[7:02 PM] St. John’s v. #24 Michigan State

What will be the GAME RESULT?

St. John’s: Win or Single Digit Loss

#24 Michigan State: Wins By Double Digits

 

• The Spartans certainly enter this game battle-tested with losses against No. 9 Arizona and No. 6 Kansas, and they narrowly avoided a 1-3 start Sunday in controversial fashion when a late clock mishap contributed to a 78-77 home win over FGCU.

• St. John’s opened the season with consecutive blowout wins over Bethune-Cookman and Binghamton after dropping 21 of its final 22 in Mullin’s first season at the helm, but it was unable to hold onto an early 13-point edge Friday in a 92-86 defeat at Minnesota. The Red Storm have won both meetings between two of the college basketball’s more storied programs, defeating the Spartans in a pair of New York-based regular-season tournaments back in 1968 and 1979.

• Eron Harris (14.8 points) saved the day for the Spartans their last time out, setting career highs by connecting on all six of his 3-pointers and scoring 31 points. Michigan State made a much more concerted effort to get to the foul line as well, attempting 33 free throws versus FGCU after failing to shoot 10 foul shots in any of its first three games.

• The Red Storm’s hopes of avoiding another rough season after last year’s 8-24 disaster depend heavily on their freshman backcourt of Marcus LoVett (Big East-best 24.3 points) and Shamorie Ponds (17.3), who is coming off back-to-back 20-point efforts. St. John’s ranks among the nation’s leaders with seven blocks per game, getting most of that production from a pair of sophomores in Tariq Owens and Kassoum Yakwe, each of whom is averaging 2.7 rejections.

• LoVett and Ponds have accounted for 22 of St. John’s 33 3-pointers and 47.5 percent of its scoring.

 

StreakSmarts Pick: #24 Michigan State: Wins By Double Digits

Confidence: 4/10

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