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St. John’s men’s basketball game preview: Providence
Alright, let’s break this down. St.John’s is rolling into Saturday’s matinee at the Garden feeling pretty good about themselves after that 95-83 win over Georgetown, a game they controlled way more than the final score suggests. They’re hosting a Providence Friars squad that’s in full-on panic mode, sitting at 0-2 in the Big East for the first time since the 2018-19 season.That’s a rough look for Kim English, who’s already hearing the grumbles from a fanbase that’s tired of watching March Madness from the couch. The Friars are desperate, and desperate teams at the Garden are always dangerous, even if KenPom has the Johnnies as 12-point favorites with an 87% win probability.History tells us to buckle up, though. These two teams have a habit of playing absolute nail-biters; the last seven meetings have been decided by five points or less, with St.John’s last two wins coming on literal last-second buckets. So, throw the spread out the window.This one’s probably going to be stressful. The main storyline, of course, is Bryce Hopkins facing his old team.Remember his MSG debut back in February ‘23? Dude dropped 29 and 9 on the Johnnies. He’s been quiet lately, though, putting up just eight points against Georgetown, so you know he’s itching for a statement game back on that big floor.But the real fun for St. John’s fans might be watching Zuby Ejiofor morph into a point-center right before our eyes.The big man dished out seven dimes against Georgetown, part of a 20-assist night for the team, and his assist rate ranks him among the top passing bigs in the country. If he’s facilitating from the high post again, Providence’s defense, which is a leaky 162nd in adjusted efficiency and lets teams shoot over 37% from three, is going to have nightmares.Speaking of that Friar defense, it’s the reason they’re in this hole. They can’t rebound (197th in offensive rebounding, 209th defensively) and they struggle to get stops.Their saving grace is an offense that can light it up, ranked 43rd nationally. It starts with Vanderbilt transfer Jason Edwards, a three-level scoring dynamo putting up 18.5 a game. He went off for 32 in a double-OT thriller against Butler and has more than doubled his assist rate.Then you’ve got UCF import Jaylin Sellers bombing away at a 43. 3% clip from deep, and freshman sensation Stefan Vaaks from Estonia, a 6’7” guard who can create his own shot and is a sneaky candidate for Big East Freshman of the Year.
#St. John's Red Storm
#Providence Friars
#college basketball
#Big East
#game preview
#prediction
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