St. John's Federico Mussini
MBB Minute -- St. John's Shoots Past Tulane, Saturday Includes No. 7 Xavier At No. 9 Baylor
St. John’s first 10 baskets (in 11 attempts) at Tulane were 3-pointers and the Red Storm went on to a 95-75 victory on Friday night. Marcus LoVett was 3-of-3 from beyond the arc for the game and scored 18 points. Shamorie Ponds and Federico Mussini each added 17 points. Ponds was 4-of-5 on 3s, while Mussini was 3-of-4. The Red Storm shot 16-of-25 from 3-point range for the game. They did not make a 2-point basket until 8:23 remained in the first half. The win ended a five-game losing streak.
Saturday’s BIG EAST slate is headlined by No. 7/7 Xavier traveling to No. 9/11 Baylor on ESPN2 at 3:30 p.m. The Musketeers are putting their 21-game non-conference regular-season winning streak on the line in Waco. Facing AP top-10 opponents last year, Xavier was 3-0 with wins over Villanova, Butler and Providence.
Three other games on Saturday are intense local rivalries. No. 2 Villanova hosts Saint Joseph’s at The Pavilion on CBS Sports Network at 1 p.m. The Wildcats have won 41 straight games on campus.
Providence takes on No. 21/25 Rhode Island at 4:30 p.m. on FSN. The Friars’ Rodney Bullock leads the BIG EAST in scoring with a 22.0 average.
DePaul dons its road uniforms for the first time this season when it takes the short ride to Northwestern. BTN will televise at 7 p.m.
FS2 will televise Akron at No. 10/12 Creighton at 8 p.m. and Central Arkansas at No. 18/18 Butler at 4 p.m. For Creighton, freshman Justin Patton is tied for first nationally with an 80.0 field goal percentage and Maurice Watson Jr. is second in assists at 8.4. For Butler, Kelan Martin leads the team in scoring with a 16.4 mark.
BIG EAST teams go into Saturday with a collective record of 54-16 (.771).