St. John’s GAME St. John’s (20-10, 8-9) vs. Xavier (16-14, 8-9) (20-10, 8-9 BIG EAST) Saturday, March 9, 2019 • 5 p.m. • Cintas Center (10,224) • Cincinnati, Ohio TV: FOX (Justin Kutcher, Donny Marshall) N6 LOYOLA MARYLAND (CA) * W, 76-55 31 ST. JOHN’S IMG RADIO NETWORK: 970 AM WNYM (John Minko, Brian Mahoney) N9 BOWLING GREEN (CA) * W, 84-80 N16 at Rutgers # W, 84-65 News & Notes N19 vs. California (BC) * W, 82-79 2018-19 4 17 league games over the course of two-plus months have done little to N20 vs. VCU (BC) * W, 87-86 (OT) create separation in the BIG EAST standings, as five teams enter the final Stats N27 UMES (CA) W, 85-64 day of the regular season tied for third place. D1 vs. Georgia Tech % W, 76-73 4 A win on Saturday would guarantee the Red Storm a third-place finish 20-10 Overall 16-14 by virtue of their 3-1 record against the league’s top two teams. Because D5 MOUNT ST. MARY’S (CA) W, 85-71 a win over Xavier would mean that St. John’s either split with or swept 8-9 BIG EAST 8-9 D9 PRINCETON (MSG) ^ W, 89-74 the other teams vying for third, there exists no tiebreaker that would not 78.5 PPG 72.0 boil down to the Red Storm’s record against Villanova and Marquette. D16 WAGNER (CA) W, 73-58 4 St. John’s has not finished as the third overall seed in the conference 74.2 Opp PPG 71.0 D19 ST. FRANCIS BROOKLYN (CA) W, 86-52 tournament since 2000, which also coincidentally is the last time the Johnnies .458 FG% .469 D22 SACRED HEART (CA) W, 104-82 won the league’s crown. St. John’s was the three seed in the East Bracket twice during the three year period that the tournament was divided in .430 OPP FG% .435 D29 • at RV/RV Seton Hall L, 76-74 half from 2001-03, but the 2001 and 2002 squads finished T-6th and T-5th, .369 3FG% .337 J1 • No. 16/18 MARQUETTE W, 89-69 respectively, in the overall conference standings. St. John’s has not finished .337 OPP 3FG% .356 J5 • at Georgetown W, 97-94 (OT) higher than third in the league since entering the 1993 BIG EAST Tournament as the no.2 seed in the first year after Lou Carnesecca’s retirement. .723 FT% .689 J8 • at RV/RV Villanova L, 76-71 4 The Johnnies have lost two in a row entering their regular season finale, 33.0 Rebounds 36.0 J12 • DEPAUL (CA) L, 79-71 falling to Xavier on Feb. 28 at Carnesecca Arena before squandering a nine-point halftime lead at DePaul on Sunday. Max Strus, the reigning 14.2 Assists 14.5 J16 • CREIGHTON (CA) W, 81-66 BIG EAST Player of the Week, scored 36 of his career-high 43 points 10.7 Turnovers 13.7 J19 • at Butler L, 80-71 during a second half that saw the Blue Demons shoot 71.4 percent from 3.3 Blocks 3.8 J27 • GEORGETOWN (MSG) L, 89-78 the floor and tally 59 points. 4 St. John’s has not lost three consecutive games this season. Riding their third 8.9 Steals 5-6 J30 • at Creighton W, 83-67 two-game skid of the campaign, the Red Storm snapped each of the previous F2 at No. 2/2 Duke L, 91-61 two slides with a win against Creighton. F5 • at No. 10/9 Marquette W, 70-69 About the Series with Xavier F9 • PROVIDENCE (MSG) L, 70-56 Last Five Meetings vs. Xavier F12 • BUTLER (CA) W, 77-73 (OT) Record 2/28/19........................................Xavier, 84-73 F17 • No. 13/13 VILLANOVA (MSG) W, 71-65 St. John’s trails 3-10 overall and 2-9 in BIG EAST 3/8/18..........................................Xavier, 88-60 F20 • at Providence L, 78-59 (2-6 home, 1-4 away, 0-0 neutral) 1/30/18........................................Xavier, 73-68 F23 • SETON HALL (MSG) W, 78-70 Overview 1/17/18........................................Xavier, 88-82 St. John’s and Xavier will meet for the 14th time in series history. The 1/29/17........................................Xavier, 82-77 F28 • XAVIER (CA) L, 84-73 Musketeers have won the last eight meetings, including an 84-73 M3 • at DePaul L, 92-83 victory in their first contest of the season on Feb. 28 at Carnesecca Arena. Prior to the Musketeers’ current win streak, St. John’s had M9 • at Xavier 5 p.m. won consecutive games in the series with the last Red Storm victory coming on Feb. 23, 2015 at Madison Square Garden. Chris Mullin made his collegiate playing debut against Xavier on Nov. 27, 1981 