(PRE-GAME) Xavier, Wed., Mar. 2, 16, 6:30p, FS-1

[Knight]

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's men's basketball team will host its final regular season home game on Wednesday night at Carnesecca Arena when Xavier travels to Queens.

Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. on FS1 with Tim Brando and Bill Raftery on the call. Fans can also catch the LEARFIELD Red Storm Sports Network broadcast with John Minko and Brandon Tierney on the Varsity Network app, TuneIn Radio, XM Radio channel 388 and channel 978 in the SXM app, RedStormSports.com and the St. John's Red Storm mobile app.

The first 4,000 fans in attendance will receive a commemorative bobblehead of St. John's legend Marcus Hatten, who scored 1,400 points in just two seasons with the Red Storm from 2001-03, courtesy of Coca-Cola. The first 1,000 students will also receive a replica throwback Red Storm jersey, also courtesy of Coca-Cola. Two fans will also be selected to compete in an on-court free throw contest for the chance to win a 58-inch Vizio 4K LED Smart TV courtesy of Maspeth Federal Savings.

Prior to the game, St. John's will honor the careers of three student-athletes: Tareq Coburn, Stef Smith and Jalen Rosemond.

St. John's (15-13, 7-10 BIG EAST) will look to snap a two-game skid and complete a regular season sweep of Xavier (17-11, 7-10 BIG EAST). Tied for seventh place in the BIG EAST standings, St. John's would lock up the no. 7 seed in next week's BIG EAST Tournament with a win. The Johnnies can finish no lower than eighth and no higher than seventh in the final BIG EAST standings.

The Red Storm is coming off a Sunday loss against DePaul in Chicago, which snapped a three-game road winning streak for the Johnnies. Three St. John's players scored 18 or more points, as Julian Champagnie tallied 26, Aaron Wheeler added 20 and Posh Alexander chipped in 18.

Champagnie ranks second in the BIG EAST in both scoring (19.0 ppg) and steals (1.9 spg) entering Wednesday's contest. The junior is one of only four players in the nation averaging at least 19.0 points and 1.9 steals per contest alongside Washington's Terrell Brown Jr., Arkansas' JD Notae and Vanderbilt's Scotty Pippen Jr. The Brooklyn native is three points away from tying fellow Bishop Loughlin alumnus Mark Jackson (1,328) for 25th place on the St. John's all-time scoring list. Champagnie is also three 3-pointers shy of tying Felipe Lopez and Paris Horne for fourth on the Red Storm's all-time rankings in that category.

Wheeler reached double figures for the 14th time in 17 BIG EAST appearances on Sunday, posting his 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting. In conference play, Wheeler ranks 13th in the league with 13.5 points per outing thanks in large part to a 43.0 percent success rate from beyond the arc, the top percentage in the BIG EAST.

In addition to scoring 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting against DePaul, Alexander also grabbed a team-high eight boards and dished out four assists. Six of Alexander's eight rebounds came on the offensive glass.

Xavier travels to Queens having dropped four straight and six of its last seven dating back to a home loss to DePaul on Feb. 5. The Musketeers have not won on the road since a 74-64 victory over Creighton on Jan. 29 in Omaha. Xavier is 5-6 this season away from Cintas Center, including a loss to Iowa State in November at Barclays Center.

The Musketeers are led offensively by Jack Nunge, who scored a team-high 22 points against St. John's on Feb. 16 and is averaging 13.0 points and 7.3 boards on the season. Senior guard Paul Scruggs ranks second on the squad with 12.2 points per game and is the team's leading distributor at 4.1 assists per outing.

St. John's and Xavier will meet for the 20th time in the history of the two programs on Wednesday with all but one of those contests coming as BIG EAST foes. The Musketeers own a 14-5 edge in the all-time series, but St. John's has won back-to-back since snapping a 12-game losing streak that lasted from 2016-21.

The last time the Musketeers visited Queens, St. John's hit 11 3-pointers in a 93-84 win that gave Mike Anderson his 400th career head coaching victory.

St. John's will wrap the regular season on Saturday in Milwaukee against Marquette. Tip-off between the Red Storm and Golden Eagles is set for 9 p.m. ET on FS1.

