St. John’s vs Creighton: 2020-21 college basketball game preview, TV schedule
Julian Champagnie and St. John’s Basketball look to claim its first BIG EAST victory of the season against No. 9 Creighton in Queens.
TV schedule: Thursday, December 17, 7:00 pm ET. Fox Sports 1
Arena: Carnesecca Arena in Queens, N.Y.
After suffering its second-consecutive loss in BIG EAST play in an overtime battle with Georgetown last Sunday, the Johnnies will welcome one of the country’s best scoring teams on Thursday night, squaring off with the No. 9 Creighton Bluejays in Carnesecca Arena.
St. John’s (5-3, 0-2 BIG EAST) enters Thursday’s contest, having lost its first two BIG EAST games of the season for the third time over the last four seasons.
Despite suffering narrow losses in its first two conference games to Seton Hall and Georgetown, the Red Storm has seen key contributions from Julian Champagnie and Isaih Moore‘s forwards.
Champagnie led the Johnnies with 24 points in Friday’s 77-68 loss to the Pirates in Newark and recorded his third double-double of the 2020-21 campaign against the Hoyas, adding 13 points and 12 rebounds. After six games played, the Bishop Loughlin grad leads the BIG EAST in scoring, averaging 20.8 points per game. His 7.7 rebounds per game also rank in the top-10 in the conference.
Moore had his best game of the season in Sunday’s 97-94 overtime defeat in the nation’s capital, leading the Red Storm with 26 points and 14 rebounds. The JUCO star from Columbia, S.C. shot 10-for-18 from the floor to secure his first double-double of the season.
Three other Johnnies scored in double figures against Georgetown on Sunday, including freshman guard Posh Alexander who totaled 16 points (6-12 FG) and dished six assists. Greg Williams Jr. and Marcellus Earlington scored 13 and 10 points, respectively, while Williams finished with six assists and three steals.
St. John’s has had recent success against the Bluejays, having won three of the last four meetings dating back to the beginning of the 2018-19 season.
The Johnnies and Bluejays series currently sits at 11-10, with head coach Greg McDermott‘s squad holding the tight advantage. McDermott has won nine of his 16 meetings against the Red Storm yet has lost four of the seven games he’s coached against Mike Anderson.
In last year’s regular-season meeting at Carnesecca Arena, the unranked Red Storm turned some heads and blew out the No. 10 Bluejays, 91-71, on March 1. Williams Jr. and Rasheem Dunn played their best games of the season, combining 40 points. Dunn finished with a double-double (19 points, 10 assists) in St. John’s first win over a top-10 opponent at Carnesecca since 1987.
Despite the 20-point loss to the Johnnies, the Bluejays would eventually win its first BIG EAST regular-season title just one week later.
This year, Creighton returns four of its five starters, including BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year Marcus Zegarowski, who is averaging 13.8 points and 5.8 assists per contest through six games. The point guard recorded a double-double 11 point, 11 assist performance in the 94-67 win over Omaha on Dec. 1.
The ninth-ranked Bluejays (4-2, 0-1 BIG EAST) come into Thursday’s game in the Big Apple looking for its first BIG EAST win of the season after falling in a narrow contest to Marquette, 89-84. In its first loss in BIG EAST play against the Golden Eagles, Mitch Ballock led Creighton with 26 points off of 9-of-15 shooting from the field. Eight of his nine baskets were jumpers from behind the arc, which moved him into fourth place in program history with 249 career three-pointers made.
Denzel Mahoney, last season’s Sixth Man of the Year in the BIG EAST, currently leads the No. 9 Bluejays in scoring at 16.2 points per game and is coming off of two-straight 20 point performances.
St. John’s will have the heavy task of needing to limit Creighton’s shot attempts from behind the arc, as the No. 9 Bluejays average a league-high 85 points per game. The Johnnies have struggled with their perimeter defense, allowing teams to make 37.6 percent of their three-point attempts this season.
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If the Red Storm want to knock off a top-10 Creighton squad at Carnesecca Arena for a second-straight season, Coach Anderson’s team must prevent the Bluejays from converting more than 10 triples. Two of St. John’s losses had come when they allowed their opponents to convert from behind the arc more than 10 times.