MEN’S BASKETBALL GAMEDAY ST. JOHN’S at No. 25 UCONN

When: Monday, 2:30 p.m.

Where: Gampel Pavilion

Records: St. John’s 7-7 (2-6 Big East), UConn 7-1 (4-1 Big East)

TV: FOX

Radio: UConn Sports Network (97.9 FM-ESPN Hartford, WAVZ 1300 AM, WICC 600 AM, WINE 940 AM, WGCH 1490 AM, WILI 1400 AM)

KEEP AN EYE ON

40 Minutes of ... Heck? Coach Mike Anderson’s trademark “40 Minutes of Hell,” pressure defense has the Red Storm leading the Big East and fourth in the nation with 10.2 steals per game. Freshman Posh Alexander leads the way with 2.43 swipes per game, good for 19th in the nation. However, St. John’s currently ranks last in the Big East in both scoring defense (78.5 per game) and field goal percentage defense (48 percent), which belies Anderson’s emphasis on defense.

“It’s hard to run any offense against St. John’s, the way they press with (Rasheen) Dunn and Posh (Alexander), the way they switch everything and trap and deny,” said coach Dan Hurley. “They make it hard to have any semblance of an offense.”

It’ll be even tougher without James Bouknight, UConn’s leading scorer and best player, who’ll be out for another few weeks after having surgery on bone spurs on Tuesday.

Hurley: “Losing James in a game like this, where the court’s gonna be open, and you’re gonna have space and things are gonna be denied and there’s driving lanes available to go make plays, not having your far and away best attacking shot-creating playmaker hurts. Because you need playmakers against this kind of defense.”

“They want to go really, really fast,” Hurley added. “Especially with James out, that’s not something we’re really interested in doing right now.”

Pop the Champagnie: With Bouknight sidelined by injury, St. John’s sophomore swingman Julian Champagnie has taken over as the Big East’s leading scorer. The 6-foot-8 Champagnie is averaging 20.7 points per game overall, just a hair above Bouknight’s 20.3. In Big East games, Champagnie’s 20.0 per game is second to Providence’s David Duke, who’s at 20.1.

“He’s a match-up nightmare, because he scores at all three levels, he’s really skilled, he’s got beautiful natural scoring instincts,” Hurley noted.

The coach added that Isaiah Whaley, Tyrese Martin, Tyler Polley and Brendan Adams will all likely take turns trying to contain Champagnie.