Sunday night will be the biggest football game of the year on CBS but at 4pm on Saturday there will be the biggest game of the season for the St. John’s Red Storm so far on CBS. The nationally televised game will feature two streaking teams, the Red Storm who have rattled off five straight and the Hoyas of Georgetown who have won three straight and four of five since last meeting with the Johnnies.

That last meeting with the Johnnies will be on every players mind as they step on the court Saturday afternoon. An early 11am start time at Madison Square Garden was not very friendly for the Red Storm who took a 67-51 spanking. The Hoyas led at the half, 36-19 thanks to some hot shooting out of the gate and a great game from Otto Porter, who had been struggling.

The team knows it has its work cut out for them but they welcome the rematch with the Hoyas.

“Of course we were looking forward to it. They beat us pretty bad, and we all kept that in mind as a team,” said Amir Garrett. “We’re very focused on Georgetown right now. That loss left a sour taste in our mouth, and we kept that bottled up inside us.”

Game Information
Date: Saturday, February 2nd, 2013
Location: Verizon Center- Washington. DC
Time: 4:00 PM EST
TV: CBS (Ian Eagle, Clark Kellog)
Radio: WBBR 1130 AM (John Minko)

Georgetown Hoyas  (15-4, 5-3)
Head Coach: John Thompson III

Again for the Hoyas the man to watch is Otto Porter. The forward is averaging 15 points per game and 7.7 rebounds. Porter has five double-doubles so far this season while shooting 51.3% from the field. In their first game against the Red Storm Porter put up a huge game racking up 19 points and 14 rebounds. Porter was recently named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll and has Georgetown surging at the right time.

With a little over a month left in the regular season the Hoyas seem to have put their scoring woes behind them. In the three game win streak they are averaging 67 points. A stark contrast to the team that won a game against Tennessee in November by a final score of 37-36.

Markel Stars is a player to watch in the front court for the Hoyas as he is currently third on the team in scoring with 11.8 points and 2.7 assists per game. Starks scored and tied a career high 17 points last game against Seton Hall, which matches his output against St. John’s the first time when he had 17 points on 7-13 shooting. Starks will have a tough matchup with the Red Storm’s Jamal Branch.

Projected Starting Lineup:
F Otto Porter
F Nate Lubick
F Mikael Hopkins
G Markel Starks
G Jabril Trawick

St. John’s (14-7, 6-3)
Head Coach: Steve Lavin

It wasn’t supposed to be that close but the Red Storm pulled out an overtime victory at home against DePaul on Wednesday. The gritty win came after high scorer for the game and go to man D’Angelo Harrison fouled out with 3+ minutes left on the clock in regulation. The team finished the last almost nine minutes without him and luckily was able to pick up the much needed win to keep their postseason hopes alive.

Sir’Dominic Pointer has shown a true leadership quality during the five game win streak that cannot accurately be praised enough. Pointer finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 30 minutes to help wrap up the game. Pointer scored on 4-5 from the field including a three pointer from the corner that he has now hit in two straight games. Pointer’s improvement over the course of the year has been huge for the young Johnnies squad.

But even during the midst of a win streak, the coach always believe the team could be doing better.

“We’re clearly making progress and playing better basketball then when we last played Georgetown, but there are still a number of areas we need to continue to improve upon,” said head coach Steve Lavin. “Rebounding and free throw shooting are probably the two areas, between now and the end of the season; that we need to keep making progress.”

Projected Starting Lineup:
F JaKarr Sampson
F Sir’Dominic Pointer
G Jamal Branch
G Phil Greene
G D’Angelo Harrison

Keys to Victory

•    Free Throws- This Red Storm team can play Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde so far this season when it comes to free throws. Against DePaul the Storm almost gave the game away at the line like they did against Rutgers at the Garden. The Red Storm shot 17-27 from the line, including 3-8 from JaKarr Sampson and 1-4 from Chris Obekpa.
•    Rebounding- Rebounding was a problem again when the Red Storm took on DePaul, crashing the boards seemed optional as they got out rebounded 52-39 while DePaul racked up 21 offensive rebounds. Cleaning the glass is a most important part of the game of basketball and despite 12 from Pointer and eight from Sampson this team is still not doing enough.
•    Stay out of foul trouble– It’s one thing to be in foul trouble against a team like DePaul, as it will be hard enough to come back against a scrappy team. But the Red Storm can not afford to lose D’Angelo Harrison to a foul out against the elite teams of the league. It will be imperative for Harrison and everyone else not to pick up tick tack fouls.
•    + Turnover margin- The Red Storm against DePaul was +8 in turnover margin against DePaul which included only two from their guard position. Phil Greene was perfect in 43 minutes and Jamal Branch picked the pocket of the DePaul guards six times. The Johnnies have been very good at this all season and with the new three guard lineup it is imperative for them to be as crisp as usual.

Final Prediction: Georgetown Wins, 64-58

The hits just keep coming for St. John’s.

Hours after Malik Stith left the team for personal reasons, the Red Storm suffered yet another setback at the hands of Cincinnati. In a rivalry that normally features defensive struggles, the Bearcats walked into Madison Square Garden and thoroughly decimated an undermanned St. John’s team to the tune of a 76-54 runaway.

St. John’s will once again have to resort to a six-man rotation as they enter their final seven games of the regular season; and JohnnyJungle.com gets you caught up on the first of these matchups, a meeting with No. 11 Georgetown in which the Red Storm look to avenge a 69-49 defeat at Madison Square Garden from four weeks ago.

Date: Sunday, February 12, 2012
Location: Verizon Center; Washington, D.C.
Time: 1:00 PM EST
TV: ESPN (Bob Wischusen, Fran Fraschilla)
Radio: WBBR 1130 AM (John Minko, Tim O’Toole)

St. John’s Red Storm (10-14, 4-8)
Head Coach: Steve Lavin* (2nd season at STJ; 31-26, 176-104 overall)
*- Assistant coach Mike Dunlap will serve as interim coach while Lavin recovers from offseason prostate cancer surgery

Projected Starting Lineup:
G Phil Greene (6-2 Jr., 7.4 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 35% FG, 75% FT, 2.9 APG, 1.2 SPG)
G D’Angelo Harrison (6-3 Jr., 16.6 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 38% FG, 38% 3pt, 81% FT, 2.0 APG, 1.6 SPG)
F Amir Garrett (6-6 Fr., 6.1 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 41% FG, 54% FT, 1.0 APG, 1.1 SPG)
F Sir’Dominic Pointer (6-5 Fr., 6.4 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 41% FG, 57% FT, 1.5 APG, 1.1 BPG, 1.6 SPG)
F Moe Harkless (6-8 Fr., 15.8 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 45% FG, 65% FT, 1.5 APG, 1.6 BPG, 1.6 SPG)

Key Reserves:
F God’sgift Achiuwa (6-8 Jr., 10.3 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 55% FG, 69% FT)

Keys To Victory:
– A near-perfect game. St. John’s was fortunate to have Fordham as its opponent the first time only one man came off the bench for the Red Storm; but the task, to use a Steve Lavin phrase, is much more arduous this time around. Georgetown’s Princeton offense will open up more than one spot inside against St. John’s, which forces Moe Harkless to seemingly carry the team on his back in the paint. If D’Angelo Harrison replicates his cold shooting effort against Cincinnati, it will be a long afternoon.

– Transition. The St. John’s transition game hasn’t been seen in a long time; and if it comes back to life on Sunday, Phil Greene needs to be the reason why. Although a freshman, Greene should have the edge against Georgetown’s backcourt of combo guards that have not been able to translate their game to the point as well as the Chicago native has in his rookie campaign. Greene has been playing well lately, and needs to be more of a facilitator in the early going to set the tone before deciding to attack the basket.

– Matchup zone. When they do not drive inside or go to their world-famous backdoor cuts, Georgetown has burned many opponents from long range. St. John’s will try to be mindful of this statistic when they resort to the matchup zone defense in an attempt to combat the distance shooting of the Hoyas, who shoot 36 percent from beyond the arc as a team.

Ladies and gentlemen, your scouting report on the opponent…

No. 11 Georgetown Hoyas (18-5, 8-4)
Head Coach: John Thompson III (7th season at Georgetown; 178-78, 246-120 overall)

Projected Starting Lineup:
G Markel Starks (6-2 So., 8.0 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 47% FG, 38% 3pt, 78% FT, 1.5 APG)
G Jason Clark (6-2 Sr., 15.0 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 50% FG, 35% 3pt, 73% FT, 1.7 APG, 1.8 SPG)
F Hollis Thompson (6-8 Jr., 13.6 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 50% FG, 48% 3pt, 69% FT, 1.5 APG)
F Nate Lubick (6-8 So., 3.7 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 47% FG, 50% FT, 2.0 APG)
C Henry Sims (6-10 Sr., 11.6 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 44% FG, 74% FT, 3.6 APG, 1.5 BPG)

Key Reserves:
F Otto Porter (6-8 Fr., 8.7 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 50% FG, 70% FT, 1.7 APG, 1.2 SPG)
G Jabril Trawick (6-5 Fr., 3.8 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 41% FG, 76% FT)
F Greg Whittington (6-8 Fr., 3.2 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 31% FG, 52% FT)
F Mikael Hopkins (6-9 Fr., 2.7 PPG, 1.3 RPG, 42% FG, 80% [16/20] FT)

Keys To Victory:
– Nothing too fancy. This is one game in which Georgetown can afford to play conservative against a short Red Storm bench. Eventually, St. John’s will hit a wall physically, so the Hoyas will end up coming in with a “let them beat themselves” mentality. Don’t be too surprised if the game is close in the first half before the Hoyas pour it on down the stretch.

– Swing vote. Hollis Thompson’s 48 percent clip from three-point range leads the Big East, and that number will likely improve against the distance-challenged Red Storm. Thompson; who has been one of college basketball insider Jon Rothstein‘s many player comparisons, (“so much [former Georgetown star] Brandon Bowman in Hollis Thompson”) has the ability to exploit St. John’s from both sides of the arc.

– Ivy League influence. John Thompson III is a Princeton graduate and former coach of his alma mater, and it is evident in his Hoyas team. Not only does Georgetown run the Princeton offense better than most teams in the nation, they also take high percentage shots and are quite successful in doing so. The Hoyas shoot 46 percent from the field as a team, and five of the players in their rotation shoot above that average. If St. John’s has trouble closing out defensively, Georgetown could approach 60 percent from the field for the game.

So, Who Wins?
The Red Storm and Hoyas are adversaries from a rivalry that dates back to the 1980s, when Chris Mullin and Lou Carnesecca led the then-Redmen up against Patrick Ewing and John Thompson Jr.‘s Hoyas. The two programs have not replicated their past glory, but the battles are still intense. This meeting should be no different. For St. John’s, it is a chance to prove that their maturity is exceeding expectations, while the Hoyas simply need to survive and advance. Georgetown will (regrettably) win this game convincingly; but St. John’s plays best when they have nothing to lose, which gives Red Storm fans something positive to consider when gearing up for this game.

Final Score: Georgetown 70, St. John’s 51

Following a road trip that featured a last-second win over Cincinnati and a humbling loss to Marquette, St. John’s next appearance comes under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden against a school that has been their archrival for well over three decades.

Forget about Syracuse, or even Connecticut. The rivalry between the Red Storm and Georgetown University has its roots in the 1980s, when the Lou Carnesecca-led Redmen squared off against the Hoyas in matchups that pitted future NBA legends Chris Mullin and Patrick Ewing against one another.

The names have changed; but the bitterness remains, especially considering that the last three meetings inside the “World’s Most Famous Arena” have been decided by a grand total of just eleven points. JohnnyJungle.com prepares you below for the latest installment of this heated rivalry, a Manhattan matinee on Sunday afternoon.

Date: Sunday, January 15, 2012
Location: Madison Square Garden; New York, New York
Time: 12:00 PM EST
TV: MSG/ESPN3 (Bob Picozzi, Tim Welsh)
Radio: WBBR 1130 AM (John Minko, Tim O’Toole)

St. John’s Red Storm (8-8, 2-3)
Head Coach: Steve Lavin* (2nd season at STJ; 29-20, 174-98 overall)
*- Assistant coach Mike Dunlap will serve as interim coach while Lavin recovers from offseason prostate cancer surgery

Projected Starting Lineup:
G Phil Greene (6-2 Fr., 6.1 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 30% FG, 75% FT, 2.4 APG, 1.1 SPG)
G D’Angelo Harrison (6-3 Fr., 15.6 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 38% FG, 34% 3pt, 81% FT, 1.9 APG, 1.6 SPG)
F Sir’Dominic Pointer (6-5 Fr., 6.7 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 45% FG, 47% FT, 1.4 APG, 1.4 SPG)
F Moe Harkless (6-8 Fr., 15.4 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 45% FG, 70% FT, 1.6 APG, 1.8 BPG, 1.6 SPG)
F God’sgift Achiuwa (6-8 Jr., 12.1 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 54% FG, 72% FT, 1.0 BPG)

Key Reserves:
F Amir Garrett (6-6 Fr., 3.3 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 39% FG, 40% 3pt, 36% FT, 1.0 SPG)
G Malik Stith (5-11 Jr., 3.2 PPG, 1.3 RPG, 41% FG, 77% FT, 1.3 APG)

Keys To Victory:
– Grand slam. St. John’s has won each of the last three games against Georgetown at Madison Square Garden dating back to March of 2009, with late-game heroics involved in each one. This game can be had too; and after a 19-point loss to Marquette in a game that the Red Storm led at halftime, you can bet that Mike Dunlap and his staff will have their young team ready to pull off the upset against the 11th-ranked Hoyas.

– God’s on our side. God’sgift Achiuwa has had solid games everywhere except Madison Square Garden this season, where he has struggled in each appearance. Georgetown has a noted size advantage, so the sense of urgency for the Nigerian big man is at its highest point of the season.

– Foul trouble. Anyone who watched the Marquette game knows how much of a danger this is after D’Angelo Harrison fouled out with 11:22 remaining in regulation. With a short bench and no proven offensive leader, St. John’s can ill afford to lose anyone to any kind of infractions that they can control.

Making their way up from the nation’s capital is a team looking to right the ship after losing their last two.

No. 11 Georgetown Hoyas (13-3, 3-2)
Head Coach: John Thompson III (8th season at GU; 173-76, 241-118 overall)

Projected Starting Lineup:
G Markel Starks (6-2 So., 9.1 PPG, 1.3 RPG, 50% FG, 41% 3pt, 76% FT, 1.4 APG)
G Jason Clark (6-2 Sr., 15.4 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 49% FG, 34% 3pt, 76% FT, 1.3 APG, 1.9 SPG)
F Hollis Thompson (6-8 Jr., 14.3 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 53% FG, 52% 3pt, 74% FT, 1.6 APG)
F Nate Lubick (6-8 So., 4.1 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 50% FG, 48% FT, 2.1 APG)
C Henry Sims (6-10 Sr., 11.8 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 48% FG, 75% FT, 3.8 APG, 1.6 BPG)

Key Reserves:
F Otto Porter (6-8 Fr., 8.1 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 51% FG, 67% FT, 1.8 APG, 1.2 SPG)
G Jabril Trawick (6-5 Fr., 3.8 PPG, 1.6 RPG, 43% FG, 77% FT)

Keys To Victory:
– Revenge. This is about as simple as it gets for the Hoyas after dropping each of their last three at the Garden to the Red Storm by a total of just eleven points. Georgetown has a more experienced team on paper, so the key will be execution in close quarters. This game will be a war no matter what, so Georgetown needs to make each possession count.

– Princeton offense. The Hoyas are masters of the Ivy League-style backdoor cuts and unorthodox yet popular system. Forward Hollis Thompson (52 percent from three-point range) and center Henry Sims (3.8 assists per game) are the unsung heroes who make this system work, and will give the young Red Storm fits closing outside and getting inside.

– Otto-matic. Freshman forward Otto Porter has already earned that nickname through just sixteen games as the first man off the bench, and he brings an energy level unlike any other reserve in the Big East. Averaging eight points and a team-leading 6.4 rebounds per game, Porter’s fresh legs will be counted on to maintain what the Hoyas hope will be a frontcourt advantage in their favor.

So, Who Wins?
Georgetown is coming off of two upset home losses to West Virginia and Cincinnati, making this a must-win game of sorts, considering the nature of the Big East. On the other side of the court, St. John’s has a potential trap game on the road against a USF team that just beat Seton Hall on the Bulls’ home floor two weeks after nearly doing the same to reigning national champion UConn. This game will not be decided until the final minute; and despite the advantages Georgetown enjoys on paper, the Red Storm come back home and get up in the end for this one, which will be their fourth straight against their bitter adversary at the Garden in a game that will provide yet another silent press conference for the visitors, as has usually been the case after a Hoya loss.

Final Score: St. John’s 60, Georgetown 56