[11:00 AM] Penn State @ St. John’s

What will be the match result?

Penn State Nittany Lions (6-5)

@ St. John’s Red Storm (5-6)

 

• The line for this game is St. Johns  by 3.5 points.

• Having suffered major disappointment in one major sports arena already this month, St. John’s hopes to bounce back in the sports mecca of New York City as it faces Penn State on Sunday afternoon in the 50th annual MSG Holiday Festival. The Red Storm head to Madison Square Garden on the heels of last weekend’s 74-73 loss to LIU Brooklyn at Barclays Center, and look to return to form with their Big East opener against No. 18 Butler looming at the end of the month.

• The Nittany Lions have had over a week to absorb consecutive losses to George Mason and Pittsburgh, a dismal two-game stretch in which they shot a collective 36 percent from the field and were outscored by a whopping 40 combined points in the second half of the Patriots’ loss and the first half of the defeat to the Panthers. Junior guard Shep Garner leads the team in scoring at 14.5 points per game but struggled mightily with his shot in the two setbacks, shooting 7-of-24 from the field and 5-of-18 from 3-point range. Penn State is one of the top free-throw shooting teams in the nation at 80 percent for the season; freshman forward Lamar Stevens leads the way at 91.5 percent, ranking him 28th in the country entering the weekend.

• First-year guard Shamorie Ponds (17.5 points) continues to lead the Red Storm in the absence of leading scorer Marcus LoVett (ankle), averaging 23 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists over his previous three games while shooting a red-hot 14-for-26 from 3-point range. Senior forward Darien Williams took advantage of St. Johns’ short bench to establish career bests in scoring (15) and rebounds (seven), reaching those marks in a tidy 20 minutes of action. Junior guard Bashir Ahmed (12.4) has been solid of late, reaching double figures in scoring in eight of his previous nine games; he’ll look to shake a long-range shooting slump in which he has hit just 3-of-12 attempts beyond the arc over his past three games.

• Ponds leads all Division I freshman with 35 3-pointers.

• Nittany Lions F Mike Watkins averages 3.36 blocks per game, good for seventh in the nation.

• Penn State outlasted St. John’s 89-82 in overtime in their previous meeting back on November 29, 2013.

 

StreakSmarts Pick: St. Johns Red Storm

Confidence: 5/10

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