Syracuse Basketball Set To Square Off With St. John's

The Syracuse basketball team desperately needs to beat St. John’s on Wednesday for a multitude of reasons. But will they?

The Syracuse basketball squad clashes with its third former Big East foe on Wednesday, Dec. 21, when the Orange hosts St. John’s.

So far against these long-time – but no longer – conference rivals, SU is 0-2. A heart-breaking setback to UConn on Dec. 5 at Madison Square Garden, then falling to Georgetown at home in immensely disappointing fashion on Pearl Washington Day this past Saturday afternoon.

Let’s get this out of the way: should ‘Cuse land eight players in double-figures, as it did in dismantling Eastern Michigan on Monday night, we’ll win. I (virtually) guarantee it.

A tough task, of course.

The beautiful ball movement and balanced scoring attack versus the Eagles have me encouraged, but I’m tempering expectations. Syracuse (7-4) is still mired in a bit of a slump, and it has yet to conquer a top-flight team, with ACC play looming in the horizon.

Which brings us to the Red Storm (5-7). Chris Mullin, famous St. John’s alum, Big East legend and NBA Hall of Famer, is in his second season as head coach.

A year ago, Mullin’s pretty awful Johnnies outfit upset the Orange, 84-72, at MSG, behind the strength of 12 3-pointers. That ugly loss came during a rough stretch with Mike Hopkins at the helm, while head coach Jim Boeheim served a (ridiculous) nine-game suspension.

In late 2014, St. John’s snapped Syracuse’s 55-contest, non-conference home winning streak, relying on a 17-2 run in the final four minutes to prevail, 69-57.

What does this backdrop mean? Well, if the Red Storm takes out SU on Wednesday, it will have claimed victory in three consecutive match-ups.

Friends, I’m sorry, but we can’t have that occur. Not a few days before Christmas.

Syracuse has struggled in recent weeks; no one would dispute that. I documented the other day how we may need to hit the panic button on our Orange.

But ‘Cuse did put together a solid performance against Eastern Michigan, and, frankly, St. John’s is fairly bad. Not being a hater; just being honest.

The Red Storm’s “marquee” win, by RPI, is over Northridge (No. 259) at home, 76-70. It did, however, play Minnesota close on the road, as well as VCU at a neutral site. The last time out, on Dec. 18, St. John’s suffered a home defeat to a so-so Penn State, 92-76.

I don’t want to jinx things, because it’s not like the Orange has proven much to this juncture, given its own “signature” victory came at home versus Monmouth.

Three guys on the Red Storm roster average double-figures, with freshman Marcus Lovett the premier scorer at nearly 18 points per game.

St. John’s is young. It has a bunch of freshmen and sophomores. Mullin has shuffled the starting lineup seven times in 12 contests, according to the university’s athletics Web site.

The Red Storm apparently is trying to figure out its rotations, and the same rings true for Syracuse, which as we all know by now, has many new faces.

Both programs come into this battle averaging 78 points a game. In terms of shooting, field-goal and 3-point percentages are relatively even. St. John’s is better from the charity stripe. Shocking, I know.

SU, to no surprise, has a stronger defense, allowing 10 fewer points per contest. Rebounding is deadlocked, and Syracuse holds a slight edge in assists a game, 18-14.

The Orange leads the all-time series, 51-39. Bottom line: if ‘Cuse can continue its fluid passing