On Sunday, Villanova will go for the season sweep of St. John’s when they head to Madison Square Garden. The ‘Cats defeated 24th ranked St. John’s in early January by a score of 76-71.
Since the last meeting between the teams St. John’s has gone 4-5 and now sit at 18-7 overall and 6-6 in the Big East.
The Johnnies’ offense has taken a bit of dip since the last meeting, going from 84.7 points per game to 79.6. Their offensive efficiency ranking has fallen from 23 to 50, while their points per possession have dropped from 1.035 to 0.982.
St. John’s individual performers and offensive strengths remain similar to the last time the teams met, so to save time and space we’ll simply link to our game preview of the first matchup for those interested in a refresher.
Meanwhile, there has been a slight improvement on the defensive end as St. John’s defensive efficiency has improved from 87 to 80, but the offense is still the moneymaker for the Red Storm.
Size and depth remain weaknesses for St. John’s. Only eight players average double-digit minutes and each of the five starters average over 30 minutes. Villanova’s bench outscored St. John’s bench 21-5 in the last meeting.
Ahead of the previous meeting between the teams, we thought that Villanova might look to meet the Red Storm’s lack of size with its own smaller lineups instead of trying to force an advantage through mismatches, leading to a potentially slow night for Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree. That proved to be the case as DCR logged just five minutes. We could see a repeat of that on Sunday, and it will be interesting to see if the ‘Cats take the same approach.
The free throw line and rebounding proved to be difference makers in the last matchup between the teams.
‘Nova got to the line 22 times and converted 16 of those attempts while limiting St. John’s to just 6-8 from the charity stripe.
The ‘Cats also dominated the glass 39-28 and conceded just five offensive rebounds.
Defense will also be key for Villanova. St. John’s remains a dangerous offensive team despite trailing off a bit since the last meeting. Shamorie Ponds is electric and can win a game on his own, and Mustapha Heron is coming off a 28-point performance in a win over Butler and shoots 43 percent from 3.
Last time out against the Johnnies ‘Nova limited Heron to just eight points and forced a relatively inefficient night from all of St. John’s starters. L.J. Figueroa was the most efficient St. John’s player, scoring 14 points on 5-8 shooting, including 4-6 from 3. ‘Nova did a reasonably good job defending the perimeter and will need to duplicate that on Sunday. St. John’s has been held under 38 percent from 3 in all seven of its losses.
St. John’s got off to a hot start in the first meeting, building a 12-point lead in the first four minutes of the game. The ‘Cats were forced to overcome multiple 9+ point deficits to get the win. On the road, falling into a similar early hole could prove problematic.
The Red Storm won’t be intimidated by Villanova and are hungry for another gold star on their resume to add to two wins over Marquette, one when the Golden Eagles were ranked #16 and one when they were #10. They pushed ‘Nova to the limits last time out and will be looking to repeat the performance while trying to close the deal this time. It should be another good test for the Wildcats as they inch closer to a Big East title.
