Improving St. John's hosts slumping Xavier (Jan 29, 2017)
NEW YORK -- St. John's is looking to get to .500 in the Big East Conference when it hosts No. 24 Xavier Sunday at Madison Square Garden. Xavier (14-6, 4-3 Big East) has won the last three meetings.
The Red Storm (10-12, 4-5) is off to its best record at the midway point of conference play since the 2012-13 season. Coach Chris Mullin's squad recorded an impressive 91-86 win at Providence on Jan. 25 in which freshman Marcus LoVett scored a game-high 26 points on 10 of 15 shooting, while fellow frosh Shamorie Ponds added 22 points, highlighted by a 4-for-5 effort from long distance.
Both LoVett and Ponds have now each scored 20 or more points in a game eight times this season.
"They proved to themselves that they can fight through on the road after playing a great first half and coming out a little flat 1/8in the second half 3/8," said Mullin of the win over Providence. "Not only individually, they proved it to each other.
"Trust and confidence is built through that. It's built through adversity, it's built through failing and handling it. Part of it is daily practice, feeling good about yourself and knowing the coaches have your best interest at hand. The real part comes when you do it yourself."
Mullin's crew will be facing one of the best scorers in the county in Trevon Bluiett, who scored a career-high 40 points on 12 of 15 from the field, including 9 of 11 from beyond the arc, in an 86-78 loss to No. 19 Cincinnati.
The loss was the Musketeers fourth in the last five games.
Bluiett tied the school record for 3s in a game. His 40 points were the second-most ever against Cincinnati, one shy of Dell Curry's total for Virginia Tech in 1985-86.
"Once you get a couple to fall in, you've got all that adrenalin going," Bluiett said. "Once you get a few to fall in, it's like the rim is as big as the ocean. I felt every shot I was taking would go in.
Bluiett, a 6-foot-5 junior guard, leads Xavier averaging 18.4 points per game and has hit a team-high 51 3-pointers. Sophomore guard Edmond Sumner's 4.9 assist average is third-best in the conference to go with his 14.9 points per game.
In their meeting on Jan. 7 at Cintas Center, Xavier claimed a 97-82 victory despite a combined 53 point effort from LoVett (32) and Ponds (21). Xavier rallied behind Sumner, who recorded 20 points, seven assists and three steals.
"Sunday is another conference game," Mullin said, downplaying the importance of getting to .500. "We can't really look at it as any more or any less. It's just as important as the games we're going to play after it. We're going to prepare for this game like it's another game. We have to mentally prepare ourselves to be physical and try to run."
