The St. John's Red Storm and the Duke Blue Devils will both be looking to rebound from recent tough losses lover the past week when they face off at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
St. John's (10-13) has struggled this season despite starting out 10-2. They're currently 0-11 in Big East conference play despite having five players average double figures in scoring. The Red Storm lost their 11th straight game at the hands of No. 6 ranked Xavier on Tuesday despite holding a late lead. The defeat marks the eighth time St. John's has lost by eight points or less this season. Three of those have come against top 10 opponents, including an earlier loss to Xavier and a hard fought, seven-point loss against No. 1 Villanova. The Storm don't boast an elite offense, but Shamorie Ponds leads the five double figure scorers with 19.7 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. Things won't get any easier for St. John's in this showdown against Duke and the No. 4 Blue Devils.
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Duke (18-3) is having another excellent year but faced a tough roadblock last weekend with its loss to No. 2 Virginia at home despite a 30-point effort from freshman phenom Marvin Bagley. The Blue Devils were held to a season-low 63 points but still boast one of the nation's top scoring teams, averaging 90.2 points per game. And they got back on track earlier this week with an 88-66 beatdown of Notre Dame that saw all five starters score in double figures, led by Gary Trent Jr.'s double-double performance. The last time Duke played St. John's was in 2015. The Blue Devils defeated the Storm 77-68 in what was coach Mike Krzyzewski's 1,000th career win.
Can St. John's finally break through against a top 10 team, or will Duke keep up its winning ways?
St. John's vs. Duke
Time: 12 p.m. ET, Sat., Feb. 3.
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City
TV: Fox
Streaming: fuboTV (sign up for a 7-day free trial)