St. John’s and Marquette meet again in Milwaukee

The St. John’s Red Storm (14-13, 3-11) and Marquette Golden Eagles (15-11, 6-8) are set to face off on Wednesday night in Milwaukee. If this pairing seems familiar, you aren’t wrong. These two squads just met 11 days ago in New York City. St. John’s prevailed in that matchup 86-78. Despite the loss, Marquette still leads the all-time series 19-12.

Major Keys

Time & Place: 8:30pm ET, BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI

TV: FOX Sports Networks; YES Network in New York City and FS Wisconsin in Milwaukee (Jeff Levering, Dickey Simpkins)

Radio: 570 AM WMCA (St. John’s; John Minko, Brian Mahoney), 540 ESPN (Marquette; Steve “Homer” True, Jim McIlvaine)

Streaming: FOX Sports GO (where available)

Gambling (via OddsShark): Marquette opened as a 5-point favorite. St. John’s and Marquette hold identical 12-13 records against the spread.

About the Red Storm

St. John’s seems to be a completely different team these days. After reeling off 11 consecutive losses - all in Big East play - the Red Storm have bounced back with four straight wins.

These haven’t just been any old wins, either. St. John’s slayed then-No. 4 Duke at Madison Square Garden then followed up by beating then-No. 1 Villanova in Philadelphia. They’ve continued their winning ways by taking down Marquette and DePaul since then.

Shamorie Ponds has been leading St. John’s and their six-man rotation. He is averaging 32.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 2.3 steals per game during this winning streak. Ponds is also shooting 54.8 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from 3-point range.

In most cases, the key for an opponent to beat St. John’s would be to contain Ponds. Unfortunately for Marquette, he reeled off a career-high 44 points against them in their last meeting. So that key is definitely easier to type out than to do.

About the Golden Eagles

Marquette is currently working their way out of a frustrating stretch of the conference schedule. They started Big East play with a modest 4-3 record, but then proceeded to drop four consecutive games. That losing streak included a 19-point drubbing at Xavier and a 10-point loss to Butler.

Luckily, it seems like the ship has corrected its course somewhat. The team is 2-1 since their losing skid, picking up some close wins on the road at Seton Hall and Creighton.

But the Golden Eagles may have to take on St. John’s without one of their best players. Starting guard Markus Howard is currently listed as doubtful for Wedesnday’s tilt due to a right hip contusion. The injury occurred in the team’s win over Creighton when Howard took a hard fall after being fouled on a drive to the basket.

Howard is second in the Big East in scoring, averaging 21.3 points per game on the year. He only trails Shamorie Ponds in that category. It will be a full team effort to stop the Red Storm’s streak if they have to go without Howard Wednesday night.