DePaul @ St. John's preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 16, 2017 ) DePaul 68, St. John's 78

The good news for St. John's and DePaul is that someone is about to break into the Big East win column. The league's two winless teams meet Saturday on the Red Storm's homecourt, where both squads will be aiming to snap a three-game skid.

St. John's was blown out by Providence in its league opener before suffering tight losses to Seton Hall and Creighton, as injuries have hit the program hard of late. Top scorer Shamorie Ponds missed the Seton Hall game with a knee injury before struggling against Creighton in his return. Second-leading scorer Marcus LoVett, also sidelined with a knee injury, hasn't played since late November. DePaul lost to Villanova by 18 in its Big East opener before a tough five-point loss at Xavier and a nine-point home setback versus Georgetown.

TV: 2 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Networks

ABOUT DEPAUL (7-8, 0-3 Big East): The Blue Demons have scored plenty of points of late - 83, 85, 72 and 81 in their last four games - with some big individual performances mixed in. Leading scorer Max Strus scored 33 points against Xavier and has exceeded his season scoring average (18.6) in five straight games. Tre'Darius McCallum notched a season-high 18 points, seven rebounds and four steals against Georgetown, but DePaul could not overcome 17 turnovers and a 31-14 scoring disadvantage at the foul line.

ABOUT ST. JOHN'S (10-5, 0-3): The Red Storm have scored between 68-77 points in seven straight games despite the absence of LoVett, who averages 14.9 points and has a 38.5 percent connection rate on 3-pointers. Ponds averages 19.5 points but had only 12 on 5-of-14 shooting in his return to the court, plus he went 1-of-7 from behind the arc to drop to 6-of-34 over his last five games. All five St. John's starters scored in double figures in the loss to Creighton, led by Bashir Ahmed (21 points), who is 11-of-22 from 3-point range over the last four outings.

TIP-INS

1. This is the first of three straight home games for St. John's, which has won eight consecutive home games against DePaul.

2. DePaul F Jaylen Butz leads the team with 10 blocks in 15 games. By comparison, Tariq Owens has 53 blocks to lead St. John's.

3. The Red Storm received zero bench points in their loss to Creighton.

PREDICTION: St. John's 69, DePaul 62