were slumping recently, are back on their feet after two important overtime victories over Georgetown and Providence. The Johnnies meanwhile have split their last two games with a win over Marquette and a loss to Villanova.

Seton Hall has won their last five games at MSG, including a Big East championship, so in reality do they look at this as a road game, or do the Pirates feel right at home?

How to watch, listen and stream

TV: CBS Sports Network (Doug Gottlieb, Rich Waltz, Jon Rothstein)

Radio: WMCA 570 AM, 89.5 WSOU, St. John’s IMG Radio (Sirius Ch. 108, XM Ch. 201)

No stream available.

Odds

(via OddsShark)

Spread: Seton Hall opened as 2.5 point favorites. The line ticked all the way down to 1 point in some spots.

Records ATS: Seton Hall 10-12 | St. John’s 11-14

O/U: 149/149.5

Series History

St. John’s leads this series all time 58-38.

Things to Watch

Containing Angel Delgado

When Seton Hall hosted St. John’s on January 22 in Newark, the Pirates dominated them. This was largely due to the fact that Angel Delgado had a field day with the Red Storm’s bigs, posting 21 points and 20 rebounds.

The Pirates offense runs through Delgado; he is dangerous in the post and is always a threat to score and has developed great court vision, finding open teammates when he is double or even triple teamed in the post. If the Johnnies can contain Delgado, they will be within striking distance to pull out the win.

St. John’s likes to hosts block parties

Matchup wise, St. John’s does have the ability to disturb the Pirates’ strong post play. The Johnnies currently rank ninth in the nation in blocks per game, averaging 15.6 blocks. If they can effectively use their length on defense, the Red Storm can prevent Seton Hall’s offense from getting into a flow.

Local Rivalry

Most people think Rutgers-Seton Hall in terms of rivalries in this area, but don’t overlook this matchup. These programs have a history of tight games and, in the case of last year, altercations too.. Following the last faceoff at MSG between these teams, there was an altercation in the handshake line which led to players from both teams being separated by coaches. If Saturday’s game is tight, it will be interesting to see how key composure is in the final result.