 

[redfazed]

This is a big game for Xavier. Their fans were chanting "Fire Steele" during their last game. They have gone from sure NCAA tourney bid to being on the bubble. So at least something to make this game interesting.

 

[austour]

Monte agree,I was never high on Soriano.I said previously, we need a dominate big and 2 very good 3 pt shooters 
Do not think we miss Soriano not in the game. We have 6-8 player with more speed to off set. Think he would be a good back up center
Coach better recruit more 4* players.we can not move forward with 3* players that can’t shoot and need 2 yrs to develop
Even our staff needs to improve along with coaches gamee

He was playing better and so were we. Then he gets hurt and we immediately lose 2 in a row in very winnable games. I’d say he’s shown we need him.

 

7.5 and 6 in 23 mins the last 6 games when he seemed to be coming on a bit also supports that he is contributing.  Certainly not a superstar but even over the course of the season he has outperformed per minute both Stanley and Nyiwe in every statistical category (stanley's about equal in ppm) and is the only one of the three that blocks shots and has even a minimal presence defensively in the post.  Also pretty popular target for Posh on drive and dish.  If you were expecting Hakeem I get why you're disappointed (not you Mase, the royal you).  I wasn't and therefore am not.  I like what Stanley and Nyiwe give in limited minutes but for now Soriano is clearly the best option for this season which for some convoluted reason I refuse to give up on.

 

[Section9]

Monte agree,I was never high on Soriano.I said previously, we need a dominate big and 2 very good 3 pt shooters 
Do not think we miss Soriano not in the game. We have 6-8 player with more speed to off set. Think he would be a good back up center
Coach better recruit more 4* players.we can not move forward with 3* players that can’t shoot and need 2 yrs to develop
Even our staff needs to improve along with coaches gamee

He was playing better and so were we. Then he gets hurt and we immediately lose 2 in a row in very winnable games. I’d say he’s shown we need him.



 

7.5 and 6 in 23 mins the last 6 games when he seemed to be coming on a bit also supports that he is contributing.  Certainly not a superstar but even over the course of the season he has outperformed per minute both Stanley and Nyiwe in every statistical category (stanley's about equal in ppm) and is the only one of the three that blocks shots and has even a minimal presence defensively in the post.  Also pretty popular target for Posh on drive and dish.  If you were expecting Hakeem I get why you're disappointed (not you Mase, the royal you).  I wasn't and therefore am not.  I like what Stanley and Nyiwe give in limited minutes but for now Soriano is clearly the best option for this season which for some convoluted reason I refuse to give up on.

Boom goes the dynamite, Austour.   Plus, Soriano is going 69% from the line, while Nywie is at 40% and Stanley at a cringe worthy 19%.

 

 

[Amaseinyourface]

Monte agree,I was never high on Soriano.I said previously, we need a dominate big and 2 very good 3 pt shooters 
Do not think we miss Soriano not in the game. We have 6-8 player with more speed to off set. Think he would be a good back up center
Coach better recruit more 4* players.we can not move forward with 3* players that can’t shoot and need 2 yrs to develop
Even our staff needs to improve along with coaches gamee

He was playing better and so were we. Then he gets hurt and we immediately lose 2 in a row in very winnable games. I’d say he’s shown we need him.



 

7.5 and 6 in 23 mins the last 6 games when he seemed to be coming on a bit also supports that he is contributing.  Certainly not a superstar but even over the course of the season he has outperformed per minute both Stanley and Nyiwe in every statistical category (stanley's about equal in ppm) and is the only one of the three that blocks shots and has even a minimal presence defensively in the post.  Also pretty popular target for Posh on drive and dish.  If you were expecting Hakeem I get why you're disappointed (not you Mase, the royal you).  I wasn't and therefore am not.  I like what Stanley and Nyiwe give in limited minutes but for now Soriano is clearly the best option for this season which for some convoluted reason I refuse to give up on.

You really gotta break the season down to find the positives but in those 6 games he played we were 4-2. In the wins he averaged 10.5, 6 rebs & 3 blks shooting 20/23 in 25 minutes. In the losses he averaged 2 pts, 6 rebs, and 1.5 blks shooting 2/7 in 18 minutes. Of course those 2 losses came against uconn and Nova so it’s worth mentioning competition but he’s a big part of us being able to compete and play well IMO.

