Villanova stays on the road Tuesday evening to take on St. John’s at the Garden as the ‘Cats try to secure another Big East road win.

The Johnnies (13-8, 2-6) have an interesting resume. They ran out to an 11-2 mark in the non-conference, a stretch that included impressive wins over West Virginia and Arizona. The wheels fell off during conference play, as St. John’s only two Big East wins have come against DePaul. The Johnnies have lost to Butler, Providence, Georgetown, Xavier, Seton Hall, and Marquette.

The Red Storm average 75.5 points per game while giving up 69. They shoot 41 percent from the field and 30.2 percent from three. They also average a whopping 10.5 steals per game.

St. John’s checks in at No. 70 in KenPom, 118th offensively and 47th defensively.

The Johnnies rank 295th in two-point field goal percentage and 306th in three-point percentage. They get 55.6 percent of their points from two and just 24.6 percent of their points from three. They have done a good job taking care of the ball, ranking 24th in turnover percentage.

Defensively, they rank 48th in two-point percentage and 86th in three-point percentage. As you would expect from the large number of steals they get, they rank 20th in opponent’s turnover percentage and second in steal percentage. They’ve had trouble keeping opponents off the offensive glass and have sent opponents to the line at a high rate.

Considering that St. John’s puts up respectable scoring numbers despite the poor shooting and the number of turnovers, it becomes clear that success for the Johnnies is all about pace and disruption. We’ll circle back to that later.

L.J. Figueroa leads the way with 15.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 2.1 steals. Mustapha Heron adds 14.3 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.8 assists. That pair has been St. John’s best three-point threat, connecting on 35.9 and 38.6 percent respectively. Rasheem Dunn rounds out the double-figure scorers with 11.9 points, adding 3.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.2 steals.

The rest of the rotation consists of Julian Champagnie (8.4 points, six rebounds, 1.2 steals), Marcellus Earlington (eight points, 4.5 rebounds), Josh Roberts (six points, 6.3 rebounds), Nick Rutherford (4.9 points, 3.1 assists, 2.6 rebounds, 1.9 steals), David Caraher (4.6 points), and Greg Williams Jr. (4.5 points).

St. John’s lands in the 25th percentile offensively per Synergy Sports with 0.852 points per possession.

The Johnnies have been successful using the pick and roll ballhandler, in isolation, and with handoffs. The majority of their offense comes from spot-ups, transition, and the P/R ballhandler, and their efficiency with the first two has been below average.

If given a choice, Dunn and Rutherford are the players ‘Nova would prefer to have to generate the offense. Dunn and Heron have excelled running the pick and roll, Champagnie has had success cutting, and he and Earlington have been the most efficient offensive rebounders.

Defensively, St. John’s ranks in the 94th percentile with 0.785 PPP.

Handoffs, isolations, and transition have been the Johnnies biggest weaknesses defensively while they have been excellent against the pick and roll, cuts, and post-ups. They’ve been good defending spot-ups and screens.

Rutherford, Dunn, and Caraher would be the individual defenders to attack.

There are some individual weaknesses on specific play types: Champagnie and Roberts in spot-ups, Dunn and Rutherford in the pick and roll, and Dunn, Herron, and Rutherford in isolation.

We’ll forgo digging any deeper into the Synergy numbers simply because it’s pretty clear what Villanova will need to do to win the game.

It’s all about possessions for St. John’s.

The Johnnies haven’t been very efficient offensively and don’t have great field goal percentage numbers, yet still manage over 75 points per game. How? By getting extra possessions and pushing the pace.

In their 13 wins, the Johnnies have averaged 81.1 points. In the eight losses, just 66.4. They are 0-7 when scoring less than 70 points and 13-1 when scoring more than 70. Likewise, they are 11-3 when giving up 70 or fewer points and just 3-5 when giving up 71 or more.

As such, 70 once again emerges as a magic number.

Tying into the pace is the number of possessions. We don’t want to see St. John’s opening a sizeable advantage in possessions or field goal attempts. Consequently, we’ll be watching the turnover and rebounding battles.

St. John’s has been elite forcing turnovers, and we’ll have a close eye on that number for Villanova. Overall, St. John’s has been a decent rebounding team, pulling down 40.1 per game, and has been above average on the offensive glass and efficient at converting those extra opportunities. Interestingly, the Johnnies have struggled to keep opponents off the offensive glass, but they have done a good job of making it difficult for the opposition to convert their extra chances. That’s another area we’ll be watching.

Like most teams currently in the bottom half of the Big East (and several of Villanova’s recent opponents), St. John’s enters the game with its NCAA tournament hopes dangerously close to slipping away. The strength of the conference is keeping those hopes alive, as any sort of run in the Big East will give those hopes a big boost and can alter the picture quickly. As a result, ‘Nova will be facing a desperate team that should come out ready to play.

Ideally, the ‘Cats will force St. John’s to beat them from the outside. But it’s impossible to ignore the importance of pace and possessions in this game, and that’s what will have our attention.

‘Nova will look to improve to 3-1 on the road in Big East play as it tries to stay within striking distance of Seton Hall, extend its cushion over the rest of the pack, and keep control of its Big East destiny.