When and Where

Time and Date: Sunday, December 6 at 2:30 PM ET

Where: Carnesecca Arena, Queens NY

Records: Stony Brook (1-1) | St. John’s (3-1)

Rankings: St. John’s (#77 KenPom) | Stony Brook (#256 KenPom)

TV Channel: Fox Sports 1

Streaming: Fox Sports Go

Game Preview

On Wednesday St. John’s suffered their first loss on the season with a 74-68 defeat to the BYU Cougars. It was a close game that in the end the Johnnies could not reach back to final that extra level to pull off the win. The result and the way St. John’s played on Wednesday is slowly building a trend for the season of playing well but not having enough to put away opponents.

With the exception of the game against La Salle on Thanksgiving, the other three games that the Johnnies have played in have all been close affairs. A come from behind win against Saint Peter’s, a hold off win against Boston College, and an inability to mount a charge at the end in a loss to BYU. The talent is there, they just need more time for cohesion that unfortunately might not be there due to the wonkiness of the season.

Hopefully that will not be in the cards on Sunday as the Red Storm play host to the Stony Brook Seawolves. The Red Storm were supposed to play this past Thursday against Texas Tech, but unfortunately that had to be cancelled. So, a City vs. Long Island matchup against the Seawolves is now on the docket.

The Seawolves are 1-1 so far on the season with a loss to Saint Peter’s to open their season and a overtime win over Fairfield by a score of 72-69 in their last game out. They have a bit of firepower in their roster with Juan Felix Rodriguez and Tykei Greene being the focal points on offense. Last time out against the Stags, Rodriguez posted a game leading 21 point while Greene had a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds.

On the season, Rodriguez has been the leading scorer with 15.0 ppg and an excellent ball mover with 3.5 assists per game, though the leader in that area has been Jaden Sayles who has been averaging 4.0 apg. Greene on the other hand has been averaging 10.5 ppg and 10.5 rpg for the Seawolves. It is also worth mentioning that Sayles is the best secondary scoring option avering 13.0 ppg. There are options there though it not be enough to counter what St. John’s will bring to this game.

In the past two games, Julian Champagnie has returned to the lineup after missing the first two games and what a return it has been with a 29 point game against Boston College and a 25-point game against BYU last Wednesday. His return has brought added pop to the offensive side of the ball though so far that has not been much cause for concern as four games in and there is a good deal of talent for Mike Anderson to play with going forward. Especially as the newcomers have hit their stride early on with Vince Cole being an excellent secondary option early on in this season.

It just still needs to click as there are stretches where the Johnnies look a bit disjointed or trying to hard to force something in their play. It might be a mix of second season syndrome on the part of Anderson, but it feels more of mixing a lot of new with what has been in place.

It should be a fun game for both teams and an excellent game for St. John’s to work on some things while also having ample opportunity to have some fun out there as well. This is also the Red Storm’s second to last nonconference game this season so now it definitely the time work on the kinks before that December 11th game against UConn.