LINKS: Hoyas Head to the Garden to face St. John’s

The Georgetown Hoyas (12-7, 2-4) will head to the Big Apple to face the St. John’s Red Storm (15-4, 3-4) at Madison Square Garden on Sunday at 12pm ET. Neither team has played in a while as the Johnnies have had off since their loss at Butler on Saturday (Jan. 19) afternoon and the Hoyas have been waiting since their Monday shootout with Creighton.

In the last game these teams matched up, St. John’s made a “statement” win against Georgetown in OT and found themselves ranked in the Top 25 for a minute. Lacking Mac McClung and Trey Mourning 20 days ago, due to respective injuries, the Hoyas only used 8 players in the 45-minute battle.

Shamorie Ponds, who sat out the DePaul loss with a back injury, comes off a week on the BIG EAST Honor Roll and looks to be rolling again.

Here are the links:

Chris Mullin, Patrick Ewing to renew rivalry in critical Big East contest | SNY.TV

Since taking over at his alma mater last season, Ewing is 2-2 against Mullin, but St. John’s won the most recent matchup on Jan. 5 when the Hoyas blew a four-point lead in the final 28 seconds and St. John’s prevailed 97-94 in overtime behind 37 points from Shamorie Ponds. The win snapped a 13-game losing streak at Georgetown.

”We had an opportunity that we could’ve won the game last time we played, but mistakes,” Ewing said. “And as all the coaches know, mistakes hurt you. And [we] made mistakes down the stretch up four and they were able to secure their victory.”

Red Storm Returns Home to Host The Hoyas at MSG | REDSTORMSPORTS

Ponds, who has reached the 20-point mark in each of his last five appearances, has established a reputation as one of the nation’s top all-around talents. The junior guard from Brooklyn ranks third in the conference in scoring at 20.6 points per game while leading the league in both assists (5.7 apg) and steals (2.7 spg)...

The team’s second leading scorer at 15.3 points per outing, Mustapha Heron has enjoyed an offensive resurgence of late. After netting all 18 of his points in the second half on 7-of-8 shooting against Creighton last Wednesday, Heron matched Ponds’ team-high total with 20 points against Butler...

Georgetown and St. John’s enter the game with the second and third best scoring offenses, respectively, in the BIG EAST...

Sunday’s contest will mark the final home game for St. John’s before a three-game road swing that will take the Red Storm to Creighton, No. 2 Duke and No. 12 Marquette.

About time St. John’s had a tough stretch...

St. John’s furious rally proves too little, too late against Butler | New York Post

A furious rally, trimming a 22-point deficit to four, fell short. Those 10 strong minutes couldn’t erase the poor 30 that preceded it — all the open looks, mental mistakes and broken offensive possessions in the Red Storm’s fifth straight loss at Hinkle Fieldhouse, an 80-71 setback to Butler in front of a sold-out crowd.

“I thought our energy was lethargic, just not up to par,” St. John’s coach Chris Mullin said. “I’m not quite sure [why that was the case], to tell you the truth. I know we weren’t physically tired, because of how we played at the end of the game.”

St. John’s final: Red Storm fall to Butler, 80-71 | RUMBLEINTHEGARDEN

Butler succeeded in forcing its lethargic pace onto St. John’s in the first half. Coming into the game, Butler ranked 315th in the country in possessions per game with 68.5, a significantly slower pace than St. John’s which ranked 58th with 75.2 possessions per game.

The Bulldog’s pace prevented St. John’s from getting out in transition, holding the Red Storm only to only 4 points off turnovers...

Despite the late push, St. John’s deficit, paired with LJ Figueroa’s foul trouble, proved to be too much for the Red Storm. St. John’s was able to pull within 4 points, and was the better team for the final 10 minutes. However, ultimately St. John’s dug themselves into too big of a hole early and simply ran out of time, falling to Butler, 80-71.

Big East is a demolition derby, but coaches say not to worry | Local12 (AP)

“You hope as the season progresses some of that inconsistency will cease,” McDermott said during a league conference call Thursday. “I think the league has been kind of what we thought it would be. There is parity throughout, but there are still six or seven teams good enough to be in the NCAA tournament. It’s just a matter of we probably have to provide some separation at some point, and that has not happened yet. But it’s really early.”

St. John’s Final: Red Storm overpower Bluejays, 81-66 | RUMBLEINTHEGARDEN

Since the Red Storm came out sluggish, Creighton found themselves with a seemingly convincing 28-19 lead late in the first frame.

But St. John’s was ignited by their star point guard Shamorie Ponds. Coming off a back injury, Ponds challenged the Bluejays defense. He was creating his own shot, and soon his good looks created opportunities for others to pounce on a more haphazard Creighton defense. Ponds had 14 points and 2 assists in the first half. He finished with 22 points and 6 assists while shooting 50% from the field.

The Red Storm ended the half on a 20-6 run over about 6 minutes. They took a 39-34 lead into the halftime break.

FLASHBACK: Last time James and Mac were in Manhattan...

Rhody adds Walker, Mading to roster | The Narragansett Times

Walker comes to URI form Georgetown, where he played sparingly a year ago. The 6-foot-9 product of Washington, D.C. was efficient in his limited on-court time. He shot 50 percent on 2-pointers, hit 2-of-5 3-pointers and was 14-15 form the free throw line.

The former three-star recruit was dismissed from the Georgetown program by head coach Patrick Ewing in October. He will have three seasons of eligibility remaining, but will need an NCAA waiver to be eligible to play in the first semester of next season.