St. John’s basketball releases complete non-conference slate

St. John’s basketball releases full set of opponents for 2022-23 non-conference slate 

On Thursday, the St. John’s basketball program released its full set of opponents for the 2022-23 non-conference slate.

While there have been reports of games and opponents that have come out in recent months, Johnnies fans now know the official slate.

The St. John’s 2022-23 season will officially tip-off on November 7 against Merrimack at Carnesecca Arena.

The marquee games on the slate includes Nebraska as the Red Storm will host its Big 10 opponent in the Gavitt Games in Queens.

ALSO READ: St. John’s commit transfers to local powerhouse for senior year

St. John’s will also take on two of Syracuse, Richmond, and Temple in the Empire Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on November 21 and 22.

Also, the Johnnies will be involved in the Big East-Big 12 Challenge where they will head to the Hilton Coliseum on December 4 to take on Iowa State, who will could be a Preseason Top-25 squad.

St. John’s will wrap up its non-conference slate in the Orange Bowl Classic against a major conference opponent in Florida State on December 17 in a ‘neutral’ site game in Sunrise, Florida.

Other matchups include Lafayette (11/12), Central Connecticut State (11/15), Niagara (11/26), LIU (11/29), and New Hampshire (12/10).

Analyzing the St. John’s basketball non-conference slate

The non-conference schedule for this coming year may arguably be a slight improvement from last year, but many St. John’s fans expected a tougher schedule after the Johnnies have narrowly missed out on the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons.

The program is lacking one or two more ‘resume’ wins that could have changed their fortunes.

One notable aspect of the early season schedule is that there are no non-conference games at Madison Square Garden.

The slate will consist of games either in Queens, in the Barclays Center, or on the road.

ALSO READ: St. John’s looking to remain hot, lands in recruit’s Top-5

The matchup against Nebraska in the Gavitt Games is certainly underwhelming from a resume standpoint, although those matchups are tough for St. John’s to control.

While the concept of how St. John’s schedules can be sound, it also means that once again the margin of error for the Red Storm’s potential NCAA Tournament resume is thin before the thick of the season begins.

Head coach Mike Anderson has done well in high school recruitment with four-star guard AJ Storr headlining the freshman class as well as improving in transfer portal recruitment bringing in the likes of DePau’s David Jones and Illinois’ Andre Curbelo.

The key for St. John’s will once again be to build chemistry and find consistency to navigate the schedule and get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time under Anderson.