St. John's @ Xavier preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 9, 2019 ) St. John's 68, Xavier 81

Xavier and St. John's both fell behind early but made late runs before falling short in their Big East openers. Both will try to play a full 40 minutes Sunday when the Musketeers host the Red Storm and look for a 10th straight win in the series.

St. John's trailed No. 10 Butler by 23 points in the second half Sunday but outscored the Bulldogs 39-11 to take a five-point lead before going scoreless the last three-plus minutes in the 60-58 loss. “To be honest, you want to win, but you can’t be disappointed,” St. John's guard Nick Rutherford said afterward. “Back against the wall, all you can do is fight and we fought the whole second half. We had the game, but that’s a good team, so credit them for bringing home the ‘W.’” Xavier cut a 12-point deficit to four on Sunday before bowing out 68-62 to No. 9 Villanova despite outshooting the Wildcats 47 percent to 40. "We knew what was coming and I didn't think we handled it very well," said Xavier head coach Travis Steele. "They had 12 offensive rebounds that led to 11 points. When they went on their big run there in the first half it was either offensive rebounds or we weren't able to finish around the rim."

TIME: 4:30 p.m. ET. TV: FOX

ABOUT ST. JOHN'S (11-3, 0-1 Big East): Rutherford (6.1 points, 3.3 assists, 2.1 steals) keyed the Red Storm's comeback effort, finishing with 15 points, five assists and a career-high six steals - and all but two of his points and one of his steals came in the second stanza. Rasheem Dunn (11.3 points) scored 12 points, Greg Williams Jr. tied a career high with 11 and Marcellus Earlington chipped in 10, but le LJ Figueroa (14.4 points) was held scoreless for the first time in his St. John's tenure after being limited to 14 minutes due to foul trouble. In addition, the Red Storm played their third game without second-leading scorer Mustapha Heron (ankle).

ABOUT XAVIER (11-3, 0-1): Tyrique Jones (13.3 points, 10 rebounds) earned his eighth double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 boards, while Naji Marshall (team-high 16.4 points, 5.6 rebounds) led the Musketeers in scoring with 19 points. Paul Scruggs (14.5 points, 4.2 rebounds) also contributed double-figure scoring with 12 points and six assists, but point guard Quentin Goodin (7.9 points, 3.8 assists, 39 percent shooting) scored six points on 3-of-5 shooting and committed four turnovers versus one assist. "We need Q (Goodin) to be better ... on both ends of the floor and he can be," said Steele. "He's shown that. He dominated the TCU game. Dominated the Western Carolina game. He's gotta be better. He's gotta set the table for us and be that calming influence for us on the offensive end."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Both teams thrive on the offensive glass, as St. John's ranks 37th in the nation in offensive rebounding percentage (34.2) and Xavier ranks 75th (30.9). However, both struggle from the arc: St. John's shoots 30.5 percent and Xavier 29.4 - the worst two teams in the conference.

2. Scruggs leads the conference in 2-point shooting percentage (63.6) and Jones is second in rebounding (10.0), while Rutherford is tied for second in steals (2.1) but first in steal percentage (5.0).

3. Entering the St. John's game, Butler ranked fifth in the nation in terms of turnovers, surrendering just 10.4 per contest on average. The Red Storm forced 24 miscues from the Bulldogs, 10 more than their previous season high.

PREDICTION: Xavier 78, St. John's 67