Plus I think he’s much more Wilt Chamberlain but that’s besides the point

 

[austour]

 

You really gotta break the season down to find the positives but in those 6 games he played we were 4-2. In the wins he averaged 10.5, 6 rebs & 3 blks shooting 20/23 in 25 minutes. In the losses he averaged 2 pts, 6 rebs, and 1.5 blks shooting 2/7 in 18 minutes. Of course those 2 losses came against uconn and Nova so it’s worth mentioning competition but he’s a big part of us being able to compete and play well IMO.
Plus I think he’s much more Wilt Chamberlain but that’s besides the point

He's 3rd in the BE in rebounds per minute, 4th in blocks per minute,   So maybe not Wilt, maybe Nate Thurmond.

 

[Dal975]

He may not be Wilt, but Soriano has been a net help this season, plays hard and I for one hope he is back next season, Anderson "system" or not.  Thinking SJU is better off under the current gloomy circumstances without a 6'11" player who has shown he can contribute in some modest way at the Big East level because of a perceived lack of fit in the system is a luxury that simply does not exist for the foreseeable future.

 

[SJU61982]

Certaintly would be nice to have Soriano tonight, but let's not make him out to be more then what he is.  Besides, since we're going nowhere this season, it'll be good to see what Nyiwe and Stanley can give us playing more minutes. Next season sorta starts now. 

If Soriano is coming back next year why do we need to see Nyiwe and Stanley play more minutes?  

 

Because Soriano is prone to fouling, especially against smaller teams.

Got to have someone to back up.

 

[GardenCity62]

From all accounts Soriano worked hard pre season to knock off his excess weight and his numbers for minutes played and his shot selection were not bad. With another off season to improve his conditioning SJU should hope he comes back.
He may not be Wilt but from what I have seen SJU put out at center for the past eight years he is Wilt.

 

[monte]

As happens quite a bit on this board, a message get totally twisted and takes on a life of its own. Usually to suit someone's agenda. So, for the record;
-I liked Soriano from the moment that  I first saw him play, and said that I felt he could be a solid contributor as the season went on
-I've noted his progress multiple times throughout the season and said that I wished that had more support up front 
-I wish he was playing tonight, but it ain't the end of the world if he's not since he's not a huge difference maker and since it would give Nyiwe and Stanley more minutes in a game that essentially means very little, and in anticipation of next season. 

That's about as clear as I can be, but I fully expect the next comment to read something like "so what you're saying is that you think Soriano sucks???"

 

[ADORAZ]

Given our at-large chances are almost certainly dead at this point, I'd prefer to lose this so we could play in the 8/9 game. That way we'd face Butler (rather than DePaul), Providence (rather than Nova), and then Creighton or Marquette (rather than UConn or Seton Hall). To me the former path looks much, much easier than the latter.

The only real downside I guess is our NIT hopes would further diminish, but that's not as important as making a BET run (which in turn would help our NIT resume too).

 

[bamafan]

As happens quite a bit on this board, a message get totally twisted and takes on a life of its own. Usually to suit someone's agenda. So, for the record;
-I liked Soriano from the moment that  I first saw him play, and said that I felt he could be a solid contributor as the season went on
-I've noted his progress multiple times throughout the season and said that I wished that had more support up front 
-I wish he was playing tonight, but it ain't the end of the world if he's not since he's not a huge difference maker and since it would give Nyiwe and Stanley more minutes in a game that essentially means very little, and in anticipation of next season. 

That's about as clear as I can be, but I fully expect the next comment to read something like "so what you're saying is that you think Soriano sucks???"

I just don't understand why you think Soriano suks. /media/kunena/emoticons/wink.png

 

[Knight]

Please stay on topic.

 

[IDRAFT]

Soriano dressed and warming up. I will let the mods decide whether this is on topic.

 

[Mug Costanza]

https://twitter.com/KevinConnelly24/status/1499160306559459332

CMA maybe thinks it's time for better floor spacing