St. John’s has had a strange week. From playing a good 20+ minutes against Pittsburgh on Sunday before being outplayed the rest of the second half to Orlando Sanchez gaining his year of eligibility for next year. But nothing was stranger than waking up Friday morning and hearing leading scorer D’Angelo Harrison has been suspended by the team for the rest of the season. Harrison is being suspended because of conduct detrimental to the team an will not play in the rest of the regular or any postseason games this year.
With all that transpiring the Johnnies will head north to Providence where their tournament dreams hang in the balance and will be without their 17.8 points per game scorer.
Last season the young Johnnies put a beating on Providence in their first game of the Big East season at Carnesecca Arena where Moe Harkless broke the Big East scoring record for points in the first conference game at 32. The Johnnies rolled 81-67 to start an up and down year to say the least.
The Red Storm holds the series edge at 57-42 but the Friars have won 12 of the last 16 contests between the teams dating all the way back to 2001.
Game Information
Date: Sunday, March 2nd, 2013
Location: Dunkin’ Donuts Center- Providence, RI
Time: 8:00 PM EST
TV: SNY
Radio: WBBR 1130 AM (John Minko, Brandon Tierney)

Providence Friars (15-12, 7-8)
Head Coach: Ed Cooley
The Friars come into their lone matchup this season with the Red Storm on a hot streak. The Friars have won four of their last five including big victories over Cincinnati, Notre Dame and at Villanova. After starting the Big East season losing four of five it looked like another down year for the Friars and Ed Cooley. But the Friars have been able to turn their season around and look for another big win against a good team.
Bryce Cotton is the player to watch for the Friars averaging 20.2 points per game in 37 minutes shooting at a 45% clip from the field. Cotton had 22 points in 39 minutes in a win at Rutgers last Saturday. Cotton shoots well from the field and will be a problem for whoever has to clamp down on him defensively. In such a big game like this for both teams it would not surprise anyone if Cotton wants to go off and send the Johnnies packing while putting Providence on the bubble.
As for the front court of the Friars is filled with two big boys, Kadeem Batts and LaDontae Henton. Batts and Henton both score in double figures at 14.8 and 13.7 a game respectively. Henton rebounds a bit better at 8.3 rebounds per game to Batts’ seven per game. Henton and Batts will be a big matchup for the Red Storm forwards to deal with and can cause problems on the glass which has been a Red Storm weakness.
Projected Starting Lineup:
F Kadeem Batts
F LaDontae Henton
G Kris Dunn
G Bryce Cotton
G Vincent Council
St. John’s (16-11, 8-7)
Head Coach: Steve Lavin
The Red Storm is going to need to figure out what kind of team they are and fast when they arrive at Providence. Down their leading scorer it will be important to see who will take over his role in the starting lineups and who will take the shots. Harrison was struggling on the court lately but his presence was still very important to this team.
Jamal Branch returned on Sunday against Pitt but was limited to just three minutes off his MCL injury. It will be important for him if he is 100% to be the new floor general. If Branch has an open shot or a lane to drive it is now in his hands. It is rough to ask that of a kid who has only played 11 games with this team because of injury and transfer rules. But if he is up to the task then he must take the reins of the team.
JaKarr Sampson, the new leading scorer of the team, will probably be taking more shots and teams will be looking more at him defensively. Sampson had a decent outing against Pitt scoring 14 and grabbing six rebounds on 6-11 shooting form the field.
Projected Starting Lineup:
F JaKarr Sampson
F Sir’Dominic Pointer
G Marc-Antoine Bourgault
G Phil Greene
G Jamal Branch
Keys to Victory
• Battle of the Board: Never Bigger- Providence is a very good rebounding team. At +3 for the season on the boards against opponents the Friars are averaging 37 rebounds a game. The Johnnies are -4 on the glass and are averaging 36 while giving up 40. D’Angelo Harrison was a good rebounding guard so his rebounds will also be missed from here on out. It will be on Chris Obekpa, Sampson and Sir’Dominic Pointer to lead the way.
• Picking up the Slack- D’Angelo Harrison had been averaging 35 minutes a game this season in 27 games. Those minutes will be distributed elsewhere and whoever is called upon to take those minutes off the bench will have to produce and build an opportunity for themselves down the stretch.
• Bench– Amir Garrett, Chris Obekpa and others will be looked at as more important now with a player down. Garrett is averaging 5.7 points and 4.4 rebounds a game in 20 minutes. He could see his numbers increase and get a bigger role going forward. If not Garrett it could be Felix Balamou the freshman guard who provided spark off the bench early in the season only to see his minutes and production dwindle.
• PG4- Phil Greene is also a more important part of this team. Greene had a decent game against Pitt scoring 11 points and shooting 5-13 from the field. Greene can look great in flashes but can also look outplayed in some also. Greene will have to step up and be a leader and get an important road victory that this team sorely
needs.
Final Prediction: Providence Wins, 64-58
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