The Providence Friars and St. John's Red Storm will both be seeking a 2-0 start to Big East play when they meet in Rhode Island on Friday night.
Friday, December 20th, 8:00 pm ET. FOX
Location: Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, RI
Rick Pitino is returning to his old stomping grounds in Providence as the St. John's Red Storm head to Rhode Island on Friday night. Both the Johnnies and the Friars have a 2-0 Big East start at stake.
The Red Storm enter Friday's contest on a hot streak, winning their last four games. None of those games were particularly close, either, with particularly impressive blowout victories over Kansas State and DePaul, the latter whom they beat by 28 points to start conference play.
Providence doesn't appear to have a way to keep up with the Red Storm on offense. St. John's leads the Big East with 84.8 points per game. They are also one of the best teams in the league in terms of field goal percentage and free throw attempts, displaying versatility on that side of the court.
Both teams have good defenses, though. The Red Storm give up 67.5 points per game, while the Friars surrender even fewer, 64.6 per contest. This game has all the hallmarks of a potential defensive rock fight.
RJ Luis is coming off a big game for St. John's. He scored 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field, grabbing five rebounds as well. The most impressive part of that stat line is that he did it in just 21 minutes.
The big X-factor in this game will be Bryce Hopkins. He looked good in the game against DePaul, but he played 36 minutes and ended up missing Providence's loss to St. Bonaventure with left knee irritation. An MRI revealed no structural damage to the knee, but his status for the game against St. John's is unclear at the moment; the Friars are 5-4 without their star.
Without Hopkins, Providence doesn't have much in the way of scorers. The next man up is either guard Jayden Pierre or guard Bensley Joseph, who are averaging 12.7 points and 11.5 points per game, respectively. Nobody else on the Friars is averaging double figures besides Hopkins, who is averaging 17 points per game, but has played in only three.
This will be Providence's first home game in more than two weeks, so there will be a hyped up fanbase in attendance. St. John's holds a slight all-time edge in the series, though the teams split their meetings a year ago, each winning at home.
This is also the first true road game of the year for the Red Storm. While that could be a recipe for disaster, Pitino knows what to expect from this environment and will surely have the Johnnies prepared.
St. John's has more talent than Providence and is better in every facet of the game. Going on the road to play a conference foe is never easy, but the Red Storm should prevail.
Prediction: St. John's 70, Providence 67