The 22nd-ranked Red Storm face the reigning NEC tournament champion Wagner Seahawks in their second and final intra-city game of the season
For the first time in over five years, St. John’s men’s basketball will enter a game ranked in the AP poll. On Wednesday night, the newest 22nd-ranked team in the country will face the defending NEC tournament champion Wagner Seahawks hailing from Staten Island.
Game information
Who: #22 St. John’s Red Storm (2-0) vs. Wagner Seahawks (1-1)
When: Wednesday, November 13, 2024, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Carnesecca Arena, Jamaica, New York
TV: FS2
Radio: Learfield Radio
Tickets: Ticketmaster
Series History: St. John’s is 19-2 all-time versus Wagner. The Red Storm won their last meeting on November 30, 2019, 86-63, and haven’t lost to the Seahawks since 1956.
Injury news
Aaron Scott (illness) only played three minutes in Saturday’s win against Quinnipiac. With three days rest, Scott might not be 100 percent, but he could be in better condition heading into Wednesday’s matchup versus Wagner.
What to Watch for in the Storm
Aside from the inexplicably discordant first half against Quinnipiac, there is very little to complain about so far for St. John’s. Every key contributor has shown his potential with this team except one. Zuby Ejiofor has averaged a modest 6.5 points and only has three combined rebounds in his first two games.
Rick Pitino named Ejiofor an opening night starter in the preseason, but his slow start might be testing Pitino’s patience. The Hall of Fame head coach said he was “disturbed” by Zuby being unable to pull down an offensive rebound during Saturday’s postgame press conference and said Vince Iwuchukwu may take his spot in the starting lineup on Wednesday night.
Deivon Smith was extremely effective in his first start of the season, recording a double-double with 13 points and ten assists, while also piling on two blocks and three steals on Saturday. Rick Pitino is experimenting with lineups during these buy games, but the fifth-year guard could become a nightly starter thanks to his two-way play.
Scouting the Seahawks
Believe it or not, Wagner won in March Madness more recently than St. John’s, specifically they did it last year. Last season, they won the NEC tournament championship and clinched their first NCAA tournament berth since 2003, going on to win their first-ever Division-I tournament game by defeating Howard in the First Four despite only fielding seven healthy scholarship players.
WHAT A FINISH!@Wagner_MBB SURVIVES and secures its first #MarchMadness win in school history pic.twitter.com/X1sYRJdU21
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 20, 2024
Donald Copeland is back for his third season coaching the Seahawks, but he’s doing it without multiple standouts from that NCAA tournament squad. Their top three scorers Melvin Council Jr. (14.9 ppg), Tahron Allen (10.5 ppg), and Julian Brown (10.0 ppg) departed via the transfer portal.
Their top returning scorer is point guard Javier Ezquerra, who averaged 7.0 points and led the NEC with 4.4 assists per game a season ago.
Junior forward Keyontae Lewis (6-foot-9) is the only player taller than 6-foot-7 on the Seahawks roster and will hold down the five. Last year, Lewis averaged 6.9 points and 5.4 rebounds while starting in all 33 games for the Seahawks. Lewis was also the only player to score in double-figures in Wagner’s opening night loss to Rutgers, recording 12 points and three rebounds.
LIU transfer R.J. Greene, albeit undersized at 6-foot-6, should provide more board cleaning support for Lewis. Greene averaged 8.2 points and an NEC-best 8.0 rebounds per game for the Sharks last season.
Rahmir Moore is back for his fifth season of college basketball after missing all but three games last year with a wrist injury. The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 8.3 points and 2.8 assists on 40% shooting and 28.3% from three in the 2022-23 season with Wagner.
Keys to the game
Lead (Dun)lap – Brady Dunlap leads St. John’s in scoring through two games, averaging 14.5 points per contest and making six of his first ten threes taken this season. It would be quite a revelation for the Red Storm if the sophomore wing continued to score in bunches.
Post Problems – Wagner’s undersized lineup was taken to task by Rutgers, allowing the Scarlet Knights to score 40 points in the paint, as well as 21 of their 32 attempts from two-point range (65.6%) in their season opener. St. John’s shouldn’t face any resistance near the basket on Wednesday.
On the Ejiofor of Glory (Again) – Speaking of post scoring, this should be a get-right game for Zuby Ejiofor. We did say the same thing in our Quinnipiac game preview, and Ejiofor shot 3-of-8 from the field, so maybe the third time’s the charm for the 6-foot-9 Texas native to get going.
Prediction
Other than their harassing defense, early indications are that depth will be a strength for St. John’s, and these doughy mid-majors are a great way to build the necessary chemistry between lineups. Expect Rick Pitino to rerun a 12-man rotation, but it will be one of the starters in Deivon Smith leading the way with a 23-point outing. St. John’s wins, 86-61.