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One week after these two teams squared off, St. John’s and Georgetown are all set to do it again.
After last week’s 97-94 overtime win by the Hoyas, the Red Storm are not only out for a measure of revenge but for their first Big East win as well. The Johnnies have come up empty in their first three tries in Big East play thus far. They’ve eaten losses to aforementioned Georgetown, Seton Hall and most recently Creighton this past Thursday. The Bluejays soared with a stupendous second half effort, the breaking the dam and flying by the Red Storm in the process. Unfortunately, this is a sight that St. John’s fans know all too well at this point. They’ve gotten off to 0-3 starts in Big East play in six of the last eight seasons.
Georgetown, meanwhile, is off to a 1-1 start to the year in Big East play. At 3-3 overall, Georgetown has been hit or miss. But they have won two of their last three games, with the win over St. John’s being coupled with an 80-48 win over Coppin State. The Hoyas are looking to string together for the first time since beating DePaul and Butler on February 8 and 15 earlier this year. That’s a not-so-significant gap, but February feels like it was 20 years ago at this point. Am I right?
St. John’s’ defense has been their weakpoint, and it will be one that Georgetown will hope to exploit. The Red Storm have allowed teams to shoot 55.9 and 39.7 percent inside and outside respectively this season. The Hoyas defense though has been pretty strong. They’ve omitted just 45.8 and 30.6 percent allowed on 2-point and 3-point tries respectively. St. John’s will have to find some way to get it rolling on offense and put together a cohesive defensive performance if they want to knock Georgetown off.
On the flip side, St. John’s may need to make an impact with turnovers. The Hoyas have not been able to take care of the ball much at all, committing turnovers on 22.9 percent of their possessions. St. John’s has forced turnovers at a clip of 24.3 percent, the 34th-ranked TO% in the nation. If the Red Storm can wreak havoc in that area of the floor and create more opportunities for themselves then they may be able to wrestle this one away from the Hoyas. They forced 17 turnovers the last time around, and scored 14 points off those turnovers. They may want to see somewhat of an increase in the latter, but the former would certainly make for an ideal situation.
How to Watch
Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
TV: FS1
Watch Online: Fox Sports Go
Odds
Spread: St. John’s -4.5
Total: 156.5
Moneyline: Georgetown +160 | St. John’s -190