Providence @ St. John's preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 3, 2018 ) St. John's 57, Providence 61

St. John's returns home after consecutive Big East road victories sandwiched between a blowout loss at No. 2 Duke when it hosts struggling Providence on Saturday. The Red Storm knocked off No. 9 Marquette 70-69 on Tuesday to secure their 17th win of the season - their most since winning 21 games in 2014-15, the last time they played in the NCAA Tournament.

Junior guard Shamorie Ponds scored 28 points against the Golden Eagles, including a bucket with 16 seconds left to take the lead, while Mustapha Heron forced Big East leading scorer Markus Howard to misfire on an off-balance shot in the final seconds that sealed the victory. Justin Simon snapped out of a four-game scoring slump with 19 points while Heron added 10 points. Providence lost its third straight game after shooting 37 percent and getting outrebounded 50-33 in a 76-67 loss to Georgetown on Wednesday. “This year’s been very different for me,” coach Ed Cooley said. “It’s one of the hardest years to try to put our finger on just who we are. You just have to hang in there and get onto the next game. We have to keep our kids' heads up when you have a year where the ball’s not bouncing your way."

TV: Noon ET, CBS Sports Network

ABOUT PROVIDENCE (13-10, 3-7 Big East): Alpha Diallo, who became the 50th player in program history to score 1,000 points, had 22 points - outscoring the other four starters by one - as the Friars shot 37.3 percent from the floor and connected on just 4-of-22 beyond the arc. Freshman guard A.J. Reeves (11.1 points), who had three 20-point games in his first ten outings before suffering a leg injury on Dec. 7, has scored just 18 points in four games since his return, including 1-of-5 shooting for three points against the Hoyas in his first start since coming back. In conference games, the Friars are last in the Big East in field-goal percentage (38.6), 3-point shooting (26.7) and scoring offense (67.6 points).

ABOUT ST. JOHN'S (17-6, 5-5): One of 20 players on the watch list for the Wooden Award, Ponds shot 9-of-19 from the floor and 9-of-9 from the free-throw and scored 15 of his team's last 16 points while adding a team-high seven rebounds and a pair of steals. Ponds (20.8 points, 5.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds) has scored 20 points or more in eight straight conference games dating to the Red Storm's first win over Marquette on Jan. 1, and in 14 of his 22 appearances this season. Simon (10.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists), who had scored just 17 points in his previous four games, finished 8-of-11 from the field.

TIP-INS

1. Providence has won three straight in the series and six of seven.

2. The Red Storm, who have handed the Golden Eagles their only Big East losses this season, are just the fifth team since conference realignment to sweep Marquette and Creighton in the same season.

3. Ponds became just the sixth player in St. John's history to record 200 steals in a career, tying Sir'Dominic Pointer for fifth on the program's all-time list.

PREDICTION: St. John's 80, Providence 70