St. John's @ Georgetown preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 27, 2019 ) Georgetown 89, St. John's 78

St. John's and Georgetown, two teams that never expected to be staring at a possible 0-3 start in the Big East Conference, meet Wednesday in Washington, D.C. The Red Storm and the Hoyas were excellent out of conference, combining for a 21-5 mark, but after injury and poor play, one of them will be at the bottom of the league after this game.

For the Hoyas, a loss in their Big East opener was partly because of being without their second-leading scorer, but Mac McClung returned for the last game against Seton Hall and still they struggled in the first half before suffering a 78-62 defeat. "That's two games we didn't come out to the start we needed," coach Patrick Ewing, whose team trailed by 17 points at the half against the Pirates after going down 31 in the first stanza in the opener against Providence, told the media. "We're disappointed. We have to regroup and get ready for St. John's." The Red Storm nearly knocked off a top 10 team in No. 6 Butler in the league opener, falling by two points without leading scorer Mustapha Heron, who returned for Sunday's game against Xavier only for his team to endure another defeat. "Coming on the road, there are certain things you have to do," first-year coach Mike Anderson told the media. "You have to be able to shoot the basketball. 1-of-16 from the 3-point line. I don't think that's a reflection of our basketball team."

TIME: 6:30 p.m. ET. TV: Fox Sports 1

ABOUT ST. JOHN'S (11-4, 0-2 Big East): The Red Storm haven't forced teams to guard the 3-point line of late as they have made 18.9 percent in the last six games. Heron, who leads the team in that department at 37.7 percent in addition to leading them in scoring (14.7 points per game), being absent for three of those games certainly contributed, but his return against Xavier didn't rectify the problem. A date with Georgetown, which permitted Providence and Seton Hall to shoot a combined 41.3 percent from beyond the arc, could help matters.

ABOUT GEORGETOWN (10-5, 0-2): It was bound to happen eventually, but Omer Yurtseven picked a bad time to endure his first bad game in a Georgetown uniform. The junior center failed to crack double figures in points, the first time that has happened this season, and grabbed only five rebounds in 30 minutes against Seton Hall, the same team that held him to two points in his final game with North Carolina State. Foul trouble, something the 7-foot center from Turkey has dealt with sporadically with six games of four or more fouls, may have sapped the aggressiveness of the nation's No. 28 rebounder.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. McClung had his fifth 20-point game in returning from a one-game absence for the Hoyas.

2. Georgetown and St. John's, which leads the series 59-54, have split the last eight meetings with the Red Storm's win last season in Washington D.C., their first there since 2003.

3. St. John's, which was tied for 13th nationally entering Tuesday in turnovers forced per game (18.4), has forced its opponent into 18 or more turnovers nine times this season.

PREDICTION: St. John's 76, Georgetown 70