Villanova vs St. John’s: Game Preview

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Villanova Wildcats 14-3 (5-1) vs St. John’s Red Storm 12-5 (5-1)

Where: Xfinity Mobile Arena (Philadelphia, PA)

When: Saturday, Jan. 17 at 8:00 PM

Betting Line: Villanova -1.5 (subject to change)

How to Watch: NBC Sports Network & Peacock

How to Listen: Villanova Sports Radio Network

Net Rankings: Villanova 25, St. John’s 26 (Quad 1)

KenPom: Villanova 26, St. John’s 18

Torvik: Villanova 30, St. John’s 20

About St. John’s: The Red Storm were selected to finish first in the Big East Preseason Poll, and came into the season ranked 5th in the AP Poll. They have come up well short of those expectations to this point, but things are starting to turn as of late. Outside of the surprising home loss to Providence, the Johnnies haven’t lost a game since Dec. 20 at Kentucky. The Red Storm have won their last three games by a total of 55 points.

Preseason Conference Player of the Year Zuby Ejiofor will be at the top of the scouting report for the ‘Cats. The 6’9” senior is averaging 16.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.1 blocks per game, all of which lead the team. He is joined in the frontcourt by Bryce Hopkins and Dillon Mitchell. Hopkins, a 6’7” senior transfer from Providence, averages 13.2 points and 5.1 rebounds per contest. Both Ejiofor and Hopkins are capable of hitting the long ball, with each shooting around 30%. A major x-factor for St. John’s is Mitchell. The 6’8” senior transfer from Cincinnati averages 8.5 points and 6.2 rebounds, doing a lot of the little things for the Red Storm. Mitchell is not a threat from deep.

The backcourt is led by four transfers. Oziyah Sellers and Ian Jackson start the games, with Joson Sanon and Dylan Darling coming off of the bench. The quartet combine to score 37.4 points per game and make 4.5 threes per game. Sellers, the 6’5” senior transfer from Stanford, is averaging 16.7 points over his past three contests and shoots 40.5% from range on the year.

One other player to look out for is returning sophomore Lefteris Liotopoulos. The 6’4” guard only plays about 10 minutes per game, but is capable of having big shooting performances. Liotopoulos scored 17 points and hit 5 three pointers against Creighton two games ago.

St. John’s has played five of the same six teams that Villanova has played in conference thus far. The Red Storm have the aforementioned loss against Providence, but have wins against Marquette, DePaul, Creighton and Butler.

Notes on Nova: Much like the game against the Friars, St. John’s will want to get up and down. The Red Storm average 86 points per game, which is currently good for 34th in the country. It would be in the Wildcats’ best interest to control tempo. The frontcourt is the biggest concern, with both the size and athleticism advantage going against them. It’s always important for Duke Brennan to stay out of foul trouble, but it will be all-the-more imperative here. With the front-court trio of the Johnnies not being major shooting threats, it could be another good time to mix in some more zone.

St. John’s is 16th in the country in blocked shots, so Villanova will have a tough time finding success at the rim. I think the guards should be able to take advantage of St. John’s though on the perimeter.

With the depth issues of late, it may not be viable to full-court press much. But the Red Storm do tend to give the ball away, ranking 180th in the country in turnovers per game.

Lastly: I don’t want to comment on it, seeing as it hasn’t worked out the last two times. But hopefully there’s a positive-regression game coming for a certain Villanova guard.

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