Albany @ St. John's preview

St. John's looks to extend its winning streak to six in a row before the schedule intensifies when it hosts Albany of the America East on Wednesday. Behind 23 points from junior guard LJ Figueroa, the Red Storm picked up an 82-71 victory over Brown on Dec. 10 to keep their streak alive.

After hosting the Great Danes, St. John's takes on No. 17 Arizona in San Francisco on Dec. 21 and then begins Big East play against No. 16 Butler on Dec. 31. The team hopes to have senior star Mustapha Heron back for some or all of that stretch after he was diagnosed with a sprained ankle suffered late in the win over Brown. "He's big for our team. We're a team that we don't have a whole lot of room for error," coach Mike Anderson told reporters of Heron. "With the players that we have, we have to hopefully have them playing at a high level." The Great Danes are coming off an 84-80 win over Niagara on Saturday to snap a three-game slide.

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FS1

ABOUT ALBANY (6-6): Sophomore guard Cameron Healy paces the Great Danes with 17.1 points per game after scoring 16 in the win over Niagara. Senior guard Ahmad Clark was the star in the latest triumph with season highs in points (25) and assists (eight), and he averages 15.0 and a team-high 3.8, respectively. Freshman guard Trey Hutcheson also had a season high with 18 points in Saturday's win while sophomore forward Adam Lulka snagged six rebounds in his second game back from an ankle injury.

ABOUT ST. JOHN'S (9-2): Figueroa's big effort against the Bears left him with a team-leading 15.6 scoring average, just a shade ahead of Heron (15.0). Junior guard Rasheem Dunn chipped in 12 points and a career high-tying six assists against Brown and he paces the team in the latter category at 3.2 per contest. Sophomore forward Josh Roberts has at least eight rebounds in eight straight games and leads the Red Storm with 8.7 boards as well as 2.5 blocks per contest.

TIP-INS

1. Figueroa is averaging 19.7 points on 50 percent shooting over his last three games.

2. Albany's top three scorers -- Healy, Clark and Hutcheson -- are a combined 104-for-123 from the foul line.

3. The teams have not met since 1924.

PREDICTION: St. John's 82, Albany 70