St. John’s men’s basketball game preview: Kansas State

The Red Storm will take on the Wildcats in their first game since Lou Carnesecca’s passing

Saturday’s matinee matchup against Kansas State will mean more than a typical non-conference game against a high-major opponent for the St. John’s men’s basketball team. They will take the floor, with heavy hearts, for the first time since the death of program icon Lou Carnesecca, who passed away one week ago.

Game information

Who: St. John’s Red Storm (6-2) vs. Kansas State Wildcats (6-2)

When: Saturday, December 7, 2024, 11:30 a.m.

Where: Carnesecca Arena, Jamaica, New York

TV: FOX

Radio: Learfield

Tickets: Ticketmaster

Series History: Tied at 1-1. St. John’s won their last meeting with Kansas State on December 10, 1965, with a score of 72-65, ironically at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas.

Injury news

No injury news to report for St. John’s.

What to Watch for in the Storm

St. John’s 77-64 win over Harvard last Saturday was not exactly inspiring. They couldn’t blow out a sub-250 KenPom team due to cold three-point shooting and a lack of fastbreak chances, missing a chance to boost their metrics in a buy game. Given that tomorrow’s game will be their second in almost two weeks, the Red Storm will have more time to rectify any issues or grow into their system.

It also remains to be seen if Deivon Smith will play after sitting for the entirety of Saturday’s game. Smith was disciplined after poorly handling his second-half benching in the November 24 loss to Georgia, and St. John’s surely missed his three-point shooting and playmaking ability versus Harvard. Through seven games this season, Smith is averaging 9.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 5.4 assists while shooting 35 percent from deep.

Saturday’s game against Kansas State also stands as the Red Storm’s best remaining non-conference matchup, with the Wildcats ranked 70th in KenPom and 105th in NET. While this would go in the books as a Quadrant 3 game for St. John’s, this game could rise in importance if Kansas State enjoys a successful season in the hyper-competitive Big 12 conference.

Scouting the Wildcats

Saturday’s game is arguably more of a must-win for Kansas State than it is for St. John’s. The Wildcats will have plenty of opportunities to build on their résumé in the Big 12, but they are currently on the outside looking into the field of 68 in many early NCAA tournament bracketologies due to a lack of good wins.

The Wildcats have only faced two top-100 KenPom opponents and lost to both of them: an 11-point home loss to an LSU team picked to finish 14th in the SEC and a narrow 67-65 loss to Liberty in the Paradise Jam tournament on the Virgin Islands. At 6-2, their best win of the season is a 12-point win over George Washington in the Virgin Islands, who are ranked 146th in KenPom. Three of their other wins came against teams ranked 347th or worse in KenPom.

Head coach Jerome Tang overhauled the roster through the transfer portal in the offseason, adding eight new transfers, including Coleman Hawkins (Illinois), Dug McDaniel (Michigan), Achor Achor (Samford), and Brendan Hausen (Villanova). This is a tournament-caliber roster on paper, but they still need time to build chemistry.

Returning forward David N’Guessan is leading the new-look offense as it undergoes growing pains. The 6-foot-9 fifth-year forward from the Netherlands is scoring a team-high 14.1 points per game and pulling down 6.8 rebounds per game. N’Guessan’s 71.2% field goal percentage tops the Big 12 conference and ranks fifth nationally. He can occasionally shoot from deep, making four of six attempts from three to start the season.

Last season, Dug McDaniel infamously scored a then-career-high 26 points in Michigan’s stunning 89-73 blowout win over St. John’s, spoiling Rick Pitino’s Madison Square Garden debut as head coach of the Red Storm.

Loving to perform in places named Manhattan so much, McDaniel transferred to Kansas State this offseason. Becoming the Wildcats’ sixth man to start this season, McDaniel is averaging 11.0 points, 5.9 assists, and 2.9 rebounds, shooting 45% from the field and 28% from three, while also ranking sixth in the country in steals per game (3.0).

Apparent Wildcat enthusiast and three-point specialist Brendan Hausen transferred to Kansas State after two seasons with Villanova and is currently second in scoring for K-State with 13.8 points per game. The Amarillo, Texas native is shooting 40.9 percent from deep and leading the team with 8.3 attempted threes per game to begin the season, more than doubling the next player on the squad in long-range looks.

Playmaking big man Coleman Hawkins was the highest-touted transfer of the Wildcats’ 2024 offseason after spending the first four years of college ball at Illinois. Hawkins averaged 12.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 2.7 assists for the Fighting Illini last season, helping them reach their first Elite Eight since 2005. Hawkins is going through a rough stretch in his new digs, averaging 8.5 points but shooting 36% from the field, 31% from three, and 57% from the free throw line.

Cal State Fullerton transfer Max Jones is another three-point threat to watch out for, averaging 8.8 points and shooting 11-of-25 (44 percent) from three to begin the season.

Junior forward Achor Achor brings explosive slashing ability to the Little Apple after spending his first two seasons at Samford. Achor is starting to find his groove after missing the first two games of the season due to a family emergency, scoring a season-high 21 points in a win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Keys to the game

Defend the three-point line – The Wildcats are a lethal three-point shooting team when they’re on, and St. John’s allowed power conference opponents Baylor and Georgia to fire away from deep. The Red Storm needs to run the ‘Cats off the line.

Force more turnovers – Dug McDaniel, Coleman Hawkins, and C.J. Jones have been turnover-happy this year, with each giving up the ball at a rate of 22% or worse. The Red Storm needs to create more fastbreak chances, and what better way to get on the break than to get takeaways in the open floor?

Avoid foul trouble early – Rick Pitino has one of the quickest hooks on players with two fouls, only allowing players to play 0.8% of the time after picking up their second foul in the first half. Pitino probably won’t waver from sending foul-troubled players to the bench any time soon, making it more important for the Red Storm to avoid cheap fouls.

Prediction

Emotions will run high for the Red Storm as they pay tribute to Lou Carnesecca, and it’s difficult to imagine them not playing with incredible energy from tip-off. Shooting would continue to be a problem, but after a rocky first half in which both teams trade baskets, St. John’s goes on a second-half run to pull away and win, 78-71.