Johnnies aim to upset No. 10 Jays
St. John’s no longer is the struggling team that lost five straight games in November, but a confident squad riding a three-game win streak. The inexperienced group that was upset by Delaware State and LIU Brooklyn is the exuberant bunch that obliterated Syracuse and stunned No. 13 Butler.
Already, St. John’s (8-7, 2-0 Big East) has matched its number of wins from last season, coach Chris Mullin’s first, and surpassed the conference win total. In less than two weeks, the feeling of the season has shifted, changing what the next two months could be.
What’s ahead is no longer obvious. What’s possible is no longer limited.
“It’s definitely a different feeling,” forward Bashir Ah- med said. “I feel like we’ve got the talent and when we come together as a team it’s hard to beat us.”
With a win Wednesday night over No. 10 Creighton at Carnesecca Arena, the Red Storm would open Big East play 3-0 for the first time in six years, but momentum won’t be enough to win.
While St. John’s has won six of its past eight games behind talented freshmen guards Shamorie Ponds and Marcus LoVett, Creighton (13-1, 1-1) boasts the rare backcourt that may be even tougher to contain.
Kansas State transfer Marcus Foster is the leading scorer on the No. 9 scoring team in the nation (88 points per game), averaging 19 points in his first season at Creighton, while senior Marcus Watson Jr. leads the nation with 9.1 assists per game, creating the open looks that have allowed the Bluejays to record the country’s second best field-goal percentage (53.7) and third-highest 3-point percentage (43.0).
Creighton’s fast pace and unbelievable efficiency all stem from the 5-foot-10 Watson, which Ponds learned during a recruiting visit to Omaha, Neb.
“I feel like if we just limit their transition buckets and slow Maurice Watson down we have a good shot,” Ponds said. “It’s gonna take a team ef- fort against him because he rarely has turnovers and he knows how to get his teammates involved.”
Timing could hurt the Johnnies’ chance to beat a top-10 team in Queens for the first time since 1975.
After the Red Storm’s unlikely home win over Butler, Creighton won’t be caught offguard. And after watching the Bluejays suffer their first loss of the season Saturday at No. 1 Villanova, Mullin is expecting them to be at their best.
“They’re really talented. They’re 10th in the country and there’s a reason for that,” Mullin said.
Federico Mussini has begun shooting, but his status after missing the previous three games with an infection is uncertain.