St. John’s vs. Saint Peter’s game guide: How to watch, stream, odds, and more

After putting up a whopping 119 points in a rout of Mississippi Valley State, St. John’s (1-0) returns to action on Saturday afternoon. The Red Storm will face off against a Saint Peter’s (0-1) team that is looking to bounce back from a 57-54 loss to VCU.

How To watch, listen, and stream

Game Time: Saturday, November 13, at 4 p.m. ET
TV: Fox Sports 1
Live Stream: Fox Sports Live (where available)

All-Time Series

Dating back to their first-ever meeting between both teams in 1910, the Red Storm are a perfect 19-0 all-time against the Peacocks. They met last season on Nov. 25, with the Johnnies hanging on for a one-point win at Carnesecca Arena.

Odds Are

KenPom projects St. John’s as a 90% favorite to win, predicting a final score of 76-62.

What to Watch For

Another 40 minutes of hell

With a full offseason to train, condition and work out, St. John’s is ready to push the pace even harder. The Red Storm played in a frenetic tempo last season, but now they’re literally hitting the ground running. After their season-opening rout of Mississippi Valley State, they boast the sixth-fastest tempo in Division I college basketball and have the shortest average possession length according to KenPom.

Defensively, they were suffocating. Mississippi Valley State shot just 30.4% inside the arc and 26.1% from three-point range. St. John’s excels at making opponents uncomfortable and pressuring them into bad decisions, and it forced the Delta Devils to cough it up 18 times.

Saint Peter’s already had a hard time scoring against VCU in its season-opener, a close 57-54 loss, but if its turnover issues persist, it will be a long afternoon for the Peacocks. Saint Peter’s turned it over 21 times in that game, a staggering turnover rate of 29.2% of possessions. Turnover issues aside, the Peacocks shot just 29.7% inside the arc and 33.3% from deep. St. John’s might be in prime position to have another impressive performance defensively.

St. John’s 100-point streak

As chaotic as the Red Storm can be defensively, its offense continues to push forward. Julian Champagnie and Posh Alexander reprise their roles as the leading men on both ends of the court, but even with a number of new faces and offseason player departures, it doesn’t look like St. John’s has missed its stride.

Champagnie led the way with 20 points, and Alexander was an efficient scorer and facilitator the last time out, posting 18 points and seven assists. Four more St. John’s players eclipsed the double-digit mark, and they’re all newcomers. Fordham transfer and local product Joel Soriano impressed with a double-double, and freshman big man O’Mar Stanley was a perfect 7-of-7 on the floor. Other transfers, like Montez Mathis (Rutgers) and Tareq Coburn (Hofstra) were efficient with their shots.

All in all, 11 different players scored at least one basket on Tuesday night. The Red Storm put up 107 points in a preseason exhibition against Baruch, then hit triple digits for real in their first regular season game. Can they do it again on Saturday afternoon?

Saint Peter’s small ball

The Peacocks aren’t the biggest team. While they do have a couple of 6-foot-10 players, those young forwards don’t appear to be game-ready just yet. In their game against VCU, Saint Peter’s only rolled out one 6-foot-8 player, freshman Clarence Rupert, but he only logged seven minutes. Everyone else who played in their rotation stood in at 6-foot-7 or shorter.

K.C. Ndefo, an all-MAAC first team selection last season, led the Peacocks with 13.7 points per game and had 6.5 boards per game last season. Daryl Banks III, who was fittingly a third-team all-conference selection is also back, after being the second-highest scorer with 11.0 points per game last season. While those two will certainly be the top players to watch, it looks like junior guard Doug Edert might be ready to take a step forward.

There aren’t too many three-point shooting threats on Saint Peter’s and it struggled at the perimeter last year. Doug Edert appears to be getting back on track from beyond the arc. He shot an impressive 44.2% from deep in his freshman season, but then he plummeted to 31.8% last year. While it was only one game, he did shoot 5-of-7 from three against VCU and was the Peacocks’ top scorer. He’ll look to build off of that performance, but Saint Peter’s will hope that it wasn’t a one-hit wonder and the start of him getting back on track. With no imposing frontcourt players, they’ll need that player that can shoot over the top or get set from long range.