MBB Minute – In Wednesday action, No. 10 St. John’s cruised to a road win at DePaul and Georgetown powered past visiting Providence. The victory pushed the Red Storm closer to a regular season crown while the Hoyas stayed in the fight to gain a bye in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament.
 
St. John’s (23-4, 14-2 BIG EAST) got out of the gate quickly at DePaul and led 41-25 by halftime. The Johnnies played without RJ Luis Jr., who was sidelined with an injury. Forward Sadiku Ibine Ayo made his first collegiate start for St. John’s and scored 15 points. Deivon Smith finished with a game-high 18 points and five assists. The 14 league wins matches the highest total for St. John’s since 1998-99. CJ Gunn had his first double-double for the Blue Demons (11-16, 2-14) with 12 points and 10 rebounds. 
 
Behind the sterling all-around contributions of Micah Peavy, Georgetown defeated Providence 93-72. Peavy stuffed his stat line with a career-high 30 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and six steals. He is the first player to reach all four totals in a D-I game since 2014. The Hoyas (16-10, 7-8) played without injured starters Thomas Sorber and Caleb Williams. The Friars (12-15, 6-10) got 25 points from Bensley Joseph, who has averaged 20.8 points over his last four games.
 
The league schedule is dark on Thursday. No. 16 Marquette travels to Villanova at Wells Fargo Center in Friday’s only contest. FS1 will televise at 7 p.m. ET. The Golden Eagles are tied with Creighton for second place with an 11-4 record. The Wildcats are in sixth place at 8-8 in league play, a game behind fifth-place Xavier (9-7). The game is also a battle between the BIG EAST’s top two scorers, Villanova’s Eric Dixon (22.9) Marquette’s Kam Jones (19.0). Dixon also leads the nation in scoring.