CINCINNATI — Don’t look now, but the Xavier Musketeers are entering the NCAA Tournament bubble.
Their win over then-No. 7 Marquette Saturday afternoon moved the needle, and now the Musketeers have a massive opportunity Wednesday night to gather another Quad 1 win for their resume against the 20th-ranked St. John’s Red Storm at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The Red Storm are 16-3 and 7-1 in Big East play. This is a really good basketball team. Head coach Rick Pitino has put the Red Storm back on the radar, and they are poised to make a return to the NCAA Tournament this season. St. John’s is an excellent offensive team, and they’re also strong on the glass. If the Musketeers want to assert themselves as a contender in the Big East, this is a game they need to win.
Here are the Players to Watch on the St. John’s Red Storm ahead of Wednesday night’s game.
Players to Watch
1. #12 R.J. Luis Jr. 6’7″ 215 lbs. Jr. Guard/Forward Miami, Fla. UMass Transfer
17.5 pts, 6.4 rebs, 45% FG, 26.2 3-PT FG%, 75.2 FT%, 29.1 mpg
Jan. 7 @ Xavier: 18 pts, 10 rebs, 6-14 FG, 6-6 FT, 28 mins
Luis has five double-doubles this season, and he’s a really good scorer. In the first game after the Red Storm won at Xavier, Luis had 30 points in a win over Villanova where he went 16-20 from the free-throw line. He’s coming off a 24-point performance against Seton Hall where he made four three-pointers. The Musketeers are going to have to have great plan for Luis on Wednesday night.
2. #24 Zuby Ejiofor 6’9″ 240 lbs. Jr. Forward Garland, Texas Kansas Transfer
14.4 pts, 8.2 rebs, 36 blk, 57.7 FG%, 5-22 3-PT FG, 67.6 FT%, 30 mpg
Jan. 7 @ Xavier: 18 pts, 12 rebs, 4 blk, 28 mins
Ejiofor has scored in double figures in 11 straight games. He has four double-doubles in that stretch, and he has three straight games with nine rebounds since St. John’s beat Xavier in Cincinnati two weeks ago.
3. #5 Deivon Smith 6’0″ 175 lbs. Sr. Guard Decatur, Ga. Utah Transfer
10.8 pts, 5.7 rebs, 44.7 FG%, 40.8 3-PT FG%, 73.1 FT%, 27.9 mpg
Jan. 7 @ Xavier: 7 pts, 4 rebs, 3 ast., 26 mins
Smith has played in just two games since the Red Storm’s win at Xavier. One of those games, though, saw Smith go for 12 points with three three-pointers against Villanova,
4. #1 Kadary Richmond 6’8″ 205 lbs. Gr. Guard Brooklyn, N.Y. Seton Hall Transfer
10.7 pts, 5.1 rebs, 85 ast.-40 TO, 33 stl, 45.4 FG%, 3-19 3-PT FG, 49% FT, 31.6 mpg
Jan. 7 @ Xavier: 12 pts, 6 ast., 3 stl, 5-12 FG, 37 mins
Richmond is an excellent distributor and disruptor on the court. He leads the Red Storm in assists and steals, and he’s continued to make an impact on both ends of the floor since the game at Xavier. Richmond has had five+ assists and multiple steals in each of the three games since, and he’s also scored in double figures twice.
5. #7 Simeon Wilcher 6’4″ 190 lbs. So. Guard Plainfield, N.J.
9.2 pts, 2.3 rebs, 43.7 FG%, 32.1 3-PT FG%, 16-17 FT. 25.1 mpg
Jan. 7 @ Xavier: 15 pts, 3 ast., 7-15 FG, 28 mins
Wilcher hasn’t scored in double figures since the game at Xavier two weeks ago, but he is still a player to watch. He’s scored in double figures eight times this season.
6. #0 Aaron Scott 6’7″ 210 lbs. Sr. Guard/Forward Spring, Texas North Texas Transfer
8.4 pts, 4.4 rebs, 39.9 FG%, 28.6 3-PT FG%, 18-22 FT, 26 mpg
Jan. 7 @ Xavier: 12 pts, 8 rebs, 4 stl, 6-12 FG, 33 mins
Scott’s performance at Xavier was the first of four straight games in double figures. He’s had 12, 14 and 10 points in the three games since, and he’s also made multiple three-pointers in each of those three games.Scott has also had three steals in each of his last two games and 21 rebounds over the three-game span.
7. #8 Vincent Iwuchukwu 7’1″ 250 lbs. Jr. Center Lagos, Nigeria USC Transfer
2.9 pts, 2.4 rebs, 45.8 FG%, 0-2 3-PT FG, 5-7 FT, 8.7 mpg
Jan. 7 @ Xavier: 3 rebs, 0-2 FG, 12 mins
Although he hasn’t seen much playing time in his last three games, Iwuchukwu still has nine rebounds in that stretch. Iwuchukwu had a block and two points in the Red Storm’s win over Seton Hall on Saturday.
8. #11 Jaiden Glover 6’4″ 205 lbs. Fr. Guard Brooklyn, N.Y.
2.4 pts, 4 rebs, 32.4 FG%, 8-24 3-PT FG, 4-7 FT, 6.8 mpg
Jan. 7 @ Xavier: DNP
Glover played double-digit minutes against Seton Hall on Saturday, only the fourth time he’s played 10+ minutes this season. He was a perfect three-of-three from the field in a seven-point outing. Two of Glover’s four double-digit minute games have come in each of the Red Storm’s last two games.
9. # 17 Ruben Prey 6’10” 230 lbs. Fr. Forward Lisbon, Portugal
1.9 pts, 1.2 rebs, 11-17 FG, 1-5 3-PT FG, 8-14 FT, 8.9 mpg
Jan. 7 @ Xavier: 3 rebs, blk, 5 mins
Prey had a breakout performance against Seton Hall on Saturday with five blocks and four rebounds in 14 minutes. Although he hasn’t scored in two of St. John’s’s three games since winning at Xavier, Prey is a player to watch for the impact he can make on the defensive end.
Head Coach: Rick Pitino (2nd season)
Simply put, Rick Pitino is one of the greatest head coaches in College Basketball history. A 2013 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, Pitino enters Wednesday night with 870 wins and is the third-highest leader among active head coaches with a .720 winning percentage in the NCAA Tournament.
In his first season with the Red Storm, St. John’s won 20 games and advanced to the Big East Tournament Semifinals for the first time since 2000. Their 11 Big East wins were the most since the 2010-2011 season.
In his career, Pitino is the only head coach to win a National Championship at two different schools (Kentucky and Louisville). He’s also the first coach to take three different programs to the Final Four (Kentucky, Louisville and Providence).
Keys to the Game
1. Rebounding: The Musketeers mettle without Zach Fremantle will be tested in this game. St. John’s averages a Big East-leading 41.9 rebounds per game. That is currently seventh-best in the country, so this will be a challenge for the Musketeers on the glass.
2. Force the Red Storm into tough shots: The last time these two teams played, the Red Storm shot 2-16 from three-point range. Xavier is a much-improved team since then, so forcing the Red Storm into shooting a lot of three-point shots will give them a chance to win Wednesday night.
3. Complimentary basketball: St. John’s is excellent at distributing the ball on offense and taking the ball away on defense. The Red Storm average 15.6 assists per game and 9.7 steals per game. This means the Musketeers are going to have to take care of the ball on offense and cause disruption on the defensive end.
Score Prediction: St. John’s 79 – Musketeers 74
This game will be close. The Musketeers have bounced back nicely since boos rained down at the Cintas Center as the Red Storm beat them 82-72 on January 7th. This game isn’t the end-all-be-all to the Musketeer’s NCAA Tournament chances this season, but a win against this St. John’s team in New York will absolutely propel them into the thick of the conversation.