in Next Opponent *Legends Classic the Lapchick Memorial Tournament at Carnesecca Arena (formerly # Gavitt Tipoff Games Alumni Hall). Coaches BIG EAST Tournament % Hoophall Miami Invitational at AmericanAirlines Arena Chris Mullin is in his fourth year as head coach at St. John’s. He was Wed., March 13 - Sat., March 16 ^ Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival named the 20th coach in program history on April 1, 2015. Mullin returned to his alma mater with nearly a decade of NBA front TV: FS1/FOX office experience in the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Radio: 970 AM WNYM/570 AM WMCA Kings organizations. Mullin is one of only two current Division I coaches to be inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player. Madison Square Garden (19,812) Travis Steele was named the 18th head coach in Xavier history on Appearances: 36th in 2019 March 31, 2018. He spent the previous 10 seasons on the Musketeers’ staff. After serving as director of basketball operations for the 2008- All-Time Record: 27-32 09 season, Steele was promoted to assistant coach for seven seasons Championships: 1983, 1986, 2000 and was elevated to associate head coach for the 2016-17 & 2017-18 BROADCAST INFORMATION campaigns. TV: Live national broadcast on FOX. Justin Kutcher 2018-19 St. John’s Red Storm and Donny Marshall are the announcers. Mike Principato is the producer. Matt Gangl is the Previous Starters (GP-GS) Ht. Wt. Yr. PPG RPG Notes director. Radio: St. John’s IMG Sports Network on 970 AM F 1 Josh Roberts (15-1) 6-9 210 Fr. 1.3 1.8 Scored a career-high eight points (4-4 FG) versus Xavier WNYM. John Minko and Brian Mahoney are the F 13 Marvin Clark II (30-29) 6-7 225 R-Sr. 11.3 5.4 Tied for eighth in the BIG EAST averaging 2.3 3-pointers announcers. Chris Majkowski is the producer/ G/F 30 LJ Figueroa (30-28) 6-6 195 So. 14.4 6.3 Tied for fifth in the BIG EAST with five double-doubles engineer. Internet: Full H.D. video broadcast via the FOX G 2 Shamorie Ponds (29-29) 6-1 180 Jr. 19.8 5.0* Has scored double-figures in 82 of 92 career appearances Sports app and FOXSportsGo.com. Audio available G 5 Justin Simon (30-29) 6-5 205 R-Jr. 9.9 3.3* Has shot 57.1 pct (16-28 FG) from the field in the last five games on TuneIn Radio. Live stats and IMG audio on Off the Bench Ht. Wt. Yr. PPG RPG Notes RedStormSports.com. Media stats available at StJohns.StatBroadcast.com. F 0 Sedee Keita (19-3) 6-9 235 R-So. 2.3 1.8 Matched a career-high with four blocks vs. Seton Hall Instagram/Twitter: @StJohnsBBall, #sjubb G 4 Greg Williams Jr. (26-1) 6-3 205 Fr. 2.0 0.9 Averaged 4.3 points shooting 50.0 percent (4-8) in the last three games MEDIA INFORMATION F 10 Marcellus Earlington (13-0) 6-6 220 Fr. 1.9 1.8 Set career-highs with 10 points and five rebounds at Providence G 12 Bryan Trimble Jr. (29-3) 6-3 220 So. 2.6 1.4 Scored nine points on three 3-pointers in first meeting with Xavier Senior Associate Athletics Director G 14 Mustapha Heron (27-26) 6-5 210 Jr. 15.1 4.8 Played 11 minutes at DePaul after missing two games to injury for External Relations Stephen Dombroski Office Phone 718-990-6897 * - indicates assists per game Mobile Phone 518-928-6103 # - inactive due to injury E-mail [email protected] Last Time Out Inside the Huddle DePaul 92, St. John’s 83 #2 SHAMORIE PONDS • Jr. • G • 6-1 • 180 March 3, 2019 4Seventh on the program’s career scoring list (1,795 points); 15 points shy of sixth Chicago, Ill. - Wintrust Arena 4BIG EAST leader in steals (2.6), second in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.4) and assists (5.0) and third in scoring (19.8 ppg) Trailing by nine at the intermission, DePaul shot 71.4 percent from the 4Joined Head Coach Chris Mullin as the only players in program history to rank top-10 in floor in the second half to defeat St. John’s, 92-83, on Sunday afternoon at the record book for career points (7th, 1,795), assists (6th, 390) and steals (3rd, 214) Wintrust Arena. DePaul senior Max Strus scored 36 of his career-high 43 points in the second #5 JUSTIN SIMON • R-Jr. • G • 6-5 • 205 half, connecting on 13 of his 16 field goal attempts in the latter stanza.