Game Preview: St. John’s meets former Big East foe Rutgers

It feels like just yesterday Justin Brownlee wasn’t walking at the buzzer against Rutgers in the Big East tournament. A lot has changed since 2011 but Rutgers and St. John’s are still trying to figure out how to get back to prominence. Both teams enter the game with similar resumes:

• An overhauled roster
• A 2-0 start
• A lot of uncertainty

Should be a close game that is sometimes ugly, sometimes exciting.

Game Info:

Date: Thursday, November 19, 2015
Location: Carnesecca Arena, Queens Campus
Time: 7:00 PM EST
TV: Fox Sports 1, FoxSports Go App
Radio: 970 WYNM

Key Match-up

Christian Jones vs Deshawn Freeman

The battle of the bruising forwards. Jones really hasn’t been tested much this year on the defensive end nor has he had someone that can match his physical strength. Will be interesting to see if Jones can go toe to toe or fold to the junior college transfer. St. John’s won’t need Jones to have a double double but they’ll need him to prevent Freeman from having one.

Keys to Victory

• Make Sanders shoot- Rutgers’ freshman point guard Corey Sanders is always a threat to be on a highlight reel.  He can play above the rim but ultimately Sanders loves to dump/kick when he gets into the paint. Make Sanders be a scorer and he’ll throw up a few wild shots.
• Get to the line- Don’t expect St. John’s to be a lights out shooting team. If they decide to live or die by the three every game, they’re gonna die more often than they live. The cure for this is get to the free throw line. Rutgers isn’t very deep and St. John’s will have a much better shot at beating their backups than starters.
• Protect the paint, avoid fouls- Rutgers will try to get to the rim early and often and St. John’s guards will have a tough time keeping them in front. This will leave Sima, Jones, and co. to really protect rim. This might be the first game Sima really gets into foul trouble.
• Play slow, work half court, get good shots- This isn’t going to be a pretty game and there is no need to slop it up more by trying to run a transition game. Rutgers has some guys who can get up and down but their team lacks discipline. Move the ball and see how well they defend for 20+ seconds.