MEN’S BASKETBALL GAMEDAY

ST. JOHN’S vs. UCONN

When: Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. Where: Gampel Pavilion

Records: St. John’s 9-4 (1-1 Big East), UConn 10-4 (1-2 Big East)

TV: FS1

Radio: UConn Sports Network, 97.9 FMESPN Hartford, Sirius-137, XM-206, SXM App-965, WAVZ-New Haven (1300 AM), WGCH- Greenwich (1490 AM), WATRWaterbury (1320 AM), WILI-Willimantic (WILI 1400 AM)

KEEP AN EYE ON

No more gaffes: It’s been a tough season for Jalen Gaffney. The junior guard was expected to be a key piece off the bench, backing up R.J. Cole at the point, or maybe even starting at shooting guard. Instead, he’s shooting just 36.6% from the floor and turning the ball over too much. He’s played just a combined 17 minutes the Huskies’ past two games.

“It’s an important time for him to step up and step forward and play better,” coach Dan Hurley said. “I wouldn’t have imagined, going into the year, that he’d be playing 8 or 9 minutes a game here. I would have imagined a much bigger role, based on where we hoped things would be. But, just like this team, he still has the chance to accomplish everything he wants to accomplish. We have so many games left, 17 league games left. So, he can still have the type of year that he wants. But he’s got to do it now.”

40 minutes of hell?: Under second-year coach Mike Anderson, St. John’s likes to ramp up the pressure defense, cause havoc with steals and turnovers, and overall kick up the pace.

“It is a concern,” Hurley said. “We don’t have a ton of handlers, we don’t have a ton of guards that can go by you when the other team is aggressive in passing lanes and trapping. They take you out of a lot of things you’re trying to run, so now you’re in a situation where we have to be sharp with passing and cutting, and just kind of playing basketball.”

That said, although UConn is about middle of the pack in pace-of-play nationally, Hurley is expecting this one to be a “really, really fun game.”

“I think our guys are gonna be excited about a game that’s gonna be pretty open, and a real players’ game,” he said.

Stamford Stormer: After spending the past four years at Purdue, Stamford’s Aaron Wheeler is now a grad student for the Red Storm. The 6-foot-9 forward is averaging 5.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per game off the bench while shooting 49 percent from the floor. Wheeler, who began his prep career at Trinity Catholic and ended it with a season at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, matched a career-high with 15 points in the Johnnies’ loss on Saturday at Providence.

Icing Champagnie, Posh: St. John’s junior forward Julian Champagnie is second in the Big East in scoring at 20.7 points per game and “is an NBA player,” Hurley said. Posh Alexander, the league’s reigning coDefensive Player of the Year along with UConn’s Isaiah Whaley, is sixth in the Big East in scoring at a 15.8 ppg clip.

“I think you go into the game knowing that you’ve got to do a great job on Champagnie and Posh,” said Hurley, “and it starts there.”