St. John’s basketball ready to respond after first loss

The St. John’s basketball team is looking to respond following its first loss of the season.

Following its first defeat of the 2020-21 season, the St. John’s basketball team returns to Carnesecca Arena to try and get back on track.

In an originally scheduled meeting against Sacred Heart, which was canceled because of a coronavirus outbreak within the Pioneers program, the Johnnies (3-1) will now face Stony Brook (1-1).

The Red Storm have played the Seawolves eight times in the program’s history and are a perfect 8-0 against its in-state foe but the two have not played each other since December 2, 2009.

St. John’s rattled off three victories over St. Peter’s, La Salle, and Boston College before falling to BYU on Thursday evening to begin its year.

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Stony Brook had the start of its season delayed because of COVID-19 but have since lost to St. Peter’s in its opener but responded to defeat Fairfield in overtime on Friday afternoon.

Juan Felix Rodriguez has been leading the way for the Seawolves through two games, averaging 15.0 points per contest.

Jaden Sayles, Frankie Policelli, and Tykei Greene are all averaging double-digits for Stony Brook this season as the team averages 70.0 points per game, shooting 42.7-percent from the floor and 33.3-percent from 3-point range.

The Seawolves have also struggled from the free throw line, only shooting 48.3-percent from the charity stripe.

St. John’s basketball looking to fix holes

It’s unclear whether the Red Storm will have senior guard Rasheem Dunn available as he continues to recover from a concussion suffered back on November 25, however, the addition of Julian Champagnie was felt as the Brooklyn native shined in his first two games back after an ankle injury.

Champagnie is averaging 27.0 points per game and has stepped into the go-to scorer role for the Johnnies this season.

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St. John’s needs to fix issues in its front court as well as getting guards Posh Alexander and Vince Cole back on track, as both struggled in the loss to BYU.

The Red Storm will try and get its positive momentum back as there are only two scheduled non-conference games remaining before Big East play begins on Friday night against UConn.

Tipoff between St. John’s and Stony Brook is scheduled for 2:30pm EST (Fox Sports 1).