Columbia @ St. John's preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 28, 2013 ) Columbia 59, St. John's 65

With a change on the bench and seven newcomers on the roster for a team that reached the NCAA Tournament last season, St. John's figured to have some growing pains. The Red Storm endured an early bump in the road with Saturday's home loss to Vermont and will attempt to bounce back against visiting Columbia on Wednesday night.

St. John's won its first three games but struggled in every facet in the 70-68 setback to Vermont, recording only six assists, committing 16 turnovers and struggling at the free-throw line. “We got some errors we got to clean up," Red Storm coach Mike Anderson told reporters. "We got to get better. We got to be able to take care of the basketball and got to obviously take care of the home court." The loss snapped the Red Storm's 17-game winning streak against non-conference opponents at Carnesecca Arena dating to Nov. 29, 2016. Columbia is coming off a 60-42 loss to defending national champion Virginia and has dropped a pair of two-point decisions during its 1-3 start, including a 65-63 defeat at Wake Forest.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1

ABOUT COLUMBIA (1-3): Guard Mike Smith, who became the 29th player in school history to reach 1,000 points in the loss at Wake Forest, is second in the Ivy League with an average of 20.0 points and is the only player on the team scoring in double figures. Smith, also averaging a team-best 4.8 assists, scored 16 points but committed a season-worst six turnovers against Virginia's tenacious defense. Junior forward Randy Brumant, who had a double-double versus Binghamton, hit a career-best three 3-pointers Saturday.

ABOUT ST. JOHN'S (3-1): Guard Rasheem Dunn received an NCAA waiver clearing his transfer last week and made his season debut in the loss to Vermont. The 6-2 Dunn showed his rust by scoring 13 points on 4-of-12 shooting and missing his first five attempts from long range before nailing a tying 3-pointer with 19.3 seconds to play. “Me personally, I feel like I showed up too late for my team,” said Dunn, who averaged 15.4 points with St. Francis Brooklyn 2017-18. “Things like that happen when you don’t play for (so long).”

EXTRA POINTS

1. St. John's has won 13 in a row in the series but the schools have not met since December 2013.

2. Columbia has not beaten a Big East team since knocking off Villanova in November 2012.

3. Red Storm Gs Mustapha Heron and LJ Figueroa are tied for the team lead, averaging 18.5 points.

PREDICTION: St. John's 75, Columbia 63