St. John's @ Butler preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 31, 2019 ) Butler 60, St. John's 58

No. 25 Butler stopped the bleeding with a win over the last-place team in the Big East on Saturday and it will try to pick on another of the league's lesser squads when it hosts St. John's in the home finale at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Wednesday. The Bulldogs dropped three straight and five of seven to deliver a blow to their once-strong NCAA Tournament resume, but they upended DePaul 60-42 to calm the waters.

"Our guys had great energy tonight, especially early and especially on the defensive end," Butler coach LaVall Jordan told reporters. "We did a fairly good job executing on offense. Their zone stymied us at times, but we figured it out and got some looks." The win pulled the Bulldogs back to .500 in the Big East and into a fifth-place tie - entering Tuesday - with Marquette and Xavier, which hosts Butler in the regular-season finale for both teams Saturday. The Red Storm have endured four three-game losing streaks in conference play, the last of which they snapped with a 91-71 upset of No. 14 Creighton on Sunday. Sophomore guard Greg Williams Jr. erupted for a career-high 21 points - all on his seven 3-pointers - as St. John's posted season highs in field-goal percentage (55.0), made 3-pointers (14) and 3-point percentage (63.6).

TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: CBS Sports Network

ABOUT ST. JOHN'S (15-14, 4-12 Big East): The Red Storm have ranked near the bottom of the Big East in shooting all season, which made Saturday's 14-of-22 effort from long range a remarkable development. "It's amazing when you make shots and that ball goes through the hole, it just energizes your whole team," coach Mike Anderson told reporters. "It's good to see us put 40 minutes together." Junior guard LJ Figueroa hit 3-of-4 from beyond the arc en route to 16 points and he leads the team with 14.4 points per contest.

ABOUT BUTLER (20-9, 8-8): Forward Sean McDermott scored 13 points against DePaul to raise his scoring average to 11.8, second on the team behind fellow senior Kamar Baldwin (15.7). Baldwin was 4-of-13 from the floor Saturday in his second straight single-digit scoring effort, but he recorded a career-high six steals and tied his season high with three blocks to lead the defensive effort. Junior forward Bryce Nze contributes 9.3 points per game and leads the team on the glass (6.6) after grabbing seven rebounds against the Blue Demons.

BUZZER BEATERS
1. Red Storm junior G Rasheem Dunn had 19 points and tied a career high with 10 assists against Creighton.
2. Baldwin enters Senior Night with 1,908 career points and needs 32 to pass Matt Howard for fifth on the program's all-time scoring list.
3. Butler blew a 23-point lead at St. John's in the first meeting before surviving to claim a 60-58 win.

PREDICTION: Butler 72, St. John's 65