BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: ST. JOHN'S @ VILLANOVA

January 18, 2009



Villanova (1-2) looks to climb back to .500 in Big East play on Sunday afternoon when they welcome St. John’s to the City of Brotherly Love for a big East match-up. The Redstorm are 1-3 in Big East play so far this year.

With much of the city of Philadelphia fixated on the NFL Odds of the Eagles reaching the Super Bowl later this afternoon, there is a little hoops appetizer to start their sports day.

Villanova will look to shake off the rust of not playing in eight days, when they lost to Louisville 61-60 at home. The Wildcats made a late run to take the lead, but a Terrence Williams basket with seven seconds put UL up by one. In the final seconds, ‘Nova missed two free throws and a couple point blank shots and ended up with a disappointing loss.

St. John’s played both Pittsburgh and Connecticut tough for about a half this past week, but ended up falling to both as they just did not have enough depth to compete the full forty minutes. Still, Jay Wright understands that Norm Roberts’ team will come after the Wildcats on the defensive side of the ball.

“I love their team’s toughness,” Wright said this week during the coach’s conference call. “They have four guys in double figures. They’re very well balanced. They play great team defense. I love their team defense.”

Against the Panthers, DJ Kennedy scored 18 points. It was Kenendy who was the catalyst for SJU’s upset win over Notre Dame earlier this season. Against UConn, Paris Horne scored 24, however, they will need to fin more than just one guy stepping up, they need a team effort, like they got against ND.

Injuries are also a problem for the Redstorm. They already lost Anthony Mason Jr for the season to injury and will likely be without starting point guard Malik Boothe once again. Justin Burrell has been playing with a mask after breaking facial bones in practice back in December, he has not seemed to be at his best since the injury. Adding to the injury list is Rob Thomas, the redshirt sophomore who has a long history of injury problems (among others) that have kept him off the floor. Thomas pulled a groin and did not play in the second half versus UConn on Thursday.

Villanova’s leading scorer this year is Dante Cunningham, who is averaging over 17 points and nearly 8 rebounds a game. Junior Scottie Reynolds is still capable of carrying the offensive load, too. For evidence of that, you need not look much further than his 40-point outburst in an OT win at Seton Hall which accounted for the Wildcats’ lone conference win to this point.

Look for Villanova to extend the defensive pressure in the half court to make it difficult for SJU to run their offense with freshman Quincy Roberts handling the point guard duties with Boothe out. This is where VU is at their best and should lead them to victory as 14 ½ point favorites.

Here are some pregame stories and previews found on the web:

St. John’s Sees Light After Brutal Stretch (NY Times)

NBE Blogger Prediction:

Villanova 70
St. John’s 60