ST. JOHN'S LOOKS TO KEEP DEPAUL WINLESS IN BIG EAST

February 28, 2009

DePaul came up just short on Wednesday night, falling 74-72 against Villanova at Allstate Arena, in their quest for their first conference win of the 2008-2009 season. On Saturday, they welcome St. John’s into Allstate Arena in their last home game of the year. At 0-15 in conference play, DePaul will hope to avoid the first Big East 0-fer since Miami went 0-18 in the 1993-1994 season. With road games left after Saturday with West Virginia and Georgetown before the 2009 Big East Tournament, this will probably be the only chance they have at avoiding a winless conference campaign.

St. John’s enters Saturday’s contest with a 4-11 mark in Big East play and 13-15 overall. With another losing record in Big East conference play, an annual sign of spring is on its way in NYC has begin as the job security of Norm Roberts begins to come under question. While the administration publicly stands behind the embattled coach, they have also been seen at the recent games more regularly.

Last Sunday, the Redstorm broke a five-game losing streak with a win over Seton Hall at Carnesecca Arena, but they were unable to create any momentum as they laid another egg on the Madison Square Garden floor, an all too familiar scene in recent years, with an 87-58 loss to Syracuse.

While injuries and youth have impacted the success of the Redstorm this season, a loss against DePaul will definitely bring more calls for the end to the Roberts era. In order to prevent such a situation, SJU must come out and play defense and hit the boards against the Blue Demons. St. John’s has some length and athleticism that should make it hard on DePaul to score points. The key match-ups will be DJ Kennedy against Dar Tucker, who leads DePaul with 18 points a game, and Justin Burrell inside against Mac Koshwal.

Against Villanova DePaul let an eight-point halftime lead, which they stretched to 10 early in the second half, go for naught in a 74-72 loss. Villanova actually stormed back to take a double-digit lead of their own before a Will Walker shooting display from beyond the arc made things interesting.

Mac Koswhal was doing damage inside against the Wildcats, posting 10 points and 9 rebounds in the first half, but like all too often, DePaul lost track of their big man in the second half and resorted to launching perimeter shots, which they miss, much more than they hit.

If St. John’s can play tough inside and control the boards, they should be in pretty good shape. They match-up well with the DePaul personnel and Malik Boothe seems to have a better grasp of the SJU game plan than the DePaul rotating door at point guard.


NBE Blogger Prediction:

St. John’s 65
DePaul